The tourist season comes to an end and overnight the unemployment rate in Croatia rises. In November the number of people in the country without work rose by 3.7 percent when compared with October. According to information from the State Statistics bureau there were 1.41 million employed people in the country in November, down by 0.7 percent in comparison to October.

At the end of November, nearly 147,000 job-seekers were registered with the national employment service, an increase of 3.7 percent compared to October. As a result, the registered unemployment rate rose from 9.1 percent in October to 9.4 percent in November.

The Ministry of Culture has announced the results of the competition for funding artistic programs and organizations for the coming year. And the Dubrovnik Summer Festival is again the biggest “winner” and the most heavily funded cultural event in Croatia. A slightly increased budget for culture for the 2019 has been equally distributed over all areas.

Almost 20 million Kuna has been divided into the category of professional theatre, and most of that total, 4 million Kuna, has gone to the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, which is also the largest single amount for any cultural event in 2019 in Croatia.

The Croatian National Theatre of Split will receive 2.17 million Kuna followed by the, for its two main events and the National Theatre in Šibenik received 400 thousand Kuna for the 59th International Children's Festival.

The traditional Christmas concert, which has been continuously held since 1991 on the same date and in the same place - December 27 in the church of the Little Brothers, this year, more precisely tonight, gathered the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Dubrovnik choirs, soloists, conductors and vocal groups in a spectacular concert.

It was a true Christmas atmosphere in the church as the audience crowded in to experience this unique festive concert. And those who couldn’t find a spare seat, of which there were many, happily stood at the back of the church just to get a glimpse of this musical night in Dubrovnik.

At the concert the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the Mixed Choir of the Libertas, the Cathedral Choir, the Dubrovnik Chamber Choir, the Atlant vocal group and the sopranos Laura Hladilo and Paulina Đapo all performed. And the evening saw not one but three different composers, Maja Marušić, Frano Krasovac and Viktor Lenert.

All of the traditional Christmas carols and classics were on the repertoire tonight including “Silent Night” and “Ave Maria.” A true festive atmosphere for the holidays in Dubrovnik.

It’s certainly been a year to remember for Croatian sport and in particular the national football team who won the silver medal at this year’s World Cup in Russia. And as 2018 draws to an end the final FIFA rankings of the year have been announced and Croatia are ranked in fourth position.

Rather strangely Belgium top the FIFA rankings ahead of the winners of the World Cup France in second, Brazil are in third, Croatia fourth and England fifth. Senegal at 23 is Africa’s highest ranked team.

The FIFA World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, currently led by Belgium. The teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. The rankings were introduced in December 1992, and eight teams (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain) have held the top position, of which Brazil have spent the longest ranked first.

Dubrovnik spent 660,000 Kuna this year on the Christmas holiday decorations to brighten up the city. The City of Dubrovnik have announced that they spent 580,000 Kuna for the purchase of new ornaments 80 thousand for the repair of older elements. Apart from the capital Zagreb many other cities in Croatia don’t spend as much on the whole of the festive celebrations as Dubrovnik did this year.

The design and solution of the holiday decoration of the historic core with contact zones, as well as the Lapad Promenade, as well as last year, was made by the Studio Lacroma architectural office. Since the architectural studio is devoted to holiday lighting, the aesthetics has changed considerably.

- The Christmas decorations of the city is performed mainly with decorative streetlight elements and this year we had over a 1,000 decorations on street lighting – commented Petar Ipšić, the spokesman for city administration.

In addition to the municipal department for communal services, the holiday decoration included the public parks company and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and the Sport facilities of Dubrovnik and the Tourist Board of Dubrovnik.

Christmas arrived again in Dubrovnik today as the Santa Bikers thundered into the Old City.

The traditional festive arrival of Santa bikers was organised by the Moto Club Libertas Riders and the motorbike club Two Wheels.

And the children of the Old City were particularly happy to see the Santas as they handed out sweets and treats. At midday the bikers arrived on the Stradun and stayed for an hour of fun and Christmas spirit.

Christmas day is only just behind us and already the stores, shopping centres and online retail giants are offering their St. Stephen’s Day, or Boxing Day sales. The USA and Great Britain led the way on a global scale for post-Christmas discounts and many of the online stores, such as Amazon, sent at millions of e-mails this morning advertising huge discounts. In fact, research carried out by the UK bank Barclays has shown that Boxing Day is the most popular day for shopping during the Christmas period.

Croatia is a step behind, or a day behind, as far as the sales are concerned and the vast majority of the shops throughout the country have started advertising sales starting on the 27th of December. The Croatian Chamber of Commerce have announced that they expect prices to be reduced by between 20 and 50 percent for these post-Christmas sales.

- Practice has shown that domestic traders have been following European retailers' tendencies for seasonal retail sales in the last few years, and there has been an increasing fall in prices. In addition, the deadlines have been harmonized so our customers no longer go so far as to buy in other countries in the environment - explained Tomislav Ravlić, Director of the Chamber of Commerce of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce.

Some of the top picks on Amazon.co.uk this Boxing Day Sales are (click photo for more info)

It’s the day after Christmas, a public holiday, St. Stephen’s Day. The 26th of December is St. Stephen’s Day a national holiday not only in Croatia but across most of the world.

Saint Stephen's Day, or the Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr, celebrated on 26 December in the Latin Church and 27 December in Eastern Christianity.

St. Stephen’s Day, also called Boxing Day, Wren Day, or Constitution Day, one of two holidays widely observed in honour of two Christian saints. In many countries December 26 commemorates the life of St. Stephen, a Christian deacon in Jerusalem who was known for his service to the poor and his status as the first Christian martyr (he was stoned to death in AD 36).

In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries, the December 26 holiday is commonly known as Boxing Day, which takes its name from the practice of giving small gifts to household servants on that day for their work throughout the year.

It is an official public holiday in Alsace-Moselle, Austria, the Balearic Islands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, and Switzerland. The date is also a public holiday in those countries that celebrate Boxing Day on the day in addition to or instead of Saint Stephen's Day, such as Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.