Discovered Sunken Roman Ship Near Pag

Vedran Dorušić, President of the Diving Tourism Community of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, participated in the discovery of the wreck of a Roman ship near the island of Pag during a tourist dive, which is believed to date back to the early first century BC.

This represents a significant new attraction for diving tourism, which, along with around 180 diving centers, is experiencing steady growth. The program for conducting underwater activities in parts of the sea where cultural goods are located is provided by the Ministry of Culture, which includes 31 protected areas for the period from 2014 to 2018. A new program for the five-year period is expected soon, and the Diving Tourism Community of the Croatian Chamber of Economy is collaborating with the Ministry of Culture on future conditions and treatment of these areas to enhance the competitiveness of diving tourism.

– The latest archaeological find in the Croatian underwater has found understanding in the Ministry of Culture, that protection is to be made in collaboration with diving centers through the installation of video surveillance, other technical protection measures, and the application of new methods of presentation and tourist promotion. With a specialized form of tourist and cultural offerings, diving enthusiasts are at the forefront regarding marine environmental protection and are acutely aware of the importance of sustainable tourism, said Dorušić regarding the discovery.

In Croatia, there is also intentional sinking of ships that serve as diving attractions. This practice is more commonly known as scuttling, and the first ship to be sunk in this manner in Croatia is the Vis, an admiral ship of the Yugoslav Navy, which is located in the Istrian bay of Polje.

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– Over the past year, there has been an increasingly better regulation of the profession in Croatia, thus every new attraction is more than welcome. Tourist diving has been singled out as a special form of tourism in the new Law on Providing Services in Tourism, and service providers for tourist diving have been defined, thereby reducing the space for unfair competition. By the end of the year, the adoption of the Diving Safety Regulation 2 is expected, on which we are working intensively with the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, said Dorušić, adding that data collection on diving centers is also underway with the aim of promotion on the central HTZ website.

Dorušić emphasizes that among the remaining issues in the profession, the problem of qualified workforce is still present since, in addition to professional qualifications and international certificates, knowledge of foreign languages is also required. For this reason, the Community is considering developing a concept for simple training for diving leaders, especially for foreign workers, but also to strengthen the popularity of diving among young people in Croatia.

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According to a survey by Tomas Summer 2017 from the Institute for Tourism, diving is a motivation for coming to Croatia for more than 6% of respondents, while when choosing activities during their stay, 16.3% of guests choose diving. The highest percentage is in the group under 29 years old, at 20%.

According to data from one of the leading global organizations in diving, PADI, over the last 20 years, they have certified more than 900,000 new divers each year. One of the leading diving destinations in the world is Egypt, where the diving attraction and wreck of the sunken ship SS Thistlegorm generates more revenue than the pyramids in Giza.