Rental owners and the tourist board do not seem to like the idea.
The bishop of Krk Ivica Petanjak has called on owners of rental rooms and apartments for tourists to put crucifixes in their rentals to let the tourists know where they came to. He explained that Catholics should never be ashamed of their faith and should always be ready to “testify their affiliation to Christ,” reports tportal.hr on May 7, 2018.
“We are aware that a good tourist season is one of the main preconditions for material status and progress of our entire society and state. That is why we look forward to the arrival of each guest. But we must never lose sight of the fact that each guest is first and foremost a person, and as such deserves our respect and love,” says the introduction of the message issued by Bishop Petanjak, published by the Information Catholic Agency (IKA).
Danijela Čavlović, president of the Association of Family Tourism at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, commented on the bishop’s recommendation. “Religious symbols are unnecessary. We are hosts to visitors from all over the world, so putting up symbols of one religion could offend members of other religions.”
She said that she did not see the need for crucifixes on the walls, but that this does not mean that people cannot put them if they want to. “People can put crucifixes, or whatever they want. We avoid presenting religious symbols because we need to be hosts to people of all the religions of the world. No one should impose his or her faith, and the symbols of the crucifix on the wall do not tell us anything about a person. They are not a proof of human values or that the owner is the best rental owner in the world, just because he has hung a crucifix,” concluded Čavlović.
The Main Office of the Croatian National Tourist Board said that the Ministry of Tourism had issued the Ordinance on the classification and categorisation of facilities, which describes all the elements that rooms, apartments, holiday homes and other accommodation units must possess.
“The ordinance lists mirrors, paintings and other decorative objects as possibilities. Rental owners can decorate their accommodation facilities with other items as well, but they should pay attention to their personal dignity and the dignity of their guests. Therefore, when putting objects in accommodation facilities, it is important to keep in mind that national, religious, cultural and other attitudes and feelings of guests are not harmed,” added the Croatian National Tourist Board.
Translated from tportal.hr (reported by Nikola Sučec).
