Royal Visit

Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, made an official visit to Croatia this week, taking in a number of functions and activities in Zagreb and Split.

According to the Croatian media, the visit seems to have been very well received.

To a Croatia loving Brit it's a source of great pride that "the powers that be" have organised a visit to Croatia from such a senior member of the Royal Family. It's also a matter of continuing amazement as to how the British Royal Family, in general, manage to fit so much into a short space of time, and still appear genuinely interested in everyone they meet and everything they see.

President Mešić’s present to the Princess Royal was also of some interest - a pair of earrings made from "Šibenik Buttons". These are very ornate traditional buttons, often used on Klapasingers' costumes, and revived as an original souvenir of Croatia.

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has said he strongly believes Croatia will enter the European Union by 2011.

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has said he strongly believes Croatia will enter the European Union by 2011.Sanader said in an interview with the German weekly Die Welt:" I absolutely believe we can end negotiations by the end of 2009 and join the organisation by 2011. The best date would be 1 January."Sanader added that any speculation about the reasons for Slovenia’s blocking of the opening of new chapters in Croatia’s EU accession negotiations would be a mistake.Sanader explained: "I expect Slovenia to support Croatia’s accession. If we cannot solve our border dispute through bilateral talks, we should take it to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The court will have the last word, and both countries will be obligated to respect its ruling."

Tourist Season off to a successful start

Croatian Times
More than 60,000 tourists have spent their Eastern holidays on the Adriatic coast, as many as during the best past Croatian tourism seasons.It was also ten per cent more than expected, according to the daily Slobodna Dalmacija.Istria welcomed 30,000, and Split-Dalmatian county 6,500, tourists. Two hundred hotels were open on the Adriatic coast.Zadar had the best results over Easter since the War of Independence (1991-1995).According to the Zadar tourist board, the Zadar area was visited by 5,000 to 6,000 tourists.Zadar tourist board head Zvonko Supe said today (Tues): "This was the best Easter since the end of the war. It appears the season will be good despite many negative prognoses. We are pleased that so many tourists from Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Spain and Hungary were here this year. Also, thanks to Ryanair, we have had 450 guests from Scandinavian during the last three days." Supe added that many Croats had also visited Zadar this year.With 3,500 passengers thus far in April, Zadar airport has had double the number compared to the same month last year, according to the 057info.hr website.Most passengers arrived on Ryanair from London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Stockholm and on Germanwings from Cologne and Stuttgart.In the last three days, Split airport has seen the arrival and departure of 6,000 tourists, of whom 4,500 were foreigners.Twenty per cent of the hotels on the coast have reported better results than last year.According to the Dubrovnik tourist board, around 5,000 guests spent their Easter holidays in the Dubrovnik area, an increase of 30 per cent compared to last year. Most guests were from Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy and Japan, but there were also many Croats.

REAL ESTATE PRICES DOWN IN ZAGREB, UP ON THE COAST

Croatian Times / By Marija Andric

Experts say the real-estate price correction continued in March in Zagreb.Real-estate website CentarNekretnina.net, which surveyed 177,000 prices of real estate, said the average price in Zagreb fell by 0.3 per cent in March compared to the previous month and by 2.1 per cent compared to March 2008.Prices on the Adriatic coast were up by 2.3 per cent from a year earlier and by 0.8 per cent compared to February.Prices in Croatia as a whole did not change, compared to February 2009 or to March 2008.The average price of a flat in March was 1,964 Euros per square metre in Zagreb and 2,287 Euros per square metre on the Adriatic coast.Flat prices are higher on the southern Adriatic coast .The average price of a flat in Makarska in March was 2,487 Euros per square metre, while the average price of one in Crikvenica was 1,826 Euros per square metre.CentarNekretnina.net head Domenico Devescovi said he expected further real-estate price corrections and continued price