General illiquidity has been present in the tourism sector over the past year since the outbreak of the pandemic and state guarantees for loans are more than welcome to enable preparations for the tourist season, the head of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce's (HGK) association of travel agencies, Boris Žgomba, said on Tuesday.
A meeting of the HGK Tourism and Business Council was held on Tuesday to discuss preparations for this year's tourist season and grants being offered through the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) and the HAMAG-BICRO Agency for SMEs, Innovations and Investments, which were presented by State-Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Tonči Glavina.
On Tuesday morning, the Ministry advertised a call for applications for state guarantees in the tourism and sports sector as part of the government's recovery support measures.
The programme is valued at HRK 1.5 billion, with Glavina explaining that HRK 1 billion was earmarked for large companies and HRK 500,000 for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in tourism, sports and related activities.
Both Žgomba and Glavina welcomed the measures saying that the survival of tourism was the common interest of both the government and enterprises.
"It is good and valuable that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has in these difficult times found the possibility for the state to guarantee 100% of loan repayments which will certainly be a 'nudge' for us who work in tourism and to be liquid to some extent," Žgomba said.
"This is an attractive programme for all because it offers state guarantees of up to 100% for loans for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and of 90% for large companies. We have been given approval from the European Commission to secure additional funds because unfortunately the funds from the recovery and resilience facility will not be available for the tourism sector or the economy overall before the end of the year," said Glavina.
Bookings uncertain but optimism exists for June and the summer season
Asked about expectations for this season and bookings, Žgomba and Glavina said that they were still quite uncertain considering the developments with the pandemic and deterioration in all of Croatia's markets but that they believed that by the end of May and in June, tourism turnover could start and increase through the summer months.
"Bookings are in a very vulnerable situation because currently Croatia has a relatively good epidemiological situation while all of our markets are far worse and people naturally think more about their health than travel. That is concerning, however it is realistic to expect that the summer will mean a greater turnover and that we will be able to work until the end of August and later, which naturally depends on the epidemiological situation," said Žgomba.
Žgomba believes that it is good that Germany has included Istria in the green zone and hopes that there will more of those zones in Croatia. However, he warned that it is obvious everything will be delayed due to the spread of the virus and the slower vaccination process.
"I am still optimistic and believe that from June, the season will be somewhat normal and that the overall financial results this year will be better than in 2020, at about 60% of 2019," added Žgomba. (Hina/FaH)
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