August the 27th, 2024 – Tourism Minister Tonči Glavina has stated that the country wouldn’t have enjoyed the summer season it has if it was too expensive of a destination.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Tourism Minister Tonči Glavina commented on this year’s tourist season in an interview for HRT. “The data regarding this tourist season is almost ideal. After a record pre-season, we’re now enjoying a great main tourist season. We’ve had as many as 130,000 more guests in August and we’re also now hearing announcements about a great postseason set to come,” said Glavina.
“It’s very important to emphasise that, following consumption and fiscal revenues, we’ve seen around 4 to 6 percent more receipts and bills issued, the value of which is greater than 10 to 12 percent,” said the minister, adding that “Croatia has no more space in terms of tourism growth,” and that “it would be ideal if the numbers remained at this current level”.
Considering the fact that at one point in the peak season we had a smaller number of guests, he also answered the question of whether Croatia and Croatian tourism have become too expensive for guests.
croatia has no more room when it comes to growth
“Croatia is certainly not too expensive because if it was, we wouldn’t have these numbers. With that being said, there are certain anomalies in some destinations where the impression may be created that the price-quality ratio is not exactly the best,” stated Glavina.
He said that these are seasonal facilities and added: “From the first day I’ve been repeating the same thing. I’ve also been bringing it up in all of the conversations I’ve been having with people in the profession, and that’s that the relationship between price and quality is one of the most important things for us. We have to offer value to our guests because this is how the quality of a destination is measured.”
the era of constant growth is now behind us
When asked how to reconcile tourism and the life of the local population, Tourism Minister Tonči Glavina said: “Sustainability isn’t only manifested in terms of protecting areas, but also in the protection of the quality of life. The era of continuous growth, increases in capacity and hospitality facilities is now behind us. We’re now in an era of management, an era in which we’re looking to maintain a perfect balance between income and all of the positive effects that come from tourism and the quality of life of residents.”
He added that Croatia shouldn’t be put in the situation that Italy or Spain have found themselves in today – that the local population is protesting against tourists and tourism in the form of protests.
new laws for croatian tourism
He commented on the new law on the management and maintenance of buildings. Among other things, new rules stipulate that all those who want to rent their properties to tourists must have 80% of the co-owners’ signatures to go forward with their plans.
“It’s very feasible and enforceable in the future categorisation of new buildings. This will be one of the necessary documents that will need to be submitted. We must appreciate the fact that tourism as a horizontal economic activity cannot be changed only from the position of tourism laws. It’s for this reason that at the level of the entire government, we’re implementing the activity and legislative framework by which we’ll regulate and create sustainability for the future,” he said.
“Now we’ve started with the law in the domain of spatial planning and housing policy. We also expect changes in Croatia’s fiscal policy and tourism policy. It’s a reform, a proper change of our model towards sustainability, and we need to continue on that path. We have no choice,” Glavina concluded.
