Plenković: We can have a good tourist season, but be careful with prices

The situation in the Middle East is even having a positive impact on Croatian tourist bookings, but we need to be careful and pay attention to prices, the Croatian Prime Minister said on Friday.

Asked about expectations for the tourist season in light of the crisis in the Middle-East, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said during a visit to Rijeka and the surrounding area that he had spoken with the head of the Croatian Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, and that his impression based on tourist bookings is that the current situation in the Middle-East could even be having a positive impact for Croatia.

“If people who are dear to us and know Croatia or want to discover Croatia for the first time, and come from our source markets, find themselves in a position where they have less income available for tourism, then they will probably consider whether they will go on holiday, how many days, how much money they will have available to spend here. We need to be careful here, but I think that the preparation for the season is going quite well,” Plenković said.

The Prime Minister said that he believes that, if a more reasonable pricing policy than last year’s is adhered to, Croatia can have a very strong tourist season, which means a maximum of 22 million arrivals, 110 million overnight stays and revenue of €15.5 billion.

In a comment on his visit to the LNG and JANAF terminals, he said that from 2021 to 2026, 140 ships carrying natural gas had arrived in Omišalj, 67% from the USA and about 10% from Trinidad and Tobago, which is good in terms of security of supply, because there are practically no orders coming from the Persian Gulf.

“The supply of gas to Croatia is in no way at issue, because the ships come from other destinations,” Plenković said.

He assessed the situation with the JANAF pipeline company as similar, noting that it has the capacity to deliver the oil needed not only to the refinery in Rijeka, but also to refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia.

Source: HRT