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Zagreb - The Opposition on Thursday blasted the draft Tourism Bill, maintaining that it would not result in sustainable tourism and the only ones to profit would be private consultancies that would make tourism development plans while HDZ MPs commended it as a step forward and an example to other countries.
Katarina Nemet (IDS) said the idea of each destination deciding about its own tourism development was good but that it would not function in reality due to a lack of clearly defined measures on the national level to follow destination plans.
Ivana Kekin (We Can!) said the wish to ensure sustainable tourism, although good in principle, did not match the content of the bill.
She particularly objected to the provision on rewarding investors by exempting them from paying profit tax over a period of ten years. "What will be rewarded is the construction of more holiday apartments," she said.
Quite the contrary, destination management plans will enable local government units to prevent the excessive construction of apartments if they want so, said Gari Cappelli of the HDZ party.
Katarina Peović (Workers' Front), too, believes the bill will enable more construction projects, investments in accommodation, hospitality and entertainment facilities and in boating and charter tourism, "which will result in the further devastation of our country."
Marin Miletić (Bridge) objected to the public sector being the only one to manage projects of special importance for destination development, wondering where entrepreneurs and private investors were in all that.
Siniša Hajdaš Dončić (SDP) said private consulting companies operating in the tourism sector would profit the most from the new law, writing strategies, regulations and destination development plans.
Marijana Puljak (Centre/GLAS) agreed with him, adding that tourist boards mostly hire "unemployable personnel" of the ruling party.
Damir Bajs (Fokus/Reformists) wondered if the law also supports continental tourism, while Davor Dretar (Homeland Movement) said tourism was being put under political control.
HDZ MPs, on the other hand, defended the law as an important step forward, an example to other countries and a modern piece of legislation aligned with sustainability goals.
HDZ MP Mato Franković said the law would give local government units tools to restrict certain activities, while his colleague Danica Baričević said that counties, towns and municipalities would be able to manage their space.
Local government units know best what they need, said Stipan Šašlin, another HDZ MP.
Andro Krstulović Opara said the OECD described Croatia's tourism law as an example to other tourist countries, while Marko Pavić said the law was a modern piece of legislation aligned with the UN's sustainability goals.
Minister: Bill addresses continental tourism as well, enables local gov't units to make autonomous decisions
Addressing the parliament, Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac said the new law also addresses the development of continental tourism and gives powers to local government units to make decisions on their own that directly affect tourism development.
"The purpose of this law is to create preconditions for tourism management and development in line with sustainability as regards the use and valuation of space, natural, social and economic resources and cultural heritage," she said.
The bill is also aimed at improving the quality of life for the local population as well as for visitors.
Towns and municipalities will be able to make decisions on the number and type of hospitality businesses and restrict the opening of new ones. "Acquired rights cannot be taken away, and decisions can refer only to restricting growth but not to closing down businesses," she said.
The bill also enables towns and municipalities to decide on the management of tourist flows to reduce the burden on individual sites, as well as to introduce an environmental levy.
The bill regulates subsidies and incentives in tourism and creates a legal ground for the adoption of sector-specific programmes of incentives for activities in tourism and defines ways to oversee the implementation of the law, she said.
One of the many rebuttals came from Katarina Nemet (IDS), who warned about the problem of non-registration of visitors in the non-commercial sector, to which Brnjac said that in early 2024 an EU directive on short-term lease should go into force to connect all platforms with the member states' taxation systems.
Each renter will get an identification number and the tax authority will automatically obtain information on who does not register their guests and operates in the grey zone, the minister said.