The Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA) said on Monday it was asking the government to reimburse agencies' fixed costs and ensure conditions for them to resume business ahead of the tourist season.
Travel agencies have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, so the UHPA presented its request for urgent financial aid at a meeting with Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac last week, when UHPA president Tomislav Fain said the agencies needed that aid to be able to resume business.
"The tourism industry has been suffering huge losses since the start of the pandemic and travel agencies are in the most difficult situation by far, as confirmed by data from the Tax Administration and the Croatian Bureau of Statistics which show that the average fall in business in 2020 was above 85%," the UHPA said.
For a long time now, it added, the UHPA has been advocating that big cruise ships be allowed to dock in Croatian seaports again, which is not possible due to restrictions on the number of passengers imposed by the national COVID-19 response team.
The restrictions have resulted in a drastic decrease in the number of foreign cruise ships in Croatian seaports while at the same time competitors like Italy, Greece, France and Spain have launched an urgent normalisation of cruises, including their destinations in itineraries of shipping companies like MSC, Costa Crosiere, AIDA Kreuzfahrten and others. (Hina)
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