New Croatian tourism regulations unveiled as new era begins

Brela

The Ministry of Tourism and Sport in Croatia is embarking on a new era of tourism management with proposed regulations aimed at enhancing sustainability and quality across the industry.

These regulations will empower local authorities to control accommodation rental capacities and define their destination profiles, ensuring a balance between tourism growth and residents’ quality of life.

New Regulations for Tourism Management

These regulations, mandated by the Tourism Act, will allow cities and municipalities to define and profile their destinations clearly, Index.hr reported

They can choose to be a four or five-star destination and manage the structure and number of accommodation facilities. The Minister of Tourism and Sport, Tonči Glavina, highlighted that local authorities could restrict the number of apartments and venues, both in specific areas and across entire destinations.

Glavina emphasised the importance of enabling local authorities to limit the issuing of permits for certain types of accommodation or hospitality establishments if the carrying capacity calculations suggest it’s necessary.

This can be applied at the micro level, affecting an entire local government unit or just a part of a destination.

Dubrovnik

A New Era of Tourism

The new regulations will provide destinations with tools to manage their spaces and development more effectively, ensuring a balance between tourism growth and residents’ quality of life.

Glavina pointed out that many destinations have been seeking such tools and that this shift marks a new era of Croatian tourism focused on sustainability rather than mere growth.

Implementation and Costs

The regulations will empower local governments to manage tourism at their level, including the potential to limit accommodation capacities. This requires compliance with the regulations, which involves conducting analyses to justify tourism management actions in a given destination. These analyses may incur significant costs for tourist boards, which may need to hire consultants due to a lack of in-house capacity.

Split

Planning and Approval Process

A management plan for a tourist destination, covering a four-year period, must be approved by the local government body and include development guidelines, measures and activities, and recommendations for destination improvement.

The carrying capacity of a destination is defined as the number of tourists that can visit simultaneously without causing unacceptable disruptions to the physical, economic, and sociocultural environment or reducing visitor satisfaction.

Calculating Carrying Capacity

The calculation of carrying capacity, conducted by tourist boards, considers the number of beds in commercial accommodations relative to the number of permanent residents and the number of homes per 100 square metres of developed area. It also assesses the average number of tourists per resident during peak tourist days and the impact of tourism on public space, noise levels, and the environment.

Destination Management Planning

The draft regulations for destination management planning outline the creation of a plan as a document for sustainable development. This involves incorporating key stakeholders, analysing the current state, and defining projects critical for development. The plan must align with strategic planning documents, spatial plans, and other relevant regulations.

Makarska

Monitoring Development and Sustainability

The draft regulation on indicators for monitoring tourism development and sustainability sets out indicators for calculating the tourism development index and includes mandatory and specific indicators for sustainability monitoring.

Public Consultation and Implementation Timeline

The Ministry’s announcement states that, in accordance with the Tourism Act, local governments can make decisions about the number, type, and category of hospitality establishments based on the management plan and spatial plans, ensuring that all decisions are grounded in carrying capacity calculations.

The e-consultation process for all three draft proposals is open until 25 August 2024. The new regulations are expected to be adopted in September.