Mark Thomas - The editor and big chief of The Dubrovnik Times. Born in the UK he has been living and working in Dubrovnik since 1998, yes he is one of the rare “old hands.” A unique insight into both British and Croatian life and culture, Mark is often known as just “Englez” or Englishman. He is a traveller, a current affairs freak and a huge AFC Wimbledon fan.
Email: mark.thomas@dubrovnik-times.com
Croatia supports Ireland in its efforts to prevent the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union from undermining the progress achieved in Ireland, and especially the soft border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, said Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, after meeting with Ireland's Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar on Monday.
In what was the Irish Prime Minister first stop in a three-country tour to raise awareness of the potential problems Ireland faces with Brexit. Varadkar will also visit Rome and Bucharest.
"Croatia will support Ireland in its efforts for the future regime on the border between the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland to keep the minimal aspects of the current state of affairs. A gradual technical approach would cause the least damage. Our goal is for the future border control regime to avoid causing any political instability in Ireland, in which we agreed with Varadkar," Plenkovic said in the two prime ministers' joint press conference after the meeting.
Dubrovnik has featured in one of the most popular glossy magazines in the world, HELLO magazine. In an article entitled “Coastal Cool” Dubrovnik is highlighted as a great summer destination.
“City slicking and coastal tripping need not be mutually exclusive. We bring you the very best urban stays with beaches a few steps away,” writes HELLO magazine.
Dubrovnik, and the five-star hotel Villa Dubrovnik, are featured as a great summer getaway and the Danish Victoria Secret model, Josephine Skriver (25), comments that she has been won over by Dubrovnik’s Old City.
Danish model fell in love with Dubrovnik
Jump in the Adriatic Sea in Dubrovnik is one of the cleanest in the world. When the famous French diver, Jacques Cousteau, once quoted that the “underwater world around Dubrovnik was one of the most beautiful underwater worlds he had ever seen,” he hit the nail on the head.
The fifth regular testing of the sea water quality in the Dubrovnik – Neretva County was carried out from the 9th of July to the 20th of July and of the 118 beaches a grand total of 112 was graded as excellent quality.
These regular testings are carried out throughout the summer months.
Sea on the beach of Hotel Epidaurus in Cavtat, Prapratno beach in Ston and Smokovjenac in Župa dubrovačka was of good quality, while the sea on the beach Mlini and Srebreno in Župa dubrovačka and in Kobas in the Ston Municipality was rated with a satisfactory rating.
Yuri Cortez became a viral star of social media when he was absolutely mobbed by Croatian players at the 2018 World Cup, and now he has been invited to Croatia on holiday. The Salvadorian photographer found himself at the bottom of a pile of Croatian players celebrating the goal by Mario Mandukich that knocked England out of the World Cup in the semi-final in Moscow. Although he managed to take some extreme close-ups of the joyous players it probably wasn’t what he had in mind when he stood pitch side working as a freelance for AFP. And now the Croatian Tourist Board have invited him for a week free holiday in Croatia and he has gratefully accepted.
The Croatian National Tourist Board contacted Yuri Cortez, a photojournalist of Angence France-Press, who found himself in the midst of the celebration of Croatian footballers. Cortez is invited to visit Croatia with his family and will do so at the end of August or in the first week of September this year. The 53-year-old Cortez is the head of the Mexican AFP correspondence, the third largest news agency in the world. And the Croatian National Tourist Board commented that “the only thing that should bring to Croatia is his camera because we are confident that this charming and well-liked Salvadorian will not be able to resist the numerous natural, cultural and historical scenes and beauties.”
"The seven-day vacation in Croatia for Yuri will start in Zagreb, after which we will show him everything that is best from Croatia, our coast, islands, as well as the Croatian continental offer. We will try to make a holiday for him,” commented the Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić.
“I think I will have the opportunity to see them closely again [the players]. Not on top of me, but close,” Cortez remarked, as quoted by AFP.
The premiere of the film "Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again" was held last night in the Dubrovnik open-air cinema Jadran. The continued success of international films and serials filmed in Croatia continued last summer when the sequel of Mamma Mia was shot on the island of Vis.
Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seifried, Stellan Skarsgard, Meryl Streep and the fantastic and eternal Cher all star in the latest Mamma Mia and the Dubrovnik premiere last night certainly brought in the public.
In the first seven months of this year, Dubrovnik has achieved record tourism results!
According to the registration and e-visitor registration data, from the 1st of January to the 22nd of July 626 548 tourists stayed in Dubrovnik, which is 6 percent more than in the same period from 2017. This year the mark of two million overnight stays was reached a full three days earlier than last year. On the 22nd of July 2,010,250 overnight stays were recorded, or 4 percent more than last year. Currently there are almost 26,000 tourists in Dubrovnik.
In the first seven months, the largest number of tourists came from the United Kingdom, USA, Germany, France, Croatia, Australia, Finland, Spain, Norway, Sweden.
In hotel accommodation, from the 1st of January to the 22nd of July this year, there were 354,249 guests, an increase of 5 percent over the previous year, with 1,114,083 overnight stays, 3 percent more than last year. In hotel accommodation the most numerous guests in the first half of the year came from: the United Kingdom, USA, Germany, France, Croatia, Finland, Austria, Spain, Sweden and Japan.
Private accommodation in the first seven months of this year had 202,074 arrivals, or 11 percent more than in the same period from last year, and 677,770 overnight stays, which is 8 percent more than in 2017. The largest number of tourists in private accommodation were from the United Kingdom, USA, Germany, France, Australia, Norway, Canada, Spain, Finland and Sweden.
The British airline easyJet has declared Croatia their destination of the year, which was additionally confirmed by the printing of the July issue of the inflight magazine, which for the first time in history was devoted to only one country - Croatia. This is a publication intended for users of their services and will contribute to the further promotion of Croatian destinations, since the magazine has a monthly base of more than 6 million passengers.
"Choosing Croatia as a destination of the year by one of the key European air carriers for us is a great success, but also a confirmation that we are making important and strategically important changes in this important transport segment. The key goals we have defined include positioning Croatia as an attractive all-year tourist destination, which is also very well connected with infrastructure, especially in the context of air transport that are extremely important for boosting tourist traffic in the pre and post periods. With this aim, this year, for the first time, this year we carried out more significant cooperation with air carriers and travel organizers from abroad, "said the Director of the Croatian Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić, adding that Croatian tourism can boast more than 70 new regular lines introduced this year.
easyJet has chosen Croatia as a destination where traffic and interest rates are increasing, making Croatia one of the key destinations of this airline, which handles more than a million passengers to Croatian destinations during the summer months. This year the airline has 49 active lines connecting Croatian destinations such as Dubrovnik, Split, Pula and Zadar with many key European cities such as London, Berlin, Milan, Paris, Basel, Bristol and others.
easyJet annually carries more than 82 million passengers, of which about 13 million business passengers. The fleet counts nearly 300 aircraft flying to a total of 980 routes, or 156 airports in 33 countries worldwide.
After his exploits in the 2018 World Cup in Russia the central defender Dejan Lovren is taking a well-earned break in the Adriatic. Yesterday the Liverpool FC star was spotted on the island of Korcula where he was more than happy to pose with fans and sign autographs.
Lovren takes some time out with his son - Instagram
Lovren is cruising the Adriatic with his wife and young family, as well as he good friend the comedian and presenter Enes Bešlagić. And the two had fun in the sea on an underwater motorised scooter, the video soon went viral on Instagram.