Jutarnji List reports that although it is still early for any predictions of the 2021 tourist season, mainly because we do not know how and under what conditions travel will happen this year, tourism workers cannot afford to wait.
One example is hotel Romana in Makarska, which plans to open its doors for Easter and employ up to 250 workers, if the epidemiological picture allows, showing optimism and expectation that the season will be successful. The management of other hotels on the Riviera shares the same optimism. Valamar plans to open all hotels in Makarska this summer, and the Meteor hotel is currently in the final phase of renovation. Everything should be finished in the coming days.
Tonči Andrijašević, director of the Quercus Hotel in Drvenik, says that if there are no changes, they will open on May 1, and more serious work is expected in mid-May.
“We have published the program in the Czech Republic, Poland, France, and Slovenia. It’s a plan that is subject to change, but it definitely has activities, even in the Chinese market for October, through a Compass partnership. As for partners, a lot is happening, it’s alive, but we can’t talk about the numbers yet. I am an optimist, but this is a mildly moderate optimism. I hope that through vaccination, the situation will be brought under control a bit, so, all in all, I still expect a much better year than 2020, although still not close to the results from 2019,” says Andrijašević.
Drago Nosić, director of Sol tourism, says that both facilities, hotels Miramare and Biokovo, will open on May 1.
“We are preparing for the season as if it will be more intense than last year, but if it were a normal year, at the beginning of January, we would already have some more concrete indications. Anyway, we have to do everything as if it will be normal. Here, today we are inspecting the rooms to see what we have to adjust,” says Nosić, who agrees that the vaccine is positive news, but that we still do not know the dynamics of vaccination or conditions for travel.
“It is good that all partners are more or less interested in starting as soon as possible, but I do not know how tour operators and airlines will solve this. Also, to prepare, you have to invest; if you invest, you expect to earn something, and at the same time, you do not have solid or clear indicators that you will succeed because there are many unknown factors. We are, therefore, guided more by optimism and hope than by logic. In general, everyone is cautious, and we see that the number of flights has decreased by 20 percent compared to 2019. However, it is a good thing that none of our partners is in trouble,” says Nosić, who says that demand will certainly be considered when the criteria are clearer. But if the restrictions continue, it will be a problem.
Currently, the biggest problem regarding investment is not investing in hotels because they are relatively new, but the workforce needs to be addressed for the season.
“If it is 70 percent from 2019, we will be satisfied. Anything beyond that is a bonus. It would be unrealistic to expect that 2020 will happen again because now we still have some tools,” Nosić emphasizes.
Marko Luketina, director of the Morenia resort in Podaca, says that they are preparing as if everything will be normal, with full capacity and employment, believing that the results will be at the level of 2019, or even better. They open on April 10 and close on October 31, if all goes according to plan.
“We will even extend the cooperation agreements compared to 2019, and we expect 55 to 60 thousand arrivals. This is our plan according to realistic settings; without that, you can’t even plan. If there is not enough vaccination, it will affect us to achieve less, but we should expect a plus-minus of 5 percent compared to what was expected by all accounts. I do not believe that there will be major deviations,” Luketina is extremely optimistic and assesses the German government’s reaction to the situation with TUI, which is crucial for the Croatian market. The problem is aviation tourism, without which the hotel industry cannot work, and that area is still unclear.
“These are all real issues, flights, the issue of conditions related to vaccination, and we know little about it. But there is no choice; we have to act and be prepared as if nothing happened and as if we will have a normal season,” concludes Luketina, who added that Morenia achieved extraordinary numbers in 2020 as well.
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