September the 19th, 2024 – New Dubrovnik hospitality conditions have been met with irritation by those in the industry, and that’s for one main reason – Dubrovnik and winter simply don’t go together.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the City of Dubrovnik recently made an administrative decision to lease public areas for a maximum of five years for public consultation. It doesn’t seem like such a big deal, and at first glimpse, many might be wondering why Dubrovnik hospitality workers have an issue. When it is explored a little deeper, however, there’s one very contentious condition – that implies continued work in winter.
Winter and Dubrovnik historically don’t mix well. That’s a story in and of itself, which involves genuine factors outside of the control of those in power, and factors that require too much effort to tackle. Obviously.
“In this way, we decided on a system of obligation to work for one winter month – either in December, January or February. One of those three months in any case. There will certainly be people in the Dubrovnik hospitality space who aren’t thrilled about that, but we have to think long-term,” said Mayor Mato Franković in conversation with Nova TV.
There are now tens of thousands of guests visiting Dubrovnik, and that’s in the historic core of the city alone. During the winter months, this number decreases significantly. Dubrovnik Airport has claimed that this winter, the city will be connected to several foreign destinations.
“That means that compared to last year’s mere two international direct lines, this year we’ll have five international destination connections; to London, Brussels, Vienna, Istanbul and Frankfurt. Occupancy should therefore be significantly better this year than it was last year,” believes Ivan Maslać from Dubrovnik’s recently renamed Ruđer Bošković Airport.
the dubrovnik hospitality scene: we’ll be looking at minuses if we work like that
The Catering Guild has claimed that they look favourably on the idea of year-round tourism, but they don’t want the entire weight of such a decision to be placed solely and entirely on their backs.
“We’ll adapt as we have adapted to all of the conditions that have been placed on us so far”, stated Đani Banovac from the Catering Guild.
Some on the huge Dubrovnik hospitality scene have made their issues with these plans clear. They claim that they have genuinely tried to work during the winter and it simply didn’t function. They ended up working at a minus. In addition, they added, they currently use those “off” months to restore and do up their facilities and train their staff in order to raise the service level they offer to their guests to a higher level. They have also said that the problems they face also lie with their workforce in some cases.
“In December, almost no one wants to come and work because it’s often the only month that people working in the Dubrovnik hospitality sector actually have time off. It’s extremely difficult when you have to keep going at a pace that is very challenging for ten long months and then you want to force people to continue doing that when they’re used to having some time to rest,” explained Ana Bitanga, a local restaurant owner.
The mayor has stated that those working in Dubrovnik hospitality should agree on which year they intend to operate which facilities, adding that at this point, he isn’t willing to agree to any other compromises. When asked if he’s been made aware that some Dubrovnik hospitality establishment owners could claim that they are being blackmailed in this way, he said the following:
“Of course I’m aware that some people might take such a position, however, on the other hand, they must know that they’re working in one of the most attractive cities in the entire world. The the fact is, that if they worked elsewhere, they wouldn’t even have the conditions they get to have here,” said Mato Franković.
The public consultation on this matter is set to run until September the 27th, and the new contracts reflecting these alterations would be effective from January the 1st, 2025.
