Tourism minister says 20,000 accommodation facilities to be recategorised soon

Private providers of accommodation for tourists will soon have to recategorise their facilities, given that those accommodation capacities have had the same category for over 20 years, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said in Zagreb on Wednesday. Commenting on the state of affairs in the tourism industry in Croatia, Cappelli hinted at a possibility of reducing the standard VAT rate for restaurants and cafes, primarily when it comes to food provision. 

"It is high time we started thinking which direction family-run accommodation facilities should take. The process of recategoriasing will be a good round-up for over 20,000 accommodation units that have not changed their categories for more than 20 years. Hoteliers must conduct new categorisation every four years, and I think it's high time we did that in the family-run facilities," Cappelli said at a conference organised in Zagreb by the association of entrepreneurs in the hotel industry in Croatia.

He said that currently 150,000 workers were employed in the national tourist trade. The next tourist season will require the hiring of an additional 15,000 workers, he said, explaining that for that purpose, quotas for foreign workers should be increased and programmes of retraining of local labour force would also be conducted.

He commented on the characteristics of the average foreign tourist visiting Croatia. According to a survey, the typical foreign tourist in Croatia is 41 years old on average, and they mostly come from five European countries: Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic.

The average daily spending of such a tourist is 79 euro, and 122 euro if they stay in hotels.

Of all tourists, 47% stay in family-run accommodation facilities, 29% in hotels, and 24% in camping sites.

The hotel capacities throughout the country have 171,000 beds, and they account for 24% of overnight stays annually.

Tourists from Germany, Croatia, Great Britain and Slovenia are the most frequent guests in hotels.

Cappelli announced investments in the amount of a billion euro in the tourism sector in 2019.

He commented on a possibility of introducing a direct flight service between Croatia and China which would be conducive to a 50% rise in the number of tourists from that Asian country in 2019.

(Hina)

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