Bad tourist season reported

[Anja]

Tourist Board in Croatia is reporting a bad season this year.
As long as I know through my contacts who rent apartments - most of them were empty until 01/07
Many of people complain about the price.

There are others, not so bad standard of accommodation, renting beds for 30kn per night.
They are full for the whole summer but will make 2000 EURO profit for the whole year.

It is not easy to rent, so many apartments on offer..
locals mostly have full time jobs and do not live on renting, it is just an extra for them.

My question is: Who do you think will survive? Is this going to bring the price of an apartment per night down? (Currently it is around 50 EURO per night for 4 bed apartment. This means 12 EURO per night per bed)

[Culchie]

www.airport-dubrovnik.hr/statistika_gl_eng.htm shows that Visitors to Dubrovnik area is definitely increasing.

Could it be that since Dubrovnik has become more accessible that there is a transfer to this region, rather than Split, Zadar areas?

I know that amongst the people I work with, about 9 of them have been to Croatia this year, all into Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik seems to get alot of newspaper column inches, and I guess it is helping that area to the detriment of others??
Also the 'New Croatia' tourist is not as before, having an on-line booking facility would be a critical factor.
I know that Spain/Portugal has had a terrible year as well (and Ireland is not great either)...so it might just be a problem across Europe.

[Graham - Bosmere]

I think you will find that most UK operators have volumes that are substantially up on last year. We are up about 50% and that is following the trend of the past few years. What might be happening is the volume market from Russia, Czech Republic and Slovenia might be down, but I have not seen a recent breakdown based on country of origin.

There again there could just be a large number of private owners who are not registering their guests with the police and are therefore not showing true figures

[yeslehc]

I have recently returned from croatia and was told by locals the tourists are down 20 to 30 %, if the national airline and charterers dropped their prices , all the tourist industry would benefit, if they let the budget airlines in , the whole country would benefit ,not just one section. lets face it if someone in uk looks at the air fare difference between spain and croatia, they are going to plumb for spain,which then gives more money to spend on the rest of their holiday. I also feel that the croatian season needs to be extended,if prices were dropped out of their high season, I am sure more people would go, if you do the math , it works out at more profit for the whole year

[Anja]

People not registering their guests ...it could be this but also the whole approach to Croatia has changed.
While before you had a family of Germans (considered by property owners as best customers) staying in one apartment for two weeks, now you have people who these two weeks spend in different areas, staying one or two nights in each.
This is much harder for profit but easier to hide from the tax office.
And also many of these ex-customers are now house owners.. they are not tourists any more

[Graham - Bosmere]

You are not saying that people don't register with the police to avoid paying tax are you Anja

[Medo]

I do not know what to make of all this. I am sure tourism is down in general but not that much. I have seen a lot of different figures being quoted and am somewhat confused.

Before I came back from Croatia reports were suggesting tourism was down 2-3% in general. But I also read how certain towns, such as Sibenik were also reporting increases in the number of tourists.

But what I find shocking is the number of people with properties who let them to tourists but do not register with the police. I have even heard of a number of foreign nationals with properties in croatia who let their properties and at the same time have not registered.

[Mac]

re the tax and police avoidance:
of course its going on, on a wide scale!
I've met plenty of people who are avoiding notifying the police and not paying the taxes and its not just your ordinary tourist/new property owner. Some of the prices I've come across are incredibly expensive for whats on offer (but still cheaper mind you than what we might be used. For this I would also add that Croatians could be looking down the barrel of a gun if they continue with this. Ireland is a great example because many tourists refuse to go there due to the wholly inflated prices). I would like to add that this is not scaremongering either because many backpackers I met are quite surprised at some of the general prices such as transport.


On another point I found that the whole process of registering people adding this tax and that one etc is complex and confusing and totally inadequate. Many people are now turning to avoid paying anything, thus the effect you can now see around the place. And lets face it with the EU around the corner the whole thing will be thrown out the door anyway.

[alsdoubles]

Strange thread. I moved here in February. Sibenik area. Walking round Jolly's, it was like a ghost town. Now...the place is FLOODED with tourist from all corners of Europe. Absolutely flooded. From ALL corners Europe. We visit Jolly's 3 times a week. It's busy. 5 out of six cars, vistors. The streets....such as they are in Sibenik....busting with camper vans, camper vans with trailers and speedboats. Camper vans with trailers, speedboats and surfboards....Amazing. Is tourism down? How the hell would I know. I'd judge...maybe it isn't. The best sight I've seen...a totally fat ******* (you make up the word) walking round Jolly's in his swimming trunks and nothing else. Talk about ego.....
This guy needed locking up just for being alive. Good luck to him. The cheek of him! If Croatia is coming back, then I'd say it is. When it does....Come back...God help us all. You wont be able to move BUT, boy our investments will be rocking and rolling. And, dodging the police and whatever registration system exists here. Yesterday I witnessed a shirt sleeved cop brandishing a Thomson sub machine gun.....attending as back up for a Croatian illegal parker!!!! Craotia is the *ollox. I wouldn't have missed it for the world! I'm going nowhere for the moment.......

[Anja]

Alsdoubles said:

Strange thread. I moved here in February. Sibenik area. Walking round Jolly's, it was like a ghost town. Now...the place is FLOODED with tourist from all corners of Europe. Absolutely flooded. From ALL corners Europe. We visit Jolly's 3 times a week. It's busy. 5 out of six cars, vistors. The streets....such as they are in Sibenik....busting with camper vans, camper vans with trailers and speedboats. Camper vans with trailers, speedboats and surfboards....Amazing. Is tourism down? How the hell would I know. I'd judge...maybe it isn't. The best sight I've seen...a totally fat ******* (you make up the word) walking round Jolly's in his swimming trunks and nothing else. Talk about ego.....
This guy needed locking up just for being alive. Good luck to him. The cheek of him! If Croatia is coming back, then I'd say it is. When it does....Come back...God help us all. You wont be able to move BUT, boy our investments will be rocking and rolling. And, dodging the police and whatever registration system exists here. Yesterday I witnessed a shirt sleeved cop brandishing a Thomson sub machine gun.....attending as back up for a Croatian illegal parker!!!! Craotia is the *ollox. I wouldn't have missed it for the world! I'm going nowhere for the moment.......

I am glad you are having a good time Alsdoubles!
You know now what Dalmatians wait for during the
winter months ;D
Your Cro-cop story reminded me of a situation I witnessed in Makarska few months ago.
There was an old American man with a little luggage bag on a bus terminal.
Then a Cro-cop arrived in all the glamour of his Hollywood cop style.. sunglasses of course.. ;D
he approached the old man who was a bit disorientated and asked him of his whereabouts..
The cop said ( in good English???) it was the second time he found him wandering the streets..
The American felt very much offended, he shouted he wanted to be left alone, he lived HERE and this is the free world..
He asked the cop to stop following him.. they seemed like old friends. Cop was polite but arrogant.
The situation was getting so much interesting for me that I wanted to miss my bus to Split.

I approached the old man and asked whether he needed any help.. he said no..he said he lived here.. he said he is on his life vacation and this 'nutcase' doesn’t want to stop following him..
The cop looked at American's passport, was on the phone with someone and was reading the name and the address on the passport..
But the American was at least 90 years old.. I wondered what he was doing on the streets of Makarska.
The cop asked the man to sit in his car and took him somewhere..
Strange situation..The old man couldn't in the world be a criminal. I wondered why he wasn't left alone to live the way he wanted..
I wandered what he was doing to break the law..

[Nigel]

Anja, been through an American airport lately? Ill bet that cop had!