Global portals: Croatian tourism has received a boost

With Croatia’s accession to the EU, its tourism has received an additional ‘boost’ with, for example, greater passenger rights in air transport and lower mobile roaming charges, as well as the planning of new investment cycles in hotel and tourism infrastructure by the public (state) and private sectors of around 7 billion euros by 2020, which has also been stimulated by this year’s introduction of a lower VAT rate for hospitality and tourism of 10 percent.

All of this, according to the global portal 4Hoteliers, leads to an increase in the quality and competitiveness of Croatian tourism in foreign markets, which should also be supported by the announced amendments to some laws, such as the one on tourist land, which will enable the use of previously barely utilized land parcels within tourist companies and local communities.

Investments, as noted on that portal, are planned for the modernization of existing tourist infrastructure, which also includes the privatization of state tourism companies that is yet to be implemented, but also in the segment of small and family hotels through already announced credit lines from the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) for this year, as well as in the expansion of content and offerings, such as pools, which are subsidized this year by the Ministry of Tourism.

Such measures and the reduced VAT rate also encourage the construction and renovation of hotels, and according to one of the leading global providers of B2B (business to business) hotel data, TopHotelProjects, there are ‘currently twelve hotel projects underway in Croatia with more than 2,900 rooms.’

One of the largest hotel projects in Croatia is marked by this provider as the “Gateway Project” in Rijeka, which plans, among other things, the construction of a highly categorized hotel with around 600 rooms, luxury apartments, and a shopping center and marina, with the first openings expected in the spring of next year.

They also highlight the investment of the Arqaam Capital fund from Dubai of around 100 million euros in the luxury Hvar Island Resort on Hvar, which is expected to start this year and will be managed by the South African chain Kerzner International Resorts.

The Ministry of Tourism is aware of these projects, as it has been reported that the media published information about the one on Hvar last year, while for the Rijeka “Gateway Project” they note that at the beginning of this July, the Port Authority of Rijeka and the city of Rijeka, organized by the Rijeka Society of Architects, announced a public, international, open, and in one phase anonymous survey competition for the development of an urban-architectural design solution for the arrangement of the Delta and Baroš Port areas in Rijeka. This competition is open until November this year, three works are planned to be selected, and then a concessionaire will be sought. The project also includes the construction of a passenger terminal, a nautical center with a marina, hotels, and other commercial facilities, with the Ministry considering that the deadlines for any opening cannot be as early as 2014, but are uncertain given the type of competition and its implementation.

Commenting on these announcements for Hina, Minister of Tourism Darko Lorencin emphasizes that he is pleased that investors are interested in Croatia, especially due to the 12 companies in the tourism sector that are majority state-owned and are in the process of pre-bankruptcy settlement and are seeking interested strategic partners.

It is also a fact that Croatia has become a more attractive investment country due to the reduction of the VAT rate in hospitality and tourism from 25 to 10 percent and with its accession to the EU, says the minister.

He hopes that there will be even more similar announcements in foreign media and portals because, in addition to needing to increase investment attractiveness, we also have a new Strategy for the Development of Tourism in Croatia that provides a clear direction for investors on how we want to manage our tourism product.