​Minister says tourism revenue to continue dropping due to pandemic

Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli has said that last year's increase in tourism revenue of 11% is as expected as 2019 was a good year for tourism, and that the drop in revenue in the hospitality sector in the last month is as expected as well, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and closed tourist facilities.

In a telephone interview with Hina on Wednesday, Cappelli said that he could not predict how long the current situation would last.

Commenting on the latest information from the tax authority's fiscalisation system, which shows a major year-on-year drop in the number of invoices issued and amounts in the accommodation and food preparation and serving activity in the last month (February 2 to March 29), of 37% and 41% respectively, the minister said that the decreases were as expected, as was a 96% drop in invoices issued in the last week (March 23-29) and a 93% drop in the amount of invoices issued, compared to the same period of last year.

The current situation will continue until tourism facilities, now closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, reopen, the minister said, noting that some hotels were working and that some restaurant owners were trying to survive by delivering food.

"What we all can do is try to save jobs, which is the purpose of both the first set of economic measures proposed by the government and the second set which is to be adopted by the government tomorrow," said Cappelli.

He repeated that accommodation facilities could receive guests and serve food to them but on the condition of compliance with prescribed measures of social distance.

The minister said that popular pre-season destinations such as Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split and Opatija were already suffering losses.

75% drop in overnights most likely scenario

Speaking of possible scenarios for this year's season, Cappelli said that the most likely one was a 75% drop in overnight stays, on the condition some of the tourist turnover is compensated for in August, September, October and the period until the end of the year.

Should that not be possible due to the continuation of the pandemic, overnight stays could drop by as much as 90%, the minister said, expressing hope that that would not happen. (Hina)

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