April 14, 2022 - MEP Karlo Ressler has visited the city of Osijek, where he was presented with several Osijek-Baranja County projects currently in progress that were financed by European funds.

As SiB.hr writes, after a reception in the Osijek-Baranja County, MEP Ressler was accompanied by the prefect Ivan Anušić to visit the construction site of the Economic Centre, which is also financed by European funds

"Osijek and the Osijek-Baranja County do not need additional instructions on how to withdraw money from European funds because they do an excellent job", said MEP Karlo Ressler during his stay in Osijek, adding: "It seems to me that the idea, the perception of a difficult situation as it used to be is no longer associated with the Osijek-Baranja County nor the city of Osijek, and I also think that the new mayor Radić certainly played a big role not only in that but everything that the county has been doing in recent years".

In the company of Osijek Mayor Ivan Radić, MP Ressler visited the construction site of the Osijek Fortress, which is another project financed with European money.

"The city of Osijek is a large construction site, which I explained to MEP Ressler. At the moment, the value of investments in the area of the city of Osijek exceeds one billion kuna, and is largely financed with European money”, said Osijek Mayor Radić and thanked MEP Ressler for showing interest in the city of Osijek and the Osijek-Baranja County.

After the reception in the Osijek-Baranja County, accompanied by the prefect Ivan Anušić, MP Ressler visited the construction site of the Economic Centre, which is also financed by European funds.

"We are implementing numerous projects through the funds of the European Union, through a new financial perspective where our office in Brussels, which has a permanent representative of our 5 Slavonian counties, communicates directly with our MEPs, including Mr. Ressler", said the prefect of the Osijek-Baranja County Ivan Anušić. He concluded that the Osijek-Baranja County and the City of Osijek really have something to boast about.

For more, check out our business section.

April 14, 2022 - The Travel Man show, watched by over 2 million viewers in the UK and other parts of the world, featured Split as one of the newest destinations for its 10th season, with the hosts enjoying the culture, sights, activities, and cuisine of the popular Dalmatian town.

British comedian Joe Lycett and Irish comedian, actress, and writer with a British address, Aisling Bea, spent 48 hours in Split, reports Slobodna Dalmacija. This is the second episode of the 10th season of the humorous travel show "Travel Man: 48 hours in ...", which was recently broadcast on the popular British channel Channel 4. This 30-minute episode is entirely dedicated to Split, a popular Croatian destination where the main actors, Joe and Aisling, among other things, tried SUP, visited Froggyland, tasted Split's eno-gastronomic delicacies, and enjoyed a walk with dogs in an organized tour of the Foundation for the Protection of Animals Split, praised the Croatian Tourist Board.

"After two years with very little travel, the Travel Man episode dedicated to Split focuses on exactly what the British have longed for, and these are summer activities, the sea, and culture, all under the clear and sunny skies of Split", said  Darija Reić, director of the CNTB Representation in London.  

The Travel Man show is watched by over 2 million viewers in the UK, with an additional multi-million reverberation in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, and India.

Critics of the Daily Mail had numerous objections to the work of Joe and Aisling, so the episode only received a 2/5 rating, while on IMDB it received a 4/10 rating. However, it should be noted that only one rating has been left on the IMDB so far and that episodes from previous seasons mostly had a rating of 7/10.

You can watch the full episode on the official Channel 4 page.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

14th of April 2022 - The City of Vinkovci, the Independent Trade Union (DZZP) and the Vinkovci Technical School, along with the support of multiple companies from Vinkovci, have announced the distribution of fasting meals for all citizens on Good Friday.

As Novosti.hr writes, the now traditional event that occurs every Good Friday before Easter will have fish and potato salad on the menu this year as well. Future chefs, more precisely the students of the Vinkovci Technical High School will be in charge of preparing the food.

Mayor Ivan Bosančić will also take part and help in the morning food giveaway in front of the Vinkovci Gymnasium (School) from 10:00 on Vinkovci’s main square. He emphasised that meal itself is not the main motive for gathering people together, but that going out to the square and spending time together in the festive spirit is the point, as we celebrate the greatest Christian holiday, Easter.

Everyone is happy to respond when it comes to celebrating traditions like this - the Trade unionis, the City, various donors and of course, the hardworking student chefs who will prepare more than one thousand portions of meals for the occasion. Whether it’s Good Friday or Christmas Eve, a sense of togetherness is the most valuable part of it all.

Let us also remind ourselves that Good Friday is one of the two days of strict fasting in the liturgical year, with Ash Wednesday when Lent begins.

Fasting for Catholics means taking only one full meal a day as opposed to fasting when eating the usual three meals except meat. Strict fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday isn't just fasting, but the practice of abstinence at the same time, which means believers on that day eat only one full, modest and simple meal to the brim. Good Friday is a day of renunciation and penance and in that sense, the meal served on the table should be exactly like that.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

April 14, 2022 - On April 18, 2022 (Easter Monday), after a two-year break caused by the pandemic, the Sinj Tourist Board, with the support of the City of Sinj and the Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board is organizing an open-air Easter breakfast for the fourth time.

This increasingly traditional event will start at 11:00 on the Alojzije Stepinac Promenade. The goal is to present to all visitors, as well as the first guests staying in Sinj and its surroundings, the traditional Easter dishes of the region with special customs.

Therefore, Sinj has prepared a sumptuous holiday table for all visitors, consisting of traditional dishes prepared for Easter breakfast, such as boiled eggs, ham, Dalmatian prosciutto, sirnica, fritters, and other special desserts. They have also prepared an entertainment program for the youngest participants.

Not only will the Sinj Majorettes perform, but visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy the songs of the Sinj Children's and Mixed Choir, Mislav Norac and Mirna Alfirević. The associations Sinjski ferali, the Association for the Preservation of the Cetina Region Heritage, KUD Cetina, and Mrs. Vesna Bader and Branka Marinović will arrange the space and help present the Easter dishes.

"We especially thank the Shrine of the Miraculous Lady of Sinj, the Cultural and Artistic Headquarters of Sinj, then our largest poultry farm "MOSTINA", for their support in the realization of this event," said the Sinj Tourist Board. 

Photos by Željko Zrnčić

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

April 14, 2022 - Infobip presented its new innovation center, the Alpha Centauri campus, which has firmly placed Zagreb and Croatia at the forefront of the technology industry in this part of Europe.

“At Infobip, we are committed to developing the entire technology community in Croatia, and we are doing this on three levels. The first is the development and innovation led by our employees in Croatia and worldwide. The second is to place Croatia at the center of the development community in this part of Europe through Infobip Shift. And third, we provide knowledge and open the doors of the global market to domestic startups through our Startup Tribe program. Croatia has top talents, and we are delighted that we can help realize their potential with our actions," said Silvio Kutić, co-founder and CEO of Infobip.

The new campus covers 11,900 square meters of indoor and 5,100 square meters of open space. It is unique in that, in addition to modernly designed spaces for work and education, it also has accommodation units that can accommodate employees and guests from other company offices worldwide. Exchanging knowledge and experience within the company and cooperation with the largest technology companies around the world whose experts will regularly come to campus are the backbone of Infobip's work. The campus can accommodate over 800 employees, offering them the best working conditions in a state-of-the-art environment.

Press

The Alpha Centauri campus was developed by architectural teams from 3LHD and Fabrika, and the value of the investment exceeds HRK 150 million. The campus encourages communication between different teams and an agile work methodology with its space design concept. It is spread over eight floors with three floors of office space, a public floor with a restaurant and conference hall, and three floors with accommodation, including a recreation hall, squash court, and a common lounge area.

“Alpha Centauri is our new home of creative and engineering excellence, in the creation of which we have invested a lot of effort, the best experiences we have gathered around the world, but also a lot of positive energy. At Infobip, we believe that disruption in the global market is only possible through innovation, and creating innovation requires more than just the usual workspace. We believe that this outstanding campus will further inspire the research spirit we nurture at Infobip. Alpha Centauri represents the evolution of our first campus in Vodnjan, Pangea, which was an important turning point for the accelerated development of our business and development," adds Silvio Kutić.

All employees and guests of Alpha Centauri have the right to use all campus resources for free, and special attention is paid to a healthy diet, so fresh and balanced food is prepared daily through about 20 meals per week. For breakfast, lunch, and healthy snacks, groceries are procured from local family farms.

Press

Infobip Alpha Centauri is one of the most modern office buildings in this part of Europe. The campus covers an area of ​​about 20,000 square meters. Currently, about 8 thousand m2 are used, while some land is left to construct the same or similar facility in the future. The campus was built by 35 companies, and over 1,700 individual tasks had to be completed. More than 1,200 drafts were made, and 5,000 photographs were taken. The design itself took a year and three months, and the construction process took a year and nine months until the use permit.

Spaces for socializing with employees are an essential aspect of the campus, so the rooftop garden and terrace cover 1,700 m2, with 100 seats in a green environment. The use of glass as a material for the structural facade resulted in significant natural light in the central space and atrium.

The campus follows global trends, so great emphasis is placed on green details and sustainability. The campus building itself is A + energy class, and the surrounding groundwater is used for cooling and heating the working premises, which results in lower electricity consumption. A ‘green façade’ surrounds the outer element of the campus and provides more sun in winter and protection from too much sun in summer.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

April 14, 2022 - Croatian citizens have the greatest trust in the army and police, according to a survey of political scientists for whom data have been collected for more than two decades. Croats trust the European Union more than their own government.

While citizens of organized and developed EU member states have high trust in the institutions of their countries, Croatian citizens have the greatest trust in the army and police. Croats trust the Church more than NGOs and, for many perhaps unexpectedly, trust the EU more than Croatian public administration, reports tportal.hr. This is shown by the research "Stability and/or change? Trust in institutions in Croatia from 1999 to 2020." by political scientist Kosta Bovan from the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb and Nikola Baketa from the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, published in the scientific journal Revija za sociologiju.

They analyzed data collected in surveys in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2020, conducted by the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb, in which citizens were asked to 1 to 5 assess the degree of trust in political and social institutions.

It turned out that the army and the police enjoy the most stable trust of the citizens.

Thus, in 1999, citizens' trust in the army was rated at 3.64, and in 2020 at 3.62, while trust in the police in the same period reached 3.15 and 3.22, respectively. Trust in political parties in 2020 was 1.89, and in 1999 at least 2.52.

While the trust in the Parliament in 1999 was 3.15, in 2020 it dropped to barely 2.03. The situation is similar to the decline in confidence in the Government, in 1999 it received a score of 2.97, and in 2020 2.19. NGOs cannot boast of trust either, because in 2020 the trust in them was rated at 2.41, and in 1999 it was 2.82.

The Church enjoys greater trust than non-governmental organizations, in which the trust of citizens was 2.75 in 2020 and 3.36 in 1999. Croats' trust in trade unions in 2020 was lower (2.27) than in the media (2.45), although neither of them can be satisfied because from 1999 to 2020, trust in them fell.

Croats trust the EU more (2.72) than the Croatian public administration, which in 2020 was barely 2.19. Confidence in the courts is even lower, so in 2020 it was 2.04, while in 1999 it was still 2.90.

Political scientists conclude that the analysis showed that in the period from 1999 to 2020, citizens' trust in representative institutions decreased, which suggests the alienation of citizens from these institutions and poses a problem for the functioning of representative democracy in Croatia while trust in security institutions, army, and police extremely stable, wrote Večernji list journalist Dijana Jurasić.

For more, check out our politics section.

April the 14th, 2022 - The only European rural tourism congress that currently exists is set to be held in the southernmost Croatian town of Cavtat at the end of this month, firmly placing this already popular holiday destination on the map, but this time quite a different one.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes, just how far the digitalisation process of rural Croatian villages has come, whether the global coronavirus crisis was an opportunity for rural tourism or actually caused losses, how family farms can be branded and what Croatian rural tourism is like compared to the same sector in other countries, are just several of the topics which will be discussed during the 5th International Congress on Rural Tourism, being held from the 27th to the 30th of April in Cavtat.

The gathering organised by the Croatian Association for Tourism and Rural Development will see the coming together of the Village Club with the support of educational institutions from across Croatia and the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, more than 300 participants from the state sector, tourist boards, family farms and others from the wider tourism sector.

A special feature of the upcoming European Rural Tourism Congress is that it is the only one of its kind in the whole of Europe, which is why experts from 10 countries will head to Cavtat to talk more about their projects.

"This year's slogan is Rural Tourism: Quality, Sustainability, Inclusion, and the main topic is competitiveness and the positioning of rural tourism after the crisis experienced by the tourism sector caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The European Rural Tourism Congress enables a continuous exchange of experiences and knowledge, with the connection of science and profession also involved. The competitiveness of a tourist offer is only strengthened by an increased level of awareness and education about rural tourist destinations, and thus improves the way services are provided,'' the organisers pointed out.

For the ninth year in a row, the Sunflower Rural Tourism Award of Croatia, ie the Sunflower Award, will be awarded (in 8 different categories) at this April's European Rural Tourism Congress, with 138 projects from 19 counties competing.

For more, check out our travel section.

April the 14th, 2022 - There will be five times more Dubrovnik cruise ships this year, as the country's tourism makes an impressively fast recovery from two pandemic-dominated years in which the then hated vessels weren't seen in the Pearl of the Adriatic.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, this year's cruise season for the Croatian Adriatic's ports has started with the arrival of MSC's ship Fantasia in Dubrovnik's Port of Gruz, which, according to current announcements, will bring five times more Dubrovnik cruise ships alone than last year. In addition to that, the current news is that MSC will enable boarding in Zadar and Split for the first time ever, which has already aroused a lot of interest from Croatian passengers.

Five days ago, the first cruise ship of this year, MSC Fantasia, sailed into Dubrovnik's Port of Gruz. This Fantasia-class ship can accommodate up to 4,300 passengers and will visit Dubrovnik on Thursdays until the end of the season on September the 8th, 2022. According to the company, in addition to Dubrovnik, MSC fleet ships will visit Split, Zadar and Rijeka and achieve a total of 63 arrivals in various Croatian ports during this season alone.

"The last time we had this cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean to Greece was from Dubrovnik 6-7 years ago. This itinerary is interesting for passengers from Croatia and neighbouring countries, because of the ease of access to the port, simplicity and less crowds in terms of terminals, because of all the still valid pandemic measures in force on board and in some European countries. The programme is very affordable for the Croatian market and we've had some great interest from travellers from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina,'' revealed Igor Odak, in charge of marketing and sales at MSC. The first cruisers of this year brought a total of about 2,500 guests to the City of Dubrovnik in just a few days, pointed out the director of the Dubrovnik Port Authority, Blaz Pezo.

"Last year was a solid cruise season in which we were visited by 139 ships and 110,130 passengers. Considering that there were none in 2020 at all, we're satisfied with the results from 2021, which reached 30 percent of the amount we saw back in 2019. This represents a good base for this cruise ship season, in which, according to the plan, we expect to achieve 70 percent of the turnover from 2019. We're welcoming this season with optimism,'' Pezo added.

Exactly how many passengers Dubrovnik cruise ships could see enter the country's southernmost city is still unknown, as the number keeps changing, but the ships are currently between 60 and 70 percent full. Given the much more favourable situation with the coronavirus pandemic, the Dubrovnik Port Authority expects that both European and American shipping companies will gradually increase their capacities on cruises this season. Pezo also added that at the same time, the sustainable development of the cruising industry, which Dubrovnik opted for after experiencing a collapse due to intolerable crowds, hasn't been forgotten.

"According to current announcements, throughout 2022 we can expect 343 arrivals of ships and about 515 thousand passengers, which is fully in line with plans for sustainable tourism development in this destination. The maximum number of passengers from cruise ships in Dubrovnik throughout 2022 is 4,000 passengers at a time, or an average of two ships at berth,'' explained Pezo.

The Dubrovnik Port Authority is otherwise quite actively participating in the project of the City of Dubrovnik called "Respect the City".

As part of that project's activities, the Ordinance on conditions and criteria for accepting and allocating berths for cruise ships in the context of sustainable destination development was drafted, and an even better schedule for Dubrovnik cruise ships and their arrival was achieved, which will result in a more even flow of passengers from the port, especially towards the historical core, and in this way the intensity of the load on the city's roads in the direction Gruz - Pile - Gruz will be reduced,'' said Pezo.

He especially emphasised the fact that in 2022, the turnover during the pre-season and post-season is expected to increase, and there is an expected decrease in traffic in the peak months of the main tourist season, more precisely during the months of July and August.

For more, check out our travel section.