May 31, 2020 — While most fret if a summer season will even happen, clothing-optional tourism saw its first influx of guests at the FKK Sovinje camp in Tkon, on the island of Pašman. It’s also one of the few branches of tourism still drawing investments and improvements.
“Our first guests are naturists from Austria and Germany and from Slovenia,” Marija Ugrinić, head of FKK Sovinje, told Zadarski List.
Despite the coronavirus epidemic and adherence to hygiene measures, the atmosphere is calm, she said, and people are behaving like all previous, “normal” years.
“The guests in the FKK Sovinje auto camp are mostly highly-educated people who are strongly connected with nature,” Ugrinić added. “These are all family people who come on vacation together with their children.”
Nude, or “naturalist” beaches remain a staple of summers on the Dalmatian coast. One in ten tourists skinny dip in the Adriatic. Decades ago, Croatia’s coast was considered the epicenter of Europe’s naturalist movement. Those heady days are gone now.
FKK Sovinje will reach about 50 percent of its capacity, when Slovenia’s school year ends, according to Ugrinić. FKK Sovinje can hold up to 400 guests.
The past two years’ record arrivals and overnight stays made 2020 more than promising. The camp has improved its offer, and hopes Pašman’s “corona free” status will draw guests. Expectations at Sovinje remain high despite the pandemic.
“So far, no one has canceled reservations for July and August in the FKK Sovinje camp,” Ugrinić said. “Moreover, guests who have delayed arrival in May and June are now booking September. We hope that everything will pass without the coronavirus and that, given the extraordinary circumstances, we will achieve a solid tourist season.”
The camp is managed by the utility company Orlić d.o.o. and is 100 percent owned by Pašman’s Municipality.
“Tkon is not only an attractive destination for family, adventure and Robinson tourism, but it is becoming a ‘naturist paradise’ for all those who want to tan without a trace of a bathing suit and enjoy the sandy beach which is a true natural phenomenon, peace and quiet, preserved nature and crystal clear sea,” said Dino Smoljan, director of the Orlić d.o.o.
While others along the Adriatic coast are closing naturist camps, FKK Sovinje, Zadar’s only nudist camp, has been breaking records. Tkon had 11,000 arrivals and about 110,000 overnight stays last year. Out of that, about 3,500 guests stayed in FKK Sovinje, spending about 30,000 nights. It was a 50 percent jump in arrivals and 35 percent increase in overnight stays.
Smoljan’s company has invested HRK 3.5 million in Naturist camping FKK Sovinje over the last three years, mostly in infrastructure and marketing. The park will continue growing. Two adjacent private properties were bought, with plans to expand put on hold because of the coronavirus.
Smoljan also takes issue with the use of “nudist” [Editor’s note: Do you want people to read this article or not?].
“While nudism is only bathing and sunbathing without clothes, naturism is a philosophy of life, a way of life in harmony with nature, caring for the environment while developing respect and appreciation of others regardless of appearance,” he said. But Smoljan credits Pašman itself as the camp’s biggest draw.
“The island with its beauty leaves no one indifferent and once you come, you always come back to the island and Tkon,” he said.
Sovinje’s southern expansion, dubbed Studenac Beach, will cost about HRK 3.2 million. The first phase will cost HRK 1.2 million, while the second and third phases will cost HRK 1.5 million, according to Tkon’s Mayor Goran Mušćet.
A retaining wall will be built by the heart of the summer season, even if the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the work. In the autumn, the beach will be made over to increase its functionality.
“We continuously invest in all segments of the tourist offer,” Mušćet said. “At the same time, we want make our destination more attractive, while respecting the principles of responsible and sustainable development.”
