December the 13th, 2021 - Croatian vaccination tourism, which might sound quite amusing for many considering the relatively unimpressive vaccination rate of the domicile population, is going well for the nationals of the Russian federation who are arriving on special flights.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, among the countries chosen by the Russians in which to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus is the Republic of Croatia, which fully enabled the vaccination of foreign, non resident nationals since mid-July. The media have already written about Russian citizens in queues at vaccination points, and the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) recently confirmed to Novi list that they are coming in an organised manner. Croatian vaccination tourism is actually very much a thing.
''This topic has been current for more than two months now and the CNTB Office is in constant contact with travel organisers, as well as a number of agencies and individual tourists who are interested in this form of tourism. These are mostly three-day arrangements, ie two nights, and in almost 95 percent of cases people are arriving in Zagreb. In Russia, the most active are the Russian Express and PAKS, which offer fully organised arrangements, but there are also a large number of agencies that organise these special tours to Croatia,'' they stated.
Tourists are offered plane tickets, hotel accommodation, excursions around Zagreb and its surroundings, as well as a tour of the Plitvice lakes, as well as various lunches and dinners in restaurants. Vaccination is usually done immediately on the first day or possibly the day after arrival. As the Russians mostly want to be vaccinated with Pfizer (Comirnaty), the vast majority return to Zagreb after three weeks to receive their second doses. By being vaccinated with an EU approved vaccine, these Russians can then get EU covid certificates.
In addition, at the end of December, Aeroflot will introduce daily direct flights to Zagreb, and Russian travel organisers will offer arrangements related to Advent and the New Year in Croatia, according to the CNTB. From other markets, they say, no increased interest is noticeable.
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