Ivana Smilović – a senior journalist at The Dubrovnik Times. Born and raised in Dubrovnik, Ivana (or Smile as she is known to all) graduated Media Studies from the University of Dubrovnik. A book worm, coffee addict and want-to-be world traveller Ivana brings her unique local insight, connections and general optimistic and well smiley feel to the Times.
Email: ivana@thedubrovniktimes.com
This year, the "Safe Tourism Season" program will include a record number of countries – 18. Police officers from China will work in Croatia for the first time and will be staying in Dubrovnik, Split and Plitvice – Poslovni.hr reports.
-This is an action that is extremely important to us because of the quality of police service in terms of speed, civility and getting information. This year we will form headquarters in Zadar that will function as a communication center with other services - said Assistant Director of the police Krunoslav Borovec in Rovinj, at the meeting before the tourist season, which was held by the tourism sector representatives with the Minister of Tourism, Gari Cappelli.
-Tourism, along with a favorable external environment, is one of the main generators of growth in the Croatian economy, which is confirmed by the latest report by Standard and Poor's Agency, which a few days ago raised the rating of Croatia from 'BB' to 'BB+' – said Capelli, who added that government recognized the value of tourism and that they will continue to stimulate it in the future.
Director of the Croatian Emergency Medicine Institute, Maja Grba-Bujevic, reported that with the helicopter and police emergency services, they also purchased six ships for medical services.
Kristjan Stanicic from Croatian Tourist Board pointed out that Croatia's positioning in the distant markets was focused on opening new trade unions in the markets such as China, South Korea and the United States, as well as increasing the number of avio-lines.
For almost three months, there was uncertainty about ticket prices in the Plitvice Lakes National Park, but now it’s clear that they will increase – Poslovni.hr reports.
According to the price list published on the pages of Plitvice Lakes, the price of adult tickets in the period from 1st of April to June 30th will be 150 kuna, which is 40 kuna more than they have been so far. From July 1st to August 3st1, the price of adult tickets until 4 pm, will go up for 70 kuna! Instead of usual 180 kuna, tickets will be 250 kuna.
In the new price list, the new director has built a "privilege" for those who would like to see the Plitvice beauty late in the afternoon. Entering the National Park after 4 pm will be 100 kuna cheaper!
In the past week in the area of Police Administration of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County there were nine traffic accidents, of which there were five with injured persons, where eight persons had light injuries while four traffic accidents had material damage.
By carrying out traffic control measures, police officers have taken 370 repressive measures against the perpetrators of traffic offenses, out of which 137 measures taken due to speeding, 23 measures due to improper stop and parking, 71 measures because of non-use of the seat belt and 11 measures against drivers who were driving the vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
One user in Croatia has managed to forget something in Uber for 11 times, in the UK 19 times, but the record is held by a user from Brazil who has done it 27 times. This data is on the list of lost and found items, which contains the most common and most interesting things Uber users in Europe have forgotten in vehicles over the past year and that has been published at their official website.
The list is quite interesting, since it shows that people can forget almost everything during their ride – from iron to artificial teeth! In Croatia, Uber users often leave cell phones, wallets, keys, clothing, and glasses in the car. Users in Zagreb most often forget and report the lost stuff on Saturdays, in Split on Sundays, while most of the entries were received in Zagreb on December 17th and in Split on February 25th last year.
The most forgetful countries according to Uber are Spain, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic and Italy.
Here is the list of lost and found items in Uber across the Europe:
1. Game console
2. Iron
3. Golf club
4. Resignation forms
5. A lawyer's suit
6. Professional kitchen knives
7. Folding bicycle
8. Police ID
9. Music mixer
10. Fryer
11. Wedding ring
12. Artificial teeth
13. Wedding ring
14. Visa Acquisition Documents
15. Wedding presents with a bunch of greeting cards
16. Hair Iron
17. Playstation
18. Inflatable bed
19. Ukulele
20. Coffee machine
21. Work contract signed
22. A small statue of the Hindu deity
The sevent edition of Aklapela Festival, gathering vocal groups from different parts of Croatia, will take place in Dubrovnik, from April 6th to 8th (Friday-Sunday).
The first evening of this special and loved festival will be held at Lazareti, on Friday, April 6th, at 8 pm. On Saturday, at the same place and same time the second evening will be held. The festival will end in big style at the Dubrovnik Cathedral, on Sunday, April 8th, at 11 am.
Like every year, Aklapela gathers vocal groups from all over Croatia. This year's participants are: Ankora (Podstrana), Cesarice (Zagreb), FA Lindo (Dubrovnik), Kampaneli (Donja Kastela), Kapric (Zadar), Kase (Dubrovnik), Pasika (Kostanje), Porat (Lumbarda), Reful (Split), Skontradura (Dubrovnik), Stine (Zagreb), Subrenum (Zupa Dubrovacka).
If you are wondering, Aklapela Festival got its name by combining words a capella and klapa, which means ‘vocal group’ in Croatian. It combines enchanting a capella singing with beautiful venues of Dubrovnik. Every year, the festival brings more and more people together – from vocal groups to audience.
The interesting fact is that the klapa singing has been inscribed to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012., which emphasized the importance of this traditional form of harmonious singing.
If you like this type of music (or you are wondering if you are), this is a must-visit. All the information are avaliable at their official website.
The Croatian police sent a reminder that by switching to summer time, it’s no longer necessary to drive with daytime running lights. Exceptions are mopeds and motorcycles that need to have their lights on throughout the year.
The police also warns that more and more bicycle, moped and motorcycle riders are expected due to better weather conditions on the roads. That’s why they are advising the drivers of other vehicles to take care when it comes to overtaking, turning, etc. and not to take their advantage of the passage at intersections.
They also reminded that moped and motorcycle riders have the obligation to wear prescribed, homologated and neatly mounted helmets.
Cyclist, that are riding on the public roads, need to wear a reflective waistcoat or reflective cycling clothing during the night or during the day when there is reduced visibility. Same rules apply to pedestrians that are walking on a public roadway.
The Dubrovnik-Neretva County Tourist Board is participating at the international GLOBalnie - tourism, sport and nautical equipment fair, which is held for the 24th time from 23rd to 25th March in Katowice, Poland.
This is the first time that Dubrovnik-Neretva County is participating at this fair, sharing the stand with Tourist boards of Split-Dalmatia, Sibenik-Knig, Zadar and Lika-Senj counties.
The fair aims to show what is currently the best in tourism business. Offerings dedicated to families and individuals, lovers of history and culture, enthusiasts of agrotourism and ecotourism, and all outdoor activities as well as recreational and sports equipment manufacturers will be located at over 200 stand in the exhibition area of around 7000 square meters.
In the marathon of accompanying events, participants will have the opportunity to enjoy music shows, delicious bites from all over the world and share business experience with others.
In 2017, the Dubrovnik-Neretva County was visited by 75,500 tourists from Poland, who made 530 thousand overnight stays and were ranked third in the number of overnight stays.
Throughout the Croatian airports, in January this year, there was a total of 252 thousand passengers or 15.4 percent more than in the same period last year, when there were 218 thousand passengers, according to the data from the Central Bureau of Statistics – Poslovni.hr reports.
The largest passenger traffic, 191 thousand, was made by the Zagreb Airport, which recorded an increase of almost 13.4 percent compared to January last year, while Split is on the second place with 32 thousand passengers or 10.4 percent more.
Dubrovnik Airport had 22,000 passengers and is in the third place, with 16 percent increase compared to January last year, while the airport of Osijek had 3,179 passengers, Pula 1,404, 1,383 in Zadar and 1,287 in Rijeka.
The airport of Mali Losinj in January had three registered passengers.
Among foreign passengers in Croatian airports in January there was the highest number of Germans, 70,864 or 21.7 percent more than in the same period last year. In the second place are French, 14,346 or 21.6 percent more, tourists from Netherlands are the third, with 12,345 or 4.9 percent more than a year ago.
Croatian airports in January saw a rise in freight traffic. The total traffic was 821 tons, which is 44.8 percent higher than last year.
In January 2010, there were 4,519 aircraft operations registered in nine airports in Croatia, which is an increase of 11.3 percent compared with January last year, when it was 4,061.