Croatian tourism minister invites German investors and tourists to Croatia

Croatian Tourism Minister Veljko Ostojic has invited German investors and tourists to Croatia, saying that the country has a lot to offer in the light of the new government measures aimed at stimulating investment and improving tourist services. Ostojic extended his invitation at a press conference held as part of the international tourism fair ITB in Berlin on Wednesday. The press conference was attended by over 50 foreign reporters. Ostojic said that this month Croatia would pass a new law to stimulate investment, including that in tourist accommodation facilities. He said that in the next two years the government planned to privatise the remaining 13 state-owned tourist companies and thus encourage greenfield and brownfield investments in the national tourist industry, citing the zero tax rate on reinvested profits and the reduced VAT rate of 10% on tourism as of next year.

Croatian Tourism Minister Veljko Ostojic has invited German investors and tourists to Croatia, saying that the country has a lot to offer in the light of the new government measures aimed at stimulating investment and improving tourist services.

Ostojic extended his invitation at a press conference held as part of the international tourism fair ITB in Berlin on Wednesday. The press conference was attended by over 50 foreign reporters. Ostojic said that this month Croatia would pass a new law to stimulate investment, including that in tourist accommodation facilities. He said that in the next two years the government planned to privatise the remaining 13 state-owned tourist companies and thus encourage greenfield and brownfield investments in the national tourist industry, citing the zero tax rate on reinvested profits and the reduced VAT rate of 10% on tourism as of next year.

Ostojic said that Croatia's forthcoming accession to the European Union, scheduled for July 1, 2013, was extremely important for the development of the Croatian tourist trade because it would facilitate travel from Europe and the possibility of using EU funds would certainly contribute to higher standards of its tourist industry. Ostojic said that the number of German tourists to visit Croatia this year might exceed last year's 1.6 million, adding that about 40% of annual travel packages for Croatia had already been booked in Germany.

Croatia has earmarked 25 million euros for tourism promotion activities for this year, of which 5 million euros for the German market, which is the same as last year. Earlier in the day, Ostojic visited the Bundestag where he met with the Chairman of the Committee on Tourism, Klaus Brahming. They arranged for a delegation of German MPs to visit Croatia this autumn. (Hina)

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