As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, vaccination against the novel coronavirus, a liberal approach in the form of anti-epidemic measures against the spread of the pandemic and an indestructible desire for fun, with the good organisation of testing points, all saw Zrce beach get some significantly better results this season than expected.
Moreover, due to extremely good epidemiological results despite high traffic, the Croatian Institute of Public Health selected Zrce beach in their preparation of a study of the relationship between clubbing and the spread of the infection, which should provide many answers about this segment in the coming period.
The traffic at the end of the summer on Zrce beach will be taken care of by the closing festival brought to Croatia by Amnesia, one of the most famous clubs in the world from Ibiza. Clubs on Zrce beach entered the summer season ready for another year of improvisations, organising smaller festivals, and understanding that every day the risk of infection posed the potential closure of the beach.
Club Noa on Zrce beach had even better traffic in July and the previous part of August than in the same period in pre-pandemic, record 2019.
“Of course, we weren’t allowed to work in June and this will be reflected in the annual results, as will the fact that there were no big festivals, but the rest of the summer was very successful, thanks to our guests who acted very responsibly and respected the order of things, I have every praise for them. Zrce beach was chosen as the location for testing because it is the location that has the largest sample of the population of at least 1500 to 2000 people a day, or between 500 and 700 people per club,” revealed Zlatko Balasko, the owner of Club Noa.
Namely, Club Noa has become a partner of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, which, in cooperation with the Institute of Public Health Zadar, will prepare a study that should provide answers on the connection between clubbing and the spread of this particular infection, as well as the safety aspects of the industry, given all of the measures conducted on site.
Despite tension between the clubbing industry and thedecision-makers on measures to protect the population from infection on the eve of the summer, Zrce beach praised the good cooperation with national and local civil protection directorates.
“Apart from proving that our industry is resilient, as well as the natural desire of young people to have fun, it has been shown that the liberal model of managing this crisis is justified, to which the state agreed and enabled us to work as much as possible. It’s true, this year there were no big festivals such as Hideout, Sonus, Fresh Island, but, the traffic has been much better than we expected.
We put a lot of effort into it, the festivals were transformed into lower budget ones to reduce the overall risk, we developed new brands, several old brands used vouchers for tickets that couldn’t be used last year, it’s all part of the flexible business model we had to adopt,” explained Boris Suljic, the owner of the Kalypso club, who this year brought the new brand Tattva to Zrce beach, a combination of a beach club and a restaurant whose development he expects to continue over the coming years.
By the end of the year, Kalypso is preparing three more smaller festivals, and the final “Ibiza Takeover Croatia”, which will be the result of the very important cooperation of all Zrce beach clubs with the Amnesia club from Ibiza and the company BSH Events.
We’re told that this cooperation is really a big deal in this business, and a great recognition for the strongest Croatian party destination, although it must be admitted that this happened due to the fact that the coronavirus pandemic kept all clubs in Ibiza closed this summer.
Amnesia from Ibiza is one of the world’s most famous clubs, which has been named the best global club four times at the IDMA Awards in Miami. Amnesia opened back in 1976 as a gathering place for hippie culture and bands. Numerous world-famous programmes were held at the club, and almost all the world’s leading DJs have performed there.
The arrival of Amnesia in Croatia and the Ibiza Takeover Croatia festival is therefore a great recognition for Zrce beach, as well as an opportunity to promote Croatia and the island of Pag at the global level. Balasko pointed out that this could be the basis for future cooperation of these locations and with clubs from Ibiza.
“It’s great that the world’s strongest club from Ibiza has included us in its programme. These closing parties are very popular in Ibiza and it’s great that we’ll be able to end this season like that. The season has so far been a pleasant surprise, compared to what we expected at the beginning of the summer, with daily traffic of between 500 and 1000 people. We can also thank the National Civil Protection Directorate for that, as they’ve enabled us to reach the end of the season with strict controls and without incidents,” said Ivan Busljeta, the owner of the Papaya and Nomad clubs.
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