PM believes that tourist season will be successful

Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, who on Friday chaired a session of the government's task group for activities in tourism in 2009, said that she was optimistic about the completion of this year's tourist season and that preparations for the next high season could start.

I would like to thank task group members and all employees in the tourist trade for their contribution to what I will define as a successful season, Kosor said at the group's session in the coastal town of Biograd na Moru.



Tourism Minister Damir Bajs said that the last four weekends had seen record high arrivals and overnight stays and that the downturn was being slowly reversed.

According to his statistics, in July the arrivals of tourists fell three percent to 2.5 million year on year. The number of their overnight stays also fell by three percent to 17.7 million.



Minister Bajs said that the government's action plan for this year's tourist season brought about results.

All of this will help the Croatian economy, and the tourist trade can be the most competitive segment of the national economy, he said.

Police official Ivica Porubic told the task group that a degree of traffic safety had been raised.



In the first seven months this year the number of vehicles in Croatian traffic rose by one million than last year with 10 percent increase in traffic on motorways. The number of traffic accidents dropped by 5.8 percent compared to the first seven months of 2008, Porubic said.

Road deaths amounted to 293. In road accidents 19 foreign nationals lost their lives in the said time. (Hina)