If you were planning on visiting Dubrovnik over the winter to experience the Dubrovnik Winter Festival 2016 you might want to change your travel arrangements, the festival has been cancelled.

“The Dubrovnik Winter Festival 2016 will be cancelled, not because I want to, but because of a decision by the Ministry of Culture,” explained the Mayor of Dubrovnik, Andro Vlahusic, today at a press conference. Adding that the Ministry of Culture had forbidden the placement of the large tent in front of the St. Blaise Church and the catering stands that lined the Stradun last year. The 2016 Dubrovnik Winter Festival has already been heavily publicized and marketed and had promised to be just as successful as previous years, but all of this work seems like it has been for nothing.

“The festival had brought a smile back to the faces of the citizens and tourists to Dubrovnik in the winter months and returned life to the Old City of Dubrovnik,” commented the mayor, clearly upset with the decision from the ministry. “This year we started preparing as early as March on the festival. We had planned a religious and artistic element to the festival and respected all the ideas from others,” added the mayor.

The Ministry of Culture have banned the festive catering stands along the Stradun in the historic Old City of Dubrovnik as they believe that cooking oil will damage and even block the drains. They did however allow the stands that didn’t prepare food to be installed on the Stradun and had suggested that the food stands be moved out of the Old City.

“In Gruz and Lapad we will do what we can, but the winter festival has been cancelled because no scheduled content on the Stradun and around St. Blaise could be included so there is just no point,” concluded the mayor.