The country of 1000 islands, the total income from tourism worldwide amounts to 100 billion euros. Today, Croatia takes 6% of the tourism pie. Before the war, tourism in Croatia was the main economic engine that filled the coffers of the National Bank of the former Yugoslavia. The war has put Croatia as a destination on hold, but now this beautiful country is back and everyone is talking about Croatia as the main European destination.
Croatia has great potential in this economic branch. However, as in any business, the key is in the strategy. Returning to the first sentence of this article, “the country of 1000 islands”, it seems to me that the answer to the question about strategy is self-explanatory. Croatia must follow the example of Montenegro and must create a positive investment climate for the construction of marinas for mega yachts. We have asked SrÄ ‘Portolan, member of the board of directors of Adriatic Yacht Services, his point of view. SrÄ’ has told us that we must follow the model used by France. Portolan was part of the Adriatic Yacht Services incentive trip that took place in Cap d’Antibe in March 2013. SrÄ ‘told us that he was amazed by the scale of the marinas and especially those reserved for mega yachts. SrÄ’ also explained to us that the quality of infrastructure services was second to none. SrÄ’ Portolan stressed that this French model is what Croatia lacks.
Here in Croatia, Dubrovnik, if we are to examine just two of these factors, we have failed the test. Naturally, we have to follow the example of our neighbors, the Montenegrins. Porto Montenegro in Tivat, a luxury sports complex, an Anglo-Russian investment project is a success story to the point that oil-affected Azeri investors are pouring a lot of money into the development of a new marina luxury in Kumbor. Having been to Porto Montenegro, I was amazed at the scale of the infrastructure, the restaurants, the luxury shops, the luxury travel agencies, the representative offices of yacht dealers, the representative offices of car dealers , which to me only highlighted the seriousness of the whole story.
At the end of the day, the conclusion that can be drawn is simple: Dubrovnik, as Croatia’s main destination, must find a solution as soon as possible for the construction of a marina for mega yachts before it is too late. So if you get on your yacht in Porto Montenegro in Tivat it is already logical that your next stop is Dubrovnik. However, if you don’t have a mega yacht marina, let alone the infrastructure and services that go with it, it’s highly unlikely that you as a country will read fate, increase this slice of the pie by, say, 8%, and accelerate its economic recovery.