Although no one seriously counted on tourist traffic for Easter, which falls relatively early this year, the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading across Europe has sunk the last hopes for the arrival of foreign tourists in Croatia, reports Poslovni.hr.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Croatian tourism will obviously rely almost exclusively on domestic guests in this pre-season. Still, the current epidemiological situation does not promise much here either.
Although it was announced earlier, there will be no ‘Vacation-Worthy Week’ campaign this spring, as it has been postponed to the fall. The Cro-card did not pick up as planned, either.
Part of the hotels, or a total of about 1,100 in Croatia, will try to open their doors.
One of the larger hotel houses selling Easter packages is Aminess hotels and camps, which announced the opening of facilities in Novigrad and on the island of Krk.
The Aminess Maestral Hotel in Novigrad will be the first to open its doors this Friday, March 26, while the nearby Aminess Sirena camp will open on April 1. The first guests will be welcomed on April 1 at Aminess Atea Camping Resort and Aminess Gaia Green Villas in Njivice on Krk.
“Aminess hotels and camps will present a unique gourmet offer this Easter holiday, which will be further enriched with the award-winning Aminess olive oil Vergal for all lovers of Istrian delicacies. We look forward to the first guests at our tourist destinations this year.
The year behind us was challenging, but we are optimistic about the future,” says Mladen Knežević, Sales and Marketing Director of Aminess, whose facilities have been awarded the Safe Stay in Croatia label.
An Easter opening was also announced by Poreč’s Plava laguna, which will try to fill its facilities with domestic guests by joining the Croatian tourist card (Cro Card) project.
From now on, all holders of the Cro Card will receive a 10 percent discount at Plava Laguna facilities and the mobile homes in the Istracamping campsites.
“We are glad that we got involved in this project to encourage our local guests to spend their holidays in Croatia.
Plava Laguna has facilities in Poreč, Umag, and Rijeka, so we invite all those interested to use their tourist cards for their weekend vacations or their summer vacation in our facilities. Guests can choose accommodation in one of our four resorts, 25 hotels or 13 suites.
The Cro Card is a great project that encourages domestic tourism, which is extremely important to us in this pandemic time, especially because other European countries will want to keep domestic guests in their countries,” said Plava Laguna.
However, for now, they still have nothing to look forward to when it comes to realizing the Cro Card because this project is still in its infancy, largely due to the pandemic.
According to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, from July 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, a total of 15,507 transactions were realized. Only 2728 tourist cards were issued by the Croatian Postal Bank (HPB) in the mentioned period.
As it is known, the Croatian tourist card is a project of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to increase the consumption of Croatian citizens in catering and tourist facilities throughout Croatia.
Employers can pay up to HRK 2,500 of non-taxable income per year to their employees, and the tourist cardholder can cover their costs for using services and products within the tourist offer during the year. They can top up the card with their own money and use discounts.
The ‘Vacation-Worthy Week’ campaign, implemented by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports in cooperation with the Croatian National Tourist Board, will be delayed to the post-season, guided by the idea that the most important thing now is to contribute to a favorable epidemiological situation through responsible behavior to achieve the best possible results in the peak part of the tourist year, said the Ministry.
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