Goran Fabris: Perhaps some exclusive hotels would benefit from their own piece of beach, but the new Law absolutely does not allow them to do so

There are few topics in our Beautiful Croatia that can unite the political opposition. Mostly, these are populist themes, and the latest is – beaches. Where will people swim in the summer.

Tomorrow, the Government’s proposal for a new Law on Maritime Property and Ports, which has not been changed for over 20 years, is expected to be in parliamentary procedure. Eleven opposition representatives have announced their obstruction. The opposition claims that the Law is unclear, vague, dangerous, and unconstitutional, and they are concerned about the categorization of beaches that have not been categorized until now (into public beaches, hotel beaches, and beaches for special purposes, mentioning functional units of beaches with hotels, and registering a lien on maritime property as a common good).

However, aside from political slogans like ‘we will not let them steal our beaches’, we have not learned their concrete proposals and ways they would regulate the issue of maritime property in Croatia, which has not been clearly defined until now.

Some criticisms are certainly justified. First of all, it is absurd that we are making some solutions before we have even regulated the resource. No Government has determined the boundaries of maritime property until now. But it seems that we need to start from somewhere, and if the private sector is asked, then this is a good start.

It should be taken into account that until now it has not been legally defined who and where can engage in activities on the beaches and that concessions have mostly depended on the decisions of local sheriffs. In the proposed Law, logical units are now defined, and if a tourist-hospitality facility is located near the beach, it has the right to apply for a concession, provided it meets the conditions, and of course, it also has the obligation to pay the concession fee.

We asked representatives of the business community, hoteliers, whether this Law allows them to fence off beaches below hotels just for their guests and prohibit access to citizens. They firmly state that not a single paragraph of the proposed Law allows them to do so.

Goran Fabris, a member of the Management Board of Rudan d.o.o, which owns Terme Jezerčica and manages several facilities on the coast, including the popular family hotel Lišanj on the beach in Novi Vinodolski, believes that the uproar about beaches is confusing and serves solely to collect political points, just like the recent topic about banning work on Sundays.

– This is a necessary Law that will finally allow entrepreneurs engaged in economic activities on maritime property to justify their investments and plan their business more efficiently and long-term. Croatian beaches are a resource just as valuable as ski resorts in Kronplatz. We can talk about year-round tourism, but it is beach tourism that brings tourists to us, especially during the summer months when the highest prices are achieved and the greatest profit from tourism is accumulated.

Beaches are an integral part of our tourist product; we must invest in them just as we do in hotel rooms or additional hotel facilities, and this for a longer period. This also implies some control over what happens on the beaches. This Law does not foresee a ban on citizens’ access to beaches below hotels. Perhaps some exclusive facilities that have invested millions of euros would benefit from their own piece of beach; however, this Law does not foresee that in any of its parts – claims Fabris.

Much ado about nothing

What it does foresee, he adds, is that no local entrepreneur can open any activity on the beach, such as a ‘grill stand’ or a jewelry stall, but it allows the concession holder some control over the standard of the beach in which they invest.

– Nothing actually changes, except that some procedures are simpler. Beach interventions are still negotiated with the local community, but the concession holder defines the dynamics of investment and service standards. When a hotel is built, a long-term plan for the development of the beach and hotel is made, thinking 20 years ahead, not for a year or two, which is how long a concession lasts, for example, for sunbed renters. Short-term concessions will still be awarded to such entrepreneurs, but now at least we have some framework for long-term planning – concludes Fabris.

Another of our interlocutors from the hotel business, who wished to remain anonymous, pointed out the absurdity in which the regulation of maritime property in the case of private accommodation, which, unlike hotels that are in the minority, makes up 60 percent of the Croatian accommodation structure, is not mentioned at all in this entire uproar.

– From Savudrija to Dalmatia, there are private houses, practically in the sea, that prohibit access. Hoteliers, who are the only ones investing in the standard of our beaches, are criticized for wanting to provide their guests with the service standard they paid for, while at the same time, private renters do not invest anything in their communities’ infrastructure and then shout that they have nowhere to swim. In addition, they achieve high prices by advertising ‘their private beach’ and entering the sea directly from their accommodation. – says our interlocutor.

State Secretary Josip Bilaver, to whom Minister Oleg Butković, Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, entrusted the task of drafting the Law, emphasized in his interview with Slobodna Dalmacija that there are several articles of the Law that speak quite contrary to the opposition: Article 79, paragraph 4 “Marine beaches must be accessible to everyone under the same conditions”; in Article 80, paragraph 3 “It is prohibited to nourish and fence natural beaches”; in Article 83, paragraph 3 “Public marine beach must not be fenced”; in Article 84, paragraph 3, “the marine beach in front of a hotel, camp, or tourist settlement must not be fenced” and that he does not see how anyone dares to say that the Government wants to fence off beaches.

No matter how many times we turn the topic with interlocutors, they all agree that in this case, there has been much ado about nothing. We hope that in tomorrow’s parliamentary debate we will hear more arguments and fewer political slogans from our opposition representatives.