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Coronavirus Update – April 21, 2020
In our continued efforts to keep clients and travelers informed of the latest travel situation in Croatia, we have put together our weekly update for readers.
Despite this challenging time, our team continues to be as busy as ever, planning trips for later this year and moving forward into 2021! We’re being as flexible as we possibly can with all travelers that have trips booked and are working closely with them should they require any amends to their trips. We’re also busy putting together some exciting itineraries for those dreaming of future vacations.
Current Situation in Croatia
Due to its strong and measured approach to managing the spread of COVID-19, Croatia has already begun to consider the relaxation of its lockdown rules. On April 18th the government extended the lockdown period for another 15 days but acknowledged that they were looking at if it was possible to gradually start easing restrictions on movement.
The numbers in Croatia continue to show progress and positive signs with Saturday 18th April seeing just 18 new cases, the lowest daily increase since March 17. Furthermore, as of Monday 20th April the country was proud to report no new deaths in the past 24 hours as a result of the virus.
At the time of writing, there have been only 48 deaths out of the 1,908 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Croatia. Those numbers continue to place Croatia as one of the lesser COVID-19 impacted countries and places it well outside of the top 50 countries in terms of number of cases as well as fatalities. Despite the positives being seen in Croatia, all of us at Adventures Croatia send our thoughts and best wishes to each and every family that has been impacted by COVID-19, in Croatia and elsewhere.
As we state in all of our Croatia COVID-19 travel updates, we must emphasise the extremely high caliber of healthcare in Croatia. At present the healthcare system meets and exceeds European Union standards with Croatian citizens able to use the service for free at the point of use. Healthcare facilities in Croatia are modern, with advanced levels of treatment provided for all patients.
In this week’s travel update we wanted to share with you a message from Ines Palac who is based in our Pula office. Ines wanted to share her first-hand experience of the situation in Croatia and how life has been in beautiful Pula.
“In this time of crisis, there is arguably not a person on the planet who has not been impacted by the coronavirus. But the sun is shining in Croatia! By joining forces and following the measures put in place, after a month, the effect is visible, Croatians are making significant strides in the fight against the virus.
In Croatia we care very much about traditions and take pride in everything that is Croatian. The weather is gorgeous and locals are looking forward to going back to the beach, which many do after work if you live on the coast!
The people of Croatia are very friendly, hospitable, helpful and English-speaking, not to mention funny and culturally switched-on! They are easy going and can’t wait to welcome new friends from around the world who will fall in love with our beautiful country!! “
Reasons To Feel Hopeful
As a weekly feature of our travel update we want to give people reasons to feel positive and hopeful as the impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt. We hope these messages are informative, inspiring and bring hope that we will all be able to travel again soon in the not too distant future.
As well as Croatia a variety of European countries have begun to lift restrictions that were previously in place. Below we share some examples of positive news being seen from across Europe.
Norway: Schools, universities and non-essential shops such as beauty salons are due to re-open from April 27th
Czech Republic: A five stage plan starts on April 20th with the opening of open air markets and workshops and is due to run through until June 8th. In addition to this, Czech citizens are now allowed to travel abroad providing they undergo a two week period of quarantine upon their return.
Germany: As of April 20th Germany has allowed commercial spaces under 800sqm to reopen as well as car dealerships, bike shops and bookstores.
Italy: The original epicentre of the virus in Europe is showing strong progress with smaller non-essential shops already reopening in some regions. Other workers such as forestry workers and IT manufacturers have also started to go back to work.
Austria: Smaller non-essential shops have reopened with larger shops due to reopen from May 1st. Austria has also planned for restaurants to open from as early as mid-May.
Slovenia: Holiday home owners are now permitted to travel to them with the government also announcing that certain types of sporting events such as cycling and tennis are now allowed.
With all of this positive news being seen from across Europe it gives us reasons to be hopeful that a return to some type of normality may not be too far away. We will continue to keep you updated and informed of travel updates not only within Croatia but also from across Europe to monitor patterns and trends that are being seen.
Current situation in the US
As of March 19th the U.S. Department of State has advised its citizens to avoid all international travel due to the global impact of COVID-19. This guidance also extends to U.S citizens who live abroad. Adventures Croatia will do our best to keep you informed of any further federal policies and pronouncements affecting travel.
In her weekly message our CEO Pamela Robinson wanted to share the following message for our wonderful readers.
From Our CEO
“We hope everyone is still following the guidelines and protocols in place for staying safe and healthy, wherever you are. Some of our travelers are now preparing for a June arrival in Croatia. We are currently uncertain as to exactly what will and what may not have been reopened by their arrival dates. As such, this is still a bit of a waiting game. For our travelers who are undecided as to their intent to travel or not, we are happy to postpone your trip for another time. Please reach out to us and we can assist you in preserving your travel investment, as well as to keep the wonder of experiencing the best of Croatia in your near future plans. Be safe, be well.”
As we continue to live through these uncertain times we continue to wish all of our readers and their families the very best of health. We are here for you during these times and on-hand if you have a trip planned and need further information or are looking to travel later this year or going into 2021. We are continually doing all that we can to be as flexible as possible regarding the rescheduling of any impacted trips and our team will work with you every step of the way to provide the best possible outcome available.
We will continue to keep you informed and updated of the latest situation regarding travel developments concerning COVID-19 in Croatia.
