The Croatian tourist season of 2019 hasn’t been going all that well when compared the recent record years where little effort needed to be made and the tourists arrived in their droves.
2019 has seen it finally dawn on the powers that be that the VAT rate needs lowering and that a bit more effort needs to be made to attract tourists when in competition with recovering rivals such as Turkey, and even Greece which has just experienced a massive overhaul in its tourism policies – and for the better.
While numerous articles, videos and photos arise of otherwise very popular destinations on the Dalmatian coast which are normally thronged with tourists at this time of year almost entirely empty and quiet, those responsible for the state of Croatian tourism continue to twiddle their thumbs in awe of why Croatian companies who work in the tourism field are needing the quotas for foreign (non-EU) labour to be increased, and why cheaper Mediterranean destinations are pulling would-be tourists in Croatia to other countries which are cheaper.
Clutching at straws, perhaps, it seems some in Croatia have taken to charging for basic human rights to make up any potential deficit in their tourism revenues this summer. We had the recent case of a place in Trpanj, on the Peljesac Peninsula, charging people three times the usual price of a sun lounger if it’s underneath a palm tree, then justifying it by stating that if people don’t want to pay for that, then they can rent the sun lounger and simply lie underneath it for shade (yes, really).
Now, we have yet another case, this time on the island of Krk in the Kvarner region.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of July, 2019, this announcement sparked numerous heated discussions on social media about high prices during the tourist season and charging for totally embarrassing things.
Namely, in Punat, on the island of Krk, it is evident that they are charging for sun loungers in the camp, but they also have something else to offer if you really want to splash the cash to ensure your basic right to not get sun stroke or skin cancer – a place in the shade.
Rather unsurprisingly, this weird photo caused a number of reactions on Facebook and quickly spread.
You’ll beed to cough up 30 kuna if you want to rent a sun lounger, but a place in the shade for adults is a further 15 kuna, and for children, a further 10 kuna. Naturally, when this came to light, people were dumbfounded.
Officially, it has now been found out that in this camp on Krk, being charged more for a place in the shade has been going on in previous years, too.
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