As Barbara Ban/Novac writes, in normal, non-pandemic years, the period just before Easter here in Croatia tends to be welcomed by a significant opening up of tourist facilities. This year, despite expectations being low, the same thing has occurred but with carefully adjusted the safety standards to national and international recommendations as a result of the global public health crisis we find ourselves in.
Of particular note is the excellent reception in Croatia’s emitting countries with the Safe stay in Croatia programme, which shows that Croatia is preparing extremely well for the tourist season in which safety will be the most important factor for any level of success. Although it would be wrong to get too ahead of ourselves, the fact that foreign plates are being seen on Croatian highways is encouraging.
“Guests will also be staying in our camps. We have announcements from locals who have mobile homes, they have slowly started to visit during the weekends, during holidays, etc. For example, this week a well known camp in Istria opened up its outdoor heated pools. Since Istria, at least for Germany, is still green, motorhomes with German plates are visible on Croatian highways. We even have several smaller family camps that are already full of Germans visitors,” said Adriano Palman, the director of the Croatian Camping Association.
On the eve of Easter, Valamar plans to open the doors of many of its tourist facilities, including higher end hotels and camps. During the Easter holidays themselves, Maistra will also do the same. Pula’s Arena Hospitality Group, in addition to the 365-day Grand Kazela Campsite Arena, opened Park Plaza Belvedere Medulin Hotel way back in January, and the Medulin Campsite Arena opened back on March the 27th. Projections also seem good for this company’s facilities on the islands and even in Marija Bistrica in the continental part of the country.
From today, so from April the 1st, Plava Laguna will open the doors of the following hotels: Parentium and Park in Porec, Melia Coral for Plava Laguna in Umag and Hotel Bonavia in Rijeka, which is set to remain operational all the time during 2021.
After April the 20th, it will open all of its camps in both Porec and Umag in Istria, and in May it will open yet more. More specifically, from April the 23rd, all Blue Lagoon camps that operate under the Istracamping brand in Porec and Umag will open up as normal, as well as Garden Suites Park Blue Lagoon, Apartments Park Blue Lagoon, Villas Park Blue Lagoon, Apartments Bellevue Blue Lagoon, Villas Bellevue Blue Lagoon , Hotel Molindrio Plava Laguna, Apartments Galijot Plava Laguna, Hotel Istra Plava Laguna, Hotel Plavi Plava Laguna, Apartments Astra Plava Laguna in Porec and Hotel Sol Umag for Plava Laguna, Garden Suites and Rooms Sol Umag for Plava Laguna, Hotel Sol Garden Istra for Plava Laguna, Residence Sol Garden Istria for Plava Laguna, Melia Istrian Villas for Plava Laguna, Apartments Sol Amfora for Plava Laguna and Apartments Sol Stella for Plava Laguna in Umag.
From April the 1st, Camp Aminess Sirena – Novigrad, Aminess Atea Camping Resort and Aminess Gaia Green Villas will open in Njivice on the island of Krk. The opening of the Aminess Maravea Camping Resort in Novigrad on April the 23rd this year is also planned.
The Boutique Hostel Forum, a design hostel in the very centre of Zadar, which has been named the best Croatian hostel four times and which operates in accordance with the national safety label – Safe Stay in Croatia, has been open since March the 15th.
With German license plates already visible now and then on Croatian highways, just what this pre-season is set to bring remains to be seen, and although it will be absolutely nothing like pre-pandemic, record 2019, an improvement when compared the a horrendous 2020 might be expected.
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