August 20, 2020 – The coronavirus spokesman of the Slovenian government, Jelko Kacin, confirmed on Wednesday what was speculated – Slovenia will put Croatia on the red list Thursday night. However, he said that in reality, Croatia is already on the Slovenian red list. Croatian Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac responded.
Index.hr reports that Slovenian tourists will most likely have until the end of the week to return to Slovenia to avoid a two-week self-isolation.
“In reality, Croatia is already on the red list today, and formally it will be tomorrow,” Kacin said, adding that the situation in Croatia is dramatic.
He went a step further and said that Croatia no longer controls the situation with the coronavirus.
“We have to be realistic and understand that they are no longer in control of their situation; their epidemiologists can no longer do that. There will be big problems in the health system. The situation requires sober heads and decisive moves,” Kacin said.
“The situation in Croatia is so bad that we have no choice but to call on our citizens to return to Slovenia as soon as possible. Things are getting worse quickly and it will be much worse,” Kacin added.
The Minister of Tourism and Sports, Nikolina Brnjac, answered him.
The press release received from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports is transmitted in its entirety:
“Following the latest statements by the coronavirus spokesman of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, Jelko Kacin, we reject his allegations that the situation in Croatia is dramatic.
We remind you that Slovenia is continuously at the very top of the market crucial for the overall result of Croatian tourism, which is illustrated by eVisitor indicators according to which in June 2020, we recorded approximately 207 thousand arrivals and 1.1 million overnight stays from the Slovenian market. July reached a level of approximately 382 thousand arrivals and 3.4 million overnight stays.
According to preliminary indicators for August (as of August 18), we are currently at the level of approximately 238 thousand arrivals and 2.2 million overnight stays of Slovenes, of which 71.4 percent are realized in Istria, Kvarner and Lika. We want to point out that in these three counties, a total of 10 cases of newly infected with COVID-19 were recorded in the past 24 hours.
The perception of Croatia is extremely good for most Slovenian tourists; in Croatia, they feel safe since they know it well and are the owners of numerous properties (more than 100,000).
Minister of Tourism and Sports Nikolina Brnjac is in constant contact with representatives of associations in the tourism system, to ensure full compliance with epidemiological measures in tourist facilities, as well as the possibility of introducing testing for foreign tourists in tourist facilities.
Croatia will continue to do everything in its power to ensure that the relevant foreign institutions have all the accurate and precise information on the basis of which they make decisions on the inclusion of countries on risk lists, i.e., on the lists of safe countries,” the Ministry said.
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