Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac: Austria Could Change Mind Because of New Measures in Croatia

August 19, 2020 – After Austria rejected Croatia’s request to introduce testing measures only for certain parts of Croatia, instead of placing the entire country on the epidemiological red list, Minister of Tourism and Sports Nikolina Brnjac said that she expected Austria to change its mind.

Index.hr reports that on Tuesday night as a guest on Croatian Television (HTV), the Minister commented on Austria’s decision that returnees from holidays in Croatia must show a current negative coronavirus test or undergo testing within 48 hours, as well as Slovenia’s thoughts on introducing quarantine for all returnees from Croatia this weekend.

She pointed out that nothing is left to chance and that they regularly exchange information and contact Slovenian colleagues, give them transparent data on numbers by counties, so that they can see that not all Croatian counties are in the same situation, i.e., that only two have an increase in the number of patients.

“We expect them to take into account the situation in the counties because these are relevant data and they are familiar with it,” said Brnjac. “I think that such a decision could be expected from them,” she added.

As for Austria, she says, the list is revised and changed about every two weeks.

“Given the new measures of the Headquarters, we expect that Austria could also change its opinion regarding Croatia,” Brnjac said.

Asked whether Croatia would retaliate with the same measures, the Minister of Tourism said that she would not talk about reciprocity. She also said that she had information that there was not a single patient registered in Croatian hotels because everyone adhered to strict epidemiological measures.

She added that the number of sick tourists in Croatia is negligible.

The minister said it helped that Croatia is a car-destination. She also pointed out that Dubrovnik-Neretva County was recording better tourist results in August, adding that the airlines’ good announcements for September and October were especially pleasing.

As for sports competitions, Brnjac said they would certainly be held, but the Headquarters has adopted certain measures – a third of spectators may be in the stands, while respecting all epidemiological measures, and the HNL has decided not to have spectators.

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.