DALMATIA Sustainability is Responsibility In collaboration with Dalmatia Cover Spread.indd All Pages 28/03/2019 19:36 Focus EBRD, €3.7 BILLION INVESTED IN MORE THAN 200 PROJECTS The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is leveraging the benefits of Croatia’s EU accession to advance transition and restructuring and commercializing public sector enterprises. Victoria Zinchuk Director for Croatia EBRD The EBRD forecast for Croatia’s real GDP and transport will continue to drive growth. In Croatia we growth in 2019 is 2.5%. What sectors are most However, long-term growth prospects focus on mitigating the likely to contribute to this growth? depend on the implementation of structural Croatia’s economic expansion in 2018 reforms. Public and private corporate debt impact of the crisis and moderated from the post-recession high levels remain high and governance in the restoring sustainable of 3.5 per cent to 2.6 per cent. We expect state sector as well as the general business growth to stay at moderate levels in the environment need improvement. Continued growth. near future at around 2.5 per cent. We emigration and an aging population are believe that sectors such as tourism, trade leading to labour shortages in certain areas. The EBRD has developed 207 projects in Croatia to date. In your opinion, how is the country leveraging the benefits of EU accession? Croatia became an EU member state in 2013, which was a strong signal to investors about the political and economic maturity of the country. Membership also meant access to EU funds and programs which constitute an important anchor for advancing reforms and closing investment gaps. Despite significant progress there remains space to further improve the absorption speed and capacity. This is also one of the areas where the EBRD can make an important contribution to unlock growth potential by strengthening the vital private sector. Introduction UNWTO, WHEN POLITICAL COMMITMENT IS TRANSLATED INTO EFFECTIVE TOURISM STRATEGIES A responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism is encouraged to maximize tourism’s socio-economic contribution while minimizing its possible negative impacts. is among UNWTO key areas of work in particular, we see great results in developing large focus on prolonging the tourist season, the context of advancing our contribution local gastronomical offers, which is key to and capacity building and communication to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, promoting the destination’s heritage, sports for locals, tourism stakeholders and visitors. in particular, Goal 11: “Make cities and tourism – including the opening in 2020 I would also add that UNWTO is very human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient of one of the longest cycling routes in the proud to count on the active involvement and sustainable”. Our work accompanying world, and health and nautical tourism, of a Croatian partner in its international this area ranges from a series of international taking advantage of the natural heritage of network of sustainable tourism observatories. conferences on urban tourism, to dedicated the country. The Croatian Sustainable Tourism publications offering bets practices and Many measures are also being taken to Observatory (CROSTO), hosted by conveying meetings at different stakeholder address the challenges related to tourism the Institute for Tourism in Zagreb, is levels. growth and congestion, for example, changes responsible for monitoring sustainable The recent growth of urban tourism to tourism laws which will give more power to tourism in the Adriatic Croatia, and is a clear requires the sector to ensure sustainable local governments, thereby enhancing their demonstration of Croatia’s commitment to policies and practices that maximize ability to address local challenges, expanding sharing the global strategic commitment to tourism’s socio-economic benefits. By flights services and connectivity which will act responsibly and with care towards the the same token, potential adverse effects improve the spread of tourism over Croatia, a spaces we live in. need to be tackled – on natural resources, infrastructure, mobility and congestion, and the socio-cultural impact on residents. Urban tourism is multifaceted and requires a city- wide strategy with cooperation between all Why tourism matters? stakeholders and the inclusion of tourism not as an annex to the urban agenda, but from its very beginning. Against this backdrop, UNWTO Sustainable and commends Dubrovnik’s ‘Respect the City’ inclusive cities must project initiated in 2017, geared towards A year ago, the closing ceremony of the managing tourism growth including all Zurab Pololikashvili International Year of Sustainable Tourism mean creating cities for relevant stakeholders. for Development took place in Geneva. What all: citizens, investors Secretary-General is the UNWTO balance on the initiatives and visitors. How would you assess the steps taken by the United Nations World that were launched during that year? What Croatian government towards a sustainable achievements can you highlight for us? tourism policy? Tourism Organization The International Year was a unique Minister Cappelli has on several occasions (UNWTO) opportunity to highlight tourism’s made very clear the clear political contributions to sustainable development. What are the best measures to manage urban commitment to ensuring that the tourism Against the backdrop of tourism’s impact on tourism growth and ‘overtourism’? sector grows sustainably. Indeed, Croatia’s global GDP of 10% and representing one in Cities can only claim to be sustainable and commitment to sustainability has been ten jobs around the world, the International inclusive if they are conceived and managed emphasized in its Tourism Development Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development as cities for all: from citizens to visitors. Strategy 2020, and this commitment is identified key areas of impact, ranging from Long before the emergence of buzzwords particularly important in a fast-growing immediate socio-economic impact such as such as ‘overtourism’, UNWTO defined tourism destination like Croatia, which has economic growth, employment and poverty tourism’s carrying capacity as “the been traditionally known for its stunning reduction, to the environmental sphere maximum number of people that may coastlines. around resource efficiency, environmental visit a tourist destination at the same time, And their political commitment has protection and climate change, but also without causing destruction of the physical, translated into effective strategies focused intangible assets, like cultural values, economic and sociocultural environment on developing selective forms of tourism heritage, or mutual understanding, peace, and an unacceptable decrease in the quality based on full quality and destination and security. of visitors’ satisfaction”. Thus, urban tourism management involving all stakeholders. In CITY OF DUBROVNIK: THE PEARL OF THE ADRIATIC INTERVIEW WITH What role does tourism play in the city’s passengers, so we are talking about a crazy big friends. Imagine if they say Dubrovnik is nice, economy? number of people entering the city all at once. but it’s crazy, too many tourists, overcrowded, Tourism is a central pillar of the Croatian We do want to have cruise-ship passengers don’t go there. The cruise ship passengers can economy, generating around € 10 billion euros here in Dubrovnik, but not all of them at be a good marketing tool for us because word in income the past few years and accounting the same time. First, we believe that their of mouth is very, very important. Don’t forget for almost one fifth of the country’s economic experience is very, very bad when the city is that we have around 1 million cruise ship output. It has also been the main economic crowded; they walk around but no one sees passengers per year. sector for Dubrovnik for many years now anything - it is impossible to have a real feel and the majority of the population lives off of the town. The entertainment sector can be a considerable tourism. We’ve been continuously growing We already did some adjustments in 2018 foreign exchange earner. Dubrovnik became for the last 10 years, between 7% up to 14%. and improvements were noticeable. The an ever more popular tourist destination with But now we believe we’ve reached our full agencies are now spreading out the arrivals its success as the location site for Game of capacity from April to mid-October, if we and the departures and, for 2019, we already Thrones and the latest edition of Star Wars. want to remain sustainable. have the rule that there cannot be more than What has been the economic and social impact two cruise ships at once. Same for 2020. We of these productions to your city? So how will the sector still grow? will achieve our goal because now there is We haven’t been able to quantify the definite sports infrastructure. We need to invest money center that can host around 5,000 to 6,000 We still have a few periods when we could a port policy, already sent to the cruise ship economic contribution of Game of Thrones in soccer fields, tennis courts, bowling lanes, people. We currently have three conferences receive more people: in winter, early spring companies, which states that not more than but let me point out that the US market is etc. not just for the people of Dubrovnik but in Dubrovnik a year and they are good for our and late fall; these are the only times we can 4,000 passengers can come to the city at the Mato Frankovi very important for us. Americans are the also for foreigners to come and play or train economy. still receive more tourists. We want to remain same time. Mayor second nationality visiting Dubrovnik, so it here. We also want a stadium. Another important investment for us is the sustainable in the future, so we need the high What I want in the future is a completely definitely means that Game of Thrones did We want to build a bigger conference Dubrovnik Airport.