Judging by the crowd that dominated the popular Safari bar at Cape Kamenjak in southern Istria on the last weekend of May, another excellent tourist season has begun. The line for a portion of ćevapčići or grilled sardines could be compared to the crowds in August. Judging by the most commonly spoken language – German (Croatian was hardly heard), these tourists did not read in Deutsche Welle that Croatia is more expensive for German tourists than Turkey, Greece, Portugal, and Spain (or they simply do not care).
The German Federal Statistical Office Destatis compared the costs of gastronomic services and hotel accommodation in European countries to determine where the cheapest summer vacation is. It calculated that a vacation in Turkey is 56 percent cheaper than in Germany, while in Switzerland it is even 61 percent more expensive. According to a text a few pages later, which speaks of Germany as the new European patient, the cold will be felt by all partners, including tourist destinations.
Croatia is 89 percent more expensive than Turkey
Destatis’s price relations do not apply only to Germans. Tourist services in Switzerland are almost four times more expensive for everyone than in Turkey, where money, therefore, has the most value. What you would pay 1000 euros for there will cost 3659 euros in Switzerland. Following the example of ‘Big Mac index’, we introduced ‘Turkish tourist index’, based on the cost of 1000 euros in that country. You would pay 1795 euros for a service at that price from a Turkish resort in Greece, 1864 euros in Spain, and 1886 euros in Croatia…
It should be noted that our new tourist index correlates well with the Big Mac, which is the cheapest among selected countries in Turkey (2.69 dollars) and the most expensive in the touristically most expensive Switzerland (6.71 dollars). The only significant difference is that most Eurozone countries have a unified Big Mac index – 4.77 dollars.
This current indicator is based on the price from January of 3.69 dollars (3.45 euros). Today, prices are higher, and the Big Mac does not cost the same throughout Croatia. In Zagreb, it is four euros, while in Vukova Gorica, it is 4.50 euros, or 4.25 dollars, which is close to the unified price for the Eurozone. A similar logic applies to tourist destinations. A week around Karlobag in a four-star facility can be booked for less than a thousand euros per person, comparable accommodation is even cheaper in Slavonia, but in Dubrovnik, for the same category at the same time, you pay more than 4000 euros. Even more drastic differences could be revealed in comparing places around Marseille with the fashionable Saint-Tropez.
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Now, the real question is what is undervalued or overvalued, to which there is no answer, or only the market provides it. If hotels around Karlobag are empty, prices will continue to drop, and if Dubrovnik is sold out again this summer, hoteliers would be foolish not to raise prices. However, this brings us to the other side of the coin. Not everyone along the Adriatic coast lives off tourism, but they pay more for hamburgers, bread, milk, meat, utility fees… They can hardly afford a coffee on Dubrovnik’s Stradun or Hvar’s Pjaca.
Victims of tourist terror
The problem is not only for the local non-tourist population. Recently, we listened in Pula to the daily lament of entrepreneurs who are increasingly becoming victims of a kind of tourist terror. Land prices have skyrocketed so much that it is hard to think about developing existing production projects or starting new ones; unless they are for tourist purposes. Everything is subordinated to His Majesty the Guest, who is disturbed by the clucking of hens and the noise of tractors early in the morning in the vineyard, so local authorities ban both hens and tractors. And new villas sprouting in the interior cannot be imagined without pools – in one village of 1300 inhabitants, there are already more than 300, which is a density almost like in Beverly Hills.
However, the infrastructure cannot handle it, so when the pools are filled, there is not enough pressure in the water supply for irrigation, and the compressor cannot operate due to unstable voltage in the electrical network. It is a real shame that there is still enough water for pools and that electricity does not interrupt the operation of air conditioners, refrigerators, ice machines, televisions, computers, and all other gadgets that tourists bring with them. Immediately, both water supply and electrical solutions would be found.
But, to return to the tourist index. I cheer for hoteliers – to raise accommodation prices – and for restaurateurs – to ‘rip off’ prices for fish, pasta, coffee, rakija, and wine… This is the only variant to compensate for the worrying production deficit along the coast. Tourism could also be additionally taxed, given that it is doing so well, and rare industrialists should receive subsidies from the central and local government. In return, they could, for example, organize commercial tours in the area of Pula’s Uljanik: ‘Here was once one of the largest shipyards on the Adriatic.’ And perhaps curious tourists could be offered welding workshops. After all, there is no longer enough space on the beaches for everyone at the same time.
