Employers and professional associations in tourism welcome the adoption of the new state property law if it means introducing order and facilitating the use of state property, including tourist land, they emphasize in response to Hina’s inquiry from the most important tourist associations.
Minister of State Property Goran Marić presented last week the proposal for the law on the management of state property, which has passed public discussion and could be sent for debate in the Croatian Parliament in the next month.
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Minister Marić assessed that the new law on the management of state property will increase the efficiency of managing that property, prevent its illegal use, and increase revenues for the state budget.
He also stated that the Ministry of State Property will become responsible for tourist camps, regardless of whether they are located in a construction zone or on agricultural land, noting, among other things, that camps are at the forefront of unregulated status, and that, besides the state, hotel companies have also suffered damage because they could not invest.
In response to Hina’s inquiry about the proposal for the new law, employers and professional associations in tourism – HUP Hospitality and Tourism Association, the Association of Employers in Croatian Hospitality (UPUHH), the Association of Hoteliers at HGK, and the Camping Association of Croatia (KUH) – welcomed the adoption of the new law if it will introduce order and facilitate the use of state property, including tourist land.
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This is an issue that has troubled hoteliers, campsite owners, and other investors for years, and they expect it to be resolved as soon as possible.
“By introducing order and facilitating the use of state property, including tourist land, we mean not only the payment of a certain type of fee but also the unambiguous determination of ownership titles and opening up possibilities for the use of property in the broadest sense, including the possibility of construction in accordance with the applicable spatial planning documentation,” the associations state.
They also note that at a recently held meeting, they concluded that there is an understanding in the government of the key problems and the direction of their resolution, and therefore they believe that the final text of the law on the management of state property will take tourism into account as a sector that drives the Croatian economy.
They remind that tourist land was created in the process of transformation and privatization in such a way that part of the land used by tourist companies for regular operations in camps, hotels, and tourist resorts did not enter the core capital.
In order to legalize the status of that land and enable normal business operations, a law regulating this came into force in 2011, under which trading companies from the tourism sector submitted requests for obtaining concessions on tourist land.
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“However, to this day, not a single concession contract has been signed,” they state from the associations.
Based on that Law on Tourist and Other Construction Land, for all reported areas, trading companies or owners are obliged to pay 50 percent of the concession fee until the contract is signed, and the remaining 50 percent will be calculated for the period after the finalization of the contract.
According to the analysis of the hotelier association, tourist companies have regularly paid half of the concession fees since then, reserving the rest in their books to make payments at the moment when the law is implemented and contracts are signed.
“It is certain that damage has been suffered regarding tourist land for both the state and the tourism sector due to the inadequate and inapplicable existing law, as no concession contracts have been concluded to date, although companies have paid and continue to pay part of the fee. Despite this, legal-property relations on tourist land remain unclear, which hinders the possibility of full utilization of that land, and therefore there have been no certain investments desirable for the competitiveness of Croatian tourism, while the state has missed all those consequential revenues generated from investments such as VAT, taxes, and contributions on workers’ wages in the construction and hospitality sectors, profit tax, and others,” they convey from the associations.
Due to all this, all associations expect that this issue will be adequately regulated by law as soon as possible so that companies can conclude contracts and invest further.
Cappelli: The Ministry of Tourism Participates in the Drafting of the New Law
Stating that the Ministry of Tourism actively participates in the drafting of the new law through working groups, Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli emphasizes in response to Hina that the Ministry of Tourism, based on requests from trading companies for concessions on tourist land co-owned by the Republic of Croatia and based on the existing Law on Tourist and Other Construction Land, issues invoices for concession fees for the land on which camps are located.
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“The Ministry of Tourism issues invoices for 77 camps, meaning that concession fees are currently being collected for 73 camps where trading companies use land co-owned by the Republic of Croatia, while further collection for four camps is being analyzed, considering newly established circumstances,” Cappelli states.
He notes that last year, invoices were issued in this regard worth about 31 million kuna, which has been almost fully paid so far, and that according to this law and subordinate acts, the collected amount is divided into three parts – 60 percent goes to the Tourism Development Fund, which is ‘managed’ by the Ministry of Tourism and from which the Public Tourism Infrastructure Development Program is financed, while 20 percent goes to local government units, and 20 percent to regional and county government units.
