During April this year, 569,988 passengers passed through the Croatian airports, a 33.4 percent increase over the same period last year, according to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Friday.
In the first four months of this year, 1.26 million passengers passed through Croatian airports, an increase of 14.2 percent over the same period last year.
The latest data shows that the largest number of passengers in April was recorded at the airport in Zagreb, or more precisely - 239,887 passengers, 19.1 percent more than in April last year. Dubrovnik Airport had a great growth of 52.3 percent, or 143,299 passengers and Split airport had 120.980 passengers, which is 64 percent more than last April. Zadar Airport also shows an increase with 47,239 passengers, or 15 percent more than last year.
Official statistics show that most of the passengers who used Croatian airports in April were those who came from or traveled to German airports - 136,798 or 34 percent more than last year.
In airplanes arriving or traveling the UK there were 71,104 passengers, an increase of 50.3 percent, while 48.097 passengers registered at French airports, or 14.6 percent more than last year.
In April, the largest increase in passenger numbers was recorded on flights to or from Turkey by 69.2 percent or 18,636 passengers.
The total number of landings and take-offs at airports in Croatia in April 2017 was 7,624, which is a 15 percent increase compared to the number of landings and take-offs in the same period last year.
Photo Exhibition - ?From Illirya to Elsinore? Midsummer Scene and Dubrovnik by Bari Goddard
Bari Goddard has been working and exhibiting under the pseudonym G O D Photography for the last 15 years. His work encompasses film-making, photography, painting and music. This exhibition showcases images from 'Hamlet' and 'Twelfth Night' as well as scenes of Dubrovnik inspired by the plays of Marin Drzic.
His recent photographic exhibitions include the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in London 2015 and 2016, the Louvre Paris 2015 and the Cave Gallery London 2015. Whilst relatively new to film-making, he has completed visually outlandish videos for bands such as Danse Society, Sex Gang Children and Knives, as well as CD cover artwork for Andi Sex Gang and Wormhead amongst others. He has performed with the likes of Jimmy Somerville, Madonna, Cliff Richard, Banderas, Horse, Then Jerico etc.
'Midsummer Scene /Night Dubrovnik' his last exhibition in Croatia, opened in Dubrovnik, on June 2016 – commissioned by the City of Dubrovnik for their annual festival 'Midsummer Scene'.
“The 13,” his most recent exhibition previewed at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in London from May 25th – June 26th.
Bari Goddard's exhibition traces both Dubrovnik and Midsummer Scene Festival during the seasons 2015 and 2016, when the festival staged the critically acclaimed international box office hit “Twelfth Night” and “Hamlet” featuring the first woman in the titular role of the play on a major Croatian stage. In a blend of behind and on the stage photographs from Midsummer Scene productions, Illyria and Elsinore - two vital, almost mythical Shakespearean locations - come together with Bari Goddard's unique portrait of Dubrovnik that has proved as the perfect stage for great classical theatre.
The exhibition will be held from the 1st to the 7th of July in the Sponza Palace in the Old City of Dubrovnik and admission is free of charge.
UberBoat starts officially starts operations in Croatia
According to information, UberBOAT will officially commence operations in Croatia on the 12th of June.
The company did not want to reveal any more details, however, the spokesperson Matija Mesic said shortly that a press release is scheduled for the 12th of June and that the Croatian UberBOAT would be Uber's world exclusive.
Furthermore, Uber business leaders from San Francisco have estimated that the Croatian coast with numerous islands, the number of tourists visiting the country, as well as a merciful climate are ideal for experimental expansion of their business from asphalt roads to Croatian waves.
''According to data around 8,5 million tourists travel to islands in the four Dalmatian counties during summer months'', said Davor Tremac, the general director of Uber for South Eastern Europe earlier this year.
UberBOAT represents a new service, which will be offered to all users of the UBER digital platform in Croatia. It is about transport of users by speedboats ordered by an Uber application along the Adriatic coast. The transport will be operated by existing operators – small businesses and companies already registered for the necessary activities, with all licences, permits and insurance.
Apart from direct impact on the tourist season, better connection and integration of islands, this service represents a key precondition for improving the quality of life on Croatian islands in all segments, especially in terms of the labour market, education and health care.
Direct flights from Croatia to the USA a priority for 2018
Direct flights between Croatia and the US are once again on the table as the Croatian Ministry of Tourism seeks a US or European airline to operate services from next year. Flights between the two countries have been in the pipeline for a few years but it now seems that the Croatian government is determined to find a suitable carrier. The Croatian Minster of Tourism, Gari Cappelli, recently commented that “We are in serious negotiations over the introduction of year-long flights from Croatia to New York, most likely from Zagreb and Dubrovnik, even from Split. All signs point towards the introduction of seasonal flights during the high season in 2018 and year-long services in 2019.”
And according to a report on the specialist website EX-YU Aviation it appears that the Croatian Embassy in Washington is leading the search for an airline. However it is proving more difficult than expected to find a partner with Delta Airlines, American Airlines and United are ruling out any interest in operating the route. There is still the possibility that a European airline will take up the offer as any European Union registered carrier can operate services from any point in the block to the United States if it holds a valid foreign air carrier permit with the United States Department of Transportation.
In spite of the fact that there are no direct flights between Croatia and the US the second most numerous tourists in Dubrovnik in 2016, in terms of nationality, were Americans. The majority of the recent interest from the US has come about due to the fact that Dubrovnik has hosted many popular films and serials, including Game of Thrones, Star Wars and most recently Robin Hood.
The last time Croatia had direct scheduled flights to the United States was during the summer of 1991, when Pan Am maintained four weekly nonstop roundtrips from New York to Zagreb.
EU allocates 357 million for Peljesac Bridge
''We are a Commission that builds bridges – literally. This project genuinely embodies our commitment to removing barriers, uniting territories and bringing people together. I know how much this bridge is awaited by the Croatian people and I am glad that the EU, with its funds, can be part of this new chapter in the history of the country'', commented Corina Cretu, the EU Commissioner for Regional policy in Brussels on the 7th of June.
The EU Commission decided to allocate 357 million Euros of Cohesion Policy funds to Croatia to build a bridge that will connect the southernmost part of the country and Dubrovnik to the rest of the mainland Croatia.
On this occasion, Gabrijela Zalac, the Croatian Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds signed an agreement with the EU Commission on accepting co-financing of the Peljesac Bridge.
The construction of the Peljesac bridge, for which the EU will contribute 85 percent of the cost, will significantly improve the everyday life of Croatians, through reducing the travel time between Dubrovnik and Split. It will also greatly benefit tourism, trade and will reinforce the territorial cohesion of the South Dalmatia region with the other part of the country.
The new bridge will connect the Dubrovnik–Neretva County to the rest of the country, by crossing the Mali Ston Bay over the Adriatic Sea. This will enable an undisturbed flow of goods and people, especially during the high tourist season.
The Peljesac bridge will be 55 metres high and 2.4 kilometres long, with four lanes. The EU is also funding supporting infrastructure, such as the construction of access roads, including tunnels, bridges and viaducts, the building of an 8km-long bypass near the town of Ston and upgrading works on the existing road D414.
The bridge is expected to be opened in 2022.
Dubrovnik divers keep seabed clean
The Diving Club of Dubrovnik organised an underwater cleaning yesterday in the suburb of Babin Kuk. The divers from the club started at 10.00am and throughout the day pulled metal and plastic from the seabed.
This special action was supported by the Dubrovnik Tourist Board and the City of Dubrovnik and is part of an ongoing action to keep the sea and the seabed in the Dubrovnik region clean and unpolluted.
PHOTO GALLERY ? Sweltering Saturday in Dubrovnik
Summer is here and the historic Old City of Dubrovnik is a vibrant mix of colours, sights and sounds. The Stradun and the cobbled side streets of the city were packed yesterday as a combination of locals, cruise ship passengers and tourists drank coffee al fresco, strolled the streets and even dived into the Adriatic Sea.
Temperatures soared to around 28 degrees yesterday and it was a day of blue skies and blazing sunshine.
Check out this gallery from Dubrovnik yesterday by Zeljko Tutnjevic
Where are the stonemasons in a city made of stone?
I was watching the television the other day when an advert for an upcoming new show caught my interest. Well to be honest it was one particular line, a sound bite if you like, that raised my attention. “No generation has faced so many challenges and is so inadequately equipped to deal with them,” said the presenter. Harsh words, but the more I started to think about it the more I agreed with them.
A couple of days later President Trump (two words that just look awkward together) pulled America out of the Paris Agreement and basically stuck his middle finger up at the rest of the world. Now that’s another challenge we face.
The gist of the TV show was that we have less and less skilled workers and more and more managers. Anyone who has tried to find a good (and I emphasize the word GOOD) plumber, builder, decorator, mechanic, electrician, etc (I could go on and on but I think we get the idea) will know that it is easier to find the Holy Grail. Working with your hands seems like it is now a dirty business. There are a few factors that have brought us down this sorry path. With the rise of modern technology we have now found ways that robots or computers do the jobs for us. Heavy industry, after its peak in the industrial revolution, has been on the decline since World War II. Trump can bang on about car production and coal mining all he wants but this has almost nothing to do with China and more to do with the way we live our lives today.
Whether we like it or not we live in a disposable society. Something breaks...we buy a new something...rather than having it fixed. Rather than a mechanic trying to fix a part he simply goes out and buys a new one. The motor on our washing machine breaks, it is now almost cheaper to buy a whole new washing machine rather than getting it fixed. This is of course a policy of big businesses. They want us to keep buying new products, it isn’t a conspiracy theory, it’s just for them more business.
Of course this business practise is more than a little at odds with protecting the environment and recycling. Surely it would make more sense to fix something, which in a way is actually recycling it. But I digress. Just take a look at the number of young students in Dubrovnik who want to study economy, PR or management. The ratio of “workers” to managers is way off course. Who will these students manage when they graduate? I was chatting to a student studying PR the other day and his naive outlook on the business was both amusing and sad in equal measures. Of course there are many positive and maybe even creative sides to PR but there is also lots and lots of crap. Taking someone’s crazy ideas and putting a positive light on it. Or as a great journalist once said “spinning shit into silk.” Look I am not against PR people, I deal with them on a daily basis and most of them do a fine job, I am just saying that there is a limited amount of positions available in that industry. We don’t need 100 PR people every graduation. We also don’t need hundreds of managers either. I know that there is pressure from parents of young students to study something “worthy” and not what they wrongly perceive to be below their child’s so called level.
I overheard a conversation with a professor at the maritime university in Dubrovnik who was commenting on how hard the course is and how many students just give up and drop out. “We are the greatest producer of future waiters in the city,” he sadly admitted. He probably isn’t wrong. Again there is nothing wrong with being a waiter, far from it, there is nothing more satisfying in watching a good waiter at work. But sadly there is a stigma attached to people who work with their hands.
Dubrovnik was partly created by stonemasons and we marvel at it beauty. But if a child has ambitions to be a stonemason he or she would be laughed at today. Where are the stonemasons in a city made of stone? Remove that stigma and just be the best at what you want to do, whatever that may be. Jamie Oliver was joked at for wanting to be a chef, nobody is laughing at him today. “Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are,” said the great Martin Luther King.
Dolphin swims and plays with tourists near Dubrovnik
Tourists to Slano had a special treat today as they swam with a friendly dolphin. The ACI Marina in Slano, which is around 35 minutes drive from Dubrovnik, posted this amazing video on their social media channels of a dolphin swimming with a group of tourists along with the phrase “New friend in our marina! Amazing.”
Spotting dolphins in the Adriatic Sea around Dubrovnik isn’t that common and having the chance to get up close and personal with one and actually swim with one is extremely rare. It certainly looks like this group of tourists will have a special memory of Dubrovnik.
Check out the video
ACI Marina Dubrovnik hoists the Blue Flag
Another Blue Flag was raised in Dubrovnik today, marking the acceptance of another Dubrovnik sea region into this exclusive club. After the Blue Flag was raised over the beach of Valamar Dubrovnik President a few days ago today it was the turn of the ACI Marina in Dubrovnik to hoist the flag. This is the nineteenth year in a row that ACI Marina has been awarded with the Blue Flag which is awarded by the Foundation for Environmental Education as a recognition for safety, ecological acceptability and maintenance.
The Mayor of Dubrovnik, Mato Frankovic, who also served as director of the marina for eight years attended the presentation today as well as the director of the ACI Marina Dubrovnik, Niko Šalj.
The Blue Flag for Beach and Marine is an international environmental program for the protection of the sea and coastal environment, whose primary goal is sustainable management and management of the sea and coastline. The criteria for awarding Blue Flags are very demanding and include a range of areas: eco-education, public information, water quality, environmental management as well as security and quality of services.
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