Returnees from Australia Launch Platform for Sailors

Since tourism fills our state treasury and builds GDP, there has been a battle for consensus on what kind of tourism we actually want and how much we can stretch the short season. For now, we only know that we nurture mass tourism, although we desire a more luxurious one, which would cover significantly more months than the two-month peak. What has emerged as a ‘cover’ for both headaches is undoubtedly nautical tourism, a world leader in chartering. It is estimated that Croatia holds about 40 percent of the total world charter fleet, with over 4,300 registered active charter vessels (sailboats, catamarans, and motor yachts). According to global booking platforms, Croatia regularly accounts for more than 35 percent of the world’s weekly charter bookings.

However, competition is fierce, and price pressure is increasing, so every innovation or new service is a desperately needed added value that keeps the competitive edge on our side. In the technological age, that edge is undoubtedly digital applications. They are an indispensable tool for every captain, skipper, and recreational sailor as they combine safety, navigation, and logistics in one place. Croatian Nautical Hub is a domestic digital platform that connects sailors with marinas, nautical services, crew members, and other service providers along the Croatian coast. It was designed by two sisters, Valentina Čorak and Martina Boljkovac, returnees from Australia.

– We noticed that the information needed by sailors is often scattered across a large number of different websites or is difficult to find, especially for foreign guests. We wanted to create a central and simple place where users can find everything they need during their stay and sailing in the Adriatic. The platform allows searching for marinas by location and other criteria, finding various nautical services and offerings, and searching for crew members. It also includes information about fuel, weather conditions, local amenities, events, pet services, and rules and guidelines important for safe navigation in Croatian waters. Users can save favorite locations and services and organize the information they need in one place – say the sisters, adding that, according to their information, Croatian Nautical Hub is the first Croatian digital platform that consolidates such a wide range of information and services intended for sailors in one place.

The application is still in the development phase

Namely, there are individual pages and directories that cover certain segments of the nautical sector, but this application connects the entire nautical ecosystem – marinas, services, crew members, fuel, weather information, local amenities, and other useful data.

Who is it intended for? Besides sailors, boat owners, charter guests, crew members, and marinas, it is also aimed at businesses, companies, services, and independent service providers operating in the nautical sector. The platform provides them with additional visibility and the opportunity for potential users to find them precisely when they need a specific service.

– We want to help smaller local providers of quality services who may not have a significant online presence but have the knowledge, experience, and services that sailors need – they say, hoping that the platform will also boost all those small businesses that would become significantly more visible with it.

The application is, however, still in the initial development phase, the sisters are diligently working on data entry and verification and expanding the database of marinas, services, and all other service providers, but they believe that Croatian Nautical Hub can benefit the entire nautical and local community. Because it enables sailors to quickly find necessary and useful information while providing Croatian companies, businesses, and independent service providers with greater visibility and easier access to potential clients.

Return from Australia

– It is especially important for us to support small local entrepreneurs and craftsmen along the Croatian coast. Many of them provide excellent services, but domestic and foreign guests find it difficult to locate them if they are not sufficiently present online. By including them in the platform, we want to contribute to the local economy and help ensure that revenue from nautical tourism remains more in local communities. Consolidating information can also contribute to safer and easier navigation at sea, a better experience for guests, and further digitalization of the Croatian nautical sector – say Valentina and Martina.

How will the application develop further? Plans include expanding the database of marinas, services, crew members, and other service providers as well as developing new functionalities based on user needs and feedback. The plan is certainly to deepen cooperation with companies, tourist and other institutions as well as all companies connected to the Croatian nautical sector.

What makes the story even more interesting is that it was conceived by sisters who returned from Australia a few years ago – Martina was taken to Canberra by her parents when she was only one year old, Valentina was born there (as was their youngest brother Stipe, who also opened his own business). Children who grew up in the capital of one of the most developed countries in the world settled in the small town of Biograd with their families, bringing a sense of business there. Valentina worked for the Australian Research Council for over 15 years, while Martina worked in the Australian Department of Education. Through their work, they gained experience in public administration, administration, public policy, education, information technology, process management, and the development of digital solutions.

Biograd na Moru chosen consciously

– Australia provided us with many opportunities, and we will always be grateful for that. There we gained valuable education, professional experience, and security. However, Croatia has always been part of our identity, and for years we dreamed of returning one day with our families. About four years ago, we decided to turn that dream into reality. It was not easy to leave established careers, security, and the life we knew and start almost anew in another country. Although Croatia is the land of our roots, the return required great adjustment, courage, and patience – the sisters recount, adding that the idea was initially to create something here, that is, to use the experience they gained in Australia in a useful way. Croatian Nautical Hub was born precisely from that desire.

– We consciously chose Biograd na Moru. We did not feel that we had to go to Zagreb or some larger city to achieve our business goals. We wanted to live by the sea, closer to our roots, and in a community where we can feel that our work has a direct impact. Life in Biograd allowed us to closely understand the needs of the nautical sector and recognize the space for the development of Croatian Nautical Hub. When you return from a large and economically strong country like Australia to a small Croatian town, people sometimes wonder why you did it. For us, the wealth of life has never been about salary levels or city size. We value the sense of belonging, family, lifestyle, the sea, and the opportunity for our children to grow up connected to Croatia, its language, culture, and their roots. Privately, we hope to build a peaceful, stable, and fulfilling life here for our families. Professionally, we want to prove that a modern and valuable digital project can also be developed from a smaller Croatian town. We hope that Croatian Nautical Hub will become a platform that truly helps sailors, supports Croatian entrepreneurs, and contributes to the development of the Croatian nautical sector – the sisters say in one breath, adding that the return is actually the beginning of a completely new chapter in life and an opportunity to transfer everything they learned in Australia to Croatia and build something of their own here.

Their story is not just a business venture but also proof that global knowledge and local potentials can be transformed into a formula that brings life back to small places on the Adriatic and gives fresh wind to development.