The latest data from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) shows that seaports in Croatia in 2017 recorded an increase in goods and passengers traffic.

Last year 338,603 ship visits were recorded, or 2 percent more than in the same period of 2016, increasing the traffic of passengers and goods.

The data also shows that last year the number of passengers rose by 5 percent to 32,5 million, whilst freight traffic jumped 12,1 percent to 20,8 tonnes.

In the fourth quarter of last year, 60,019 vessels visited Croatian seaports, 0,8 percent less than in the same period last year, the number of passengers rose by 0,7 percent to 4,05 million, whilst freight traffic jumped 1,3 percent to 5,3 million tonnes.

The largest passengers traffic in the same period was recorded by the Port of Split (659,700), followed by the Port of Zadar (397,700) and the Port of Preko on the island of Ugljan (338,500).

Out of the total number of passengers in all Croatian seaports, 239,000 or 6 percent of them were embarked from cruise ships that visited Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, Korčula, Hvar and Šibenik. However, the HGK data shows a decline in the number of cruise ship passengers by 4,3 percent compared to 2016. This situation only indicates a decline in cruise ship numbers in the Croatian seawaters that began last year.

When it comes to freight traffic figures, the ports of Omišalj and Bakar achieved 56 percent of the total freight traffic in all Croatian seaports, however, in comparison to the previous year, they recorded a slight decrease (Omišalj, -1,3% and Bakar -2,6%). On the other hand, the Port of Ploče achieved an increase by 6,5 percent, whilst the Port of Rijeka recorded a jump in freight traffic by 8,7 percent.

The popular American travel program “The Voyager” on NBC has featured Dubrovnik in one of the recent episodes.
The show, which is broadcast on Saturday mornings on NBC, is presented by Josh Garcia an American video journalist and world-traveller.

And Josh dug into the rich history of the Dubrovnik region, as he highlighted the oysters in Ston and the silk worms of Konavle. Once again great publicity for Dubrovnik ahead of this year’s tourist season.

Check out the teaser of Josh Garcia in Dubrovnik

The Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, arrived today in Croatia on an official visit aimed at alleviating tensions in relations between the two countries. After landing at Zagreb Airport he headed straight to meet the President of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, for a morning meeting.

“We have come up with open questions. We agreed to continue talking. It is extremely important that we have agreed on a few open questions that represent not only our political and state responsibility, but also human, moral, ethical responsibility towards the citizens of our states,” said Vučić after the meeting. Adding that they had discussed the question of minorities, about the position of the Serb minority in Croatia and the Croatian in Serbia.

"Every step of the good will, every conversation is a step forward, useful and welcome," concluded the Croatian President. Adding that “We are ready for political, technical and any other help we can provide Serbia on its way to the European Union.”

Austrian Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance Global Airline Association, just like last year, will fly on charter flights for pensioners from Austria to Dubrovnik – Avioradar reports.

In the summer flight schedule for 2018, flights from Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck and Salzburg to Dubrovnik are planned. Compared to the last year, new flights are from Graz, Innsbruck and Salzburg, but this year there are no flights from Klagenfurt and Linz.

It is a charter line for retirees organized by the Austrian tourist agency Senioren Reisen Austria. They are planned on every Wednesday from April 4th to May 9th, which is a week longer than last year. In this period planned flights are – four from Vienna on Wednesdays and one from Graz, Innsbruck and Salzburg.

If you are going to spend the most romantic day of the year in Dubrovnik, then you must know that the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra will perform a special concert for the Valentine's Day in the Marin Drzic Theatre on Wednesday, February 14th.

The orchestra will be conducted by the renowned American conductor Marc Tardue and some of the finest love opera aries will be performed by the award-winning soprano Nikolina Pinko. The program includes waltzs that go well with this occasion and between the arias, famous Dubrovnik poet and academician Luko Paljetak will tell his love poems. The concert will start at 8 pm and is organized in the cooperation wit the City of Dubrovnik. 

The program will include, among others, the arias Non mi dir from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, then Un bel di verdemo from Puccini's Madam Butterfly; Vilja Lied from Lehár’s operetta Vesel udovica, Meine lippen, sie küssen so heiss from the comedy opera Giuditta and Brahms' romantic Liebeslieder Walzer.

According to new statistics there were 16 percent fewer cruise ships in Croatia last year compared with 2016. A total of 691 foreign cruise ships arrived in Croatian waters in 2017, 135 fewer cruise ships than in 2016, and there were 13 percent fewer passengers last year.

Such a drop in cruise ship numbers has somewhat bucked the trend of recent years, and one reason for this could be the decision of Venice to limit the number of passengers allowed in the city. Almost every month last year saw a drop in cruise ship numbers. The most popular destination by far is still Dubrovnik, over 63 percent of all cruise ships in Croatia last year came to Dubrovnik.

The latest and by far biggest Dubrovnik marina, Marina Frapa, located in the bay of Gruž should be completed by the spring.

The owner of the marina, which is currently in the final stages of construction, Franjo Pašalić, speaking to the Croatian media commented that “My marina in Dubrovnik will be one of the most modern of the whole Mediterranean.”

In total when completed the Frapa Marina Dubrovnik will have 220 berths, making it one of the largest in Croatia. The total investment is believed to be around 10 million Euros. “This is a demanding project. Concrete pillars were constructed with solid concrete pontoons, and the whole marina will be covered in sunshades,” added Pašalić.

Croatia is the leading country in Europe in terms of economic losses caused by natural disasters, but it the worse in terms of insurance.

According to data from the European Environmental Agency (EEA) Croatia is the leader among the 33 European countries for the natural damage caused between 1980- 2015, when the overall cost averaged 0.2 percent of GDP annually, or twice as high as the European average.

In the period between 1980 to 2015, weather and climate extremes accounted for 92 percent of the total number of reported disasters and about 83 percent of total losses. The economic losses from all natural disasters in the EEA countries amounted to EUR 520 billion.

89,000 deaths have been reported, most of which are caused by heat waves and most influenced by the 2003 heat wave, when about 70,000 deaths were reported.

However, insurance against such natural disasters in Croatia is the worst in Europe. The Croatian Insurance Bureau (HUO) points out that the average insurance premium per capita in the EU amounts to 150 euros, in neighbouring Slovenia about 140 euros, while in Croatia this figure is only about 40 euros. Switzerland, Norway and Austria have the highest insurance coverage per capita in the range of 300 to 400 euros.

According to HUO data, only 6.81 percent of people had insurance against fire and natural disasters in 2017.

There is no compulsory property insurance in Croatia, resulting in a large number of damage to farms which farmers, who are not insured, can’t claim back.