The new EU member country is investing in more quality – value tax reduction for restaurants brings more recovery.
 
Tourism in Croatia continues to benefit from in the upwind after the country's entry in the European Union. More rights for air passenger, low mobile roaming fees and more benefits forward the tourism industry.

The Croatian government wants to further push the tourism upswing and initiate investments in the amount of seven billion Euros until 2020. This year tourist services have become cheaper due to reduced tax rates.

This also encourages the hotel construction. According to TOPHOTELPROJECTS, the worldwide leading provider of global b2b hotel data, twelve hotel projects with more than 2,900 rooms are currently in the pipeline.
 
One of the largest hotel projects is the „Gateway Project" in the Croatian harbor city Rijeka. A first class hotel with about 600 rooms and luxury apartments as well as a shopping center and a marina are planned. The first opening is scheduled for spring 2014.

The Hvar Island Resort from Kerzer International shall become the lighthouse project for the luxury resort at the Adriatic Sea. This high end luxury resort with 200 rooms and apartments is funded with approximately 100 million US-Dollar of the investment fonds from the Dubai Arqaam Capital. The opening is expected for this year's autumn.

Kerzer International also pushes another project in the neighbor country Montenegro: in Kumbor the first One & Only resort in Europe arises at the Trivat bay. Investor of this 150 rooms resort is the state oil company from Azerbaijan.

The Croatian tourism industry counted 62,7 million overnight stays and therefore the highest level since the country's independence. The number of overnight stays from foreign tourists was 5,1 percent higher than in 2011.

Simultaneous the industry's revenues, which are increasing since 2010, were lower than the record result from 2008.

One reason was the hotels' exceptional discounts. Due to calculations from the Raiffeisenbank the average expenses from foreign tourists with 104 Euros per overnight stay in the first three quarter of 2012 was 16 percent lower than in 2008. 

Besides the various measures and initiatives to promote the domestic and foreign investments, the Croatian government ascribes tourism a great importance. Quality improvements should make it more competitive internationally. The new Investment Promotion Act, which implementing regulation is remaining, have additional support measures in mind for the industry's investments in quality improvements.

Reducing the VAT rate from 25 percent to 10 percent for restaurant services early 2013 should affect the sector's contestability positively. For overnight stays the reduced rate is valid for quite some time. Also the law for touristic used plots, which is so far barely used, should be amended.

The strategy calculates an amount of 825 million Euros to modernize existing, mostly yet to be privatized touristic properties. Another investment focus should be small and family owned hotels, the investment needs are estimated at 295 million euros.

For these businesses the Croatian development bank (HBOR) will allocate reduced development loan already during 2013. Since early 2013 the tourism ministry also subsidizes the expansion of pools at family businesses and provides for this purpose 50 million Kuna in total (exchange rate at 19.02.2013: 1 Euro = 7.6 Kuna).

Further information: www.tophotelprojects.com