Nautical tourism is a very promising branch of Croatia’s most important economic branch, and the idea is now to make sure that nautical tourism is what Croatia becomes known for, and not as a mere party destination.
As Novac writes on the 27th of August, 2020, at the suggestion of the Association of Accommodation Providers on Boats – the HGK charter, and in cooperation with the Sibenik-Knin County Tourist Board, the County Crisis Staff, the Sibenik-Knin County Public Health Institute and the Sibenik Health Centre, a tourist testing point was organised. The same is being sought by the Zadar County Tourist Board.
”For guests who came in spite of everything or for those who still want to come, and their home countries require testing on return, we must provide efficient and cheap testing for coronavirus,” said Pasko Klisovic, president of the HGK charter. Some European countries aren’t happy with the development of the epidemiological situation and are putting Croatia and some of its counties on their respective red lists. However, people’s general comment, Klisovic said, is that they feel safer here in Croatia than they do back at home or at work, and they also enjoy themselves here.
A couple of isolated micro-hotspots (clubs and infections among the very young population) have been placed in the foreground, while the nautical tourist season has been going with the offer of the perfect self-isolation conditions for all guests (mostly families, couples and the elderly population, all of whom tend to spend more).
”We keep repeating what everyone already knows. Nautical tourism and charters are by far the safest form of holiday. Charter guests go directly to the boats from their car where they stay in their intimate environment for seven or more days, they don’t go to any party events but only to marinas and restaurants where there will be no crowds now,” explained Klisovic, adding that charters also have their very own protocol for receiving guests and handing over vessels, which guarantees a high level of security. Marinas also have their own protocols that involve extra security.
The aforementioned association says that they still have a large number of booked arrangements that haven’t been cancelled and they’re afraid that due to risky tourist facilities, the classic period for which is much shorter than that of the charter season and whose guests spend a third of the average consumption of charter guests, they will sacrifice literally half of the charter season.
”We lost the entire pre-season, we can’t afford to lose the post-season,” said Klisovic, nothing that if nothing is done, Croatia will lose not only the post-season, but also part of its charter companies, ie jobs which are either directly or indirectly related to them.
In view of all this, the association has stated that it is urgent to introduce and implement measures that can reduce the number of daily infections to the level those numbers were at at least a month ago and to provide as many points for the fast and affordable testing of guests as a condition for returning to their countries of residence. They also pointed out that Croatia must do more to promote nautical tourism as a specific type of holiday, which by all elements is currently the safest form of tourism.
For more on Croatian nautical tourism, follow our travel section.
For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily.
Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language – now available in 24 languages
Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.
