The Mayor of the City of Dubrovnik, Mato Franković, held a meeting in Hamburg with the leaders of the world's leading cruise companies, members of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) yesterday.

The long-standing collaboration and the third meeting in Hamburg on the topic of sustainable tourism resulted in a recap of everything accomplished from 2017 to the present. It was agreed that significant progress has been made in terms of better scheduling of cruise ship arrivals and their longer stays in the Port of Gruž. Compared to the past average stay of just four hours in Dubrovnik, cruise ships now spend a minimum of eight hours at the port, and often even longer.

Mayor Franković highlighted that in 2023, due to adverse weather conditions, there were only a few instances of a third cruise ship arriving at the Port of Gruž.

"In 2023, there were never any enormous crowds in the historic city centre that used to block entrances and exits from the Old City, as we have seen in the past. Such scenes are now a distant memory for us. However, even though we have made significant strides in sustainability, our work is not finished, and we need to continue working consistently on the sustainability of our tourism so that we can continue to be recognized globally as a pioneer in sustainable tourism," Mayor Franković emphasized to the leaders of the cruise industry.