A rich congress program at the 7th CCE Croatian Nautical Days in Biograd
BIOGRAD NA MORU - Biograd Boat Show, the largest nautical fair in Central Europe, confirmed again this year that it is, in the truest sense of the word, a five-day festival of world and European nautical that has developed into a congress of the Croatian nautical industry and tourism. It is widely known that at the end of October in the marina Kornati in Biograd, not only a nautical fair is held, but four fairs in one are held at the same time. In addition to the standard exhibition part of the fair, the Croatia Charter Expo - charter fair - opened its doors for the fifth time in a row, the Biograd B2B - business fair was organized for the eighth time, as well as the congress fair led by the Croatian Chamber of Economy with its 7th annual Croatian Nautical Days which took place from 25 until October 27.
As in all the previous six years, businessmen from the nautical sector have traditionally gathered in the Biograd marina Kornati to jointly analyze and discuss key topics affecting seafaring and nautical tourism towards the end of the nautical season. It was pointed out that the period of restoration of Croatian tourism after the pandemic years was successfully completed, but also the tourist season, which had new challenges ahead of it, such as entry into Schengen and the Eurozone. In particular, the nautical sector brightened the face of Croatian tourism, as 500,000 arrivals and approximately 3.3 million overnight stays were recorded in nautical charters, which is an indication that nautical will continue to be one of the most propulsive segments of the Croatian tourist offer.
Already on the first day of the nautical fair in Biograd na Moru, numerous sessions and panel discussions were held. Among them, it is worth highlighting the meetings of the charter and the marina association, while the central event of the 7th Croatian Nautical Days was a panel discussion on the topic: "CCE The perspective of nautical tourism in Croatia. Legislation, promotion, quality and sustainability", which was attended by representatives of Ministries, the Croatian National Tourist Board and nauticcal association at CCE. As part of the jubilee 25th Biograd Boat Show, the second meeting of the Association of Ports, Shiping comapnies and Maritime Agencies was held, where they discussed the current issues of activity - installing solar panels on the maritime property, the issue of lighting fees and other issues that complicate the business of the profession. Members of the Working Group were also appointed to prepare a study related to the issue of skylight costs. At the session, it was concluded that the representatives of HEP and HŽ Infrastrukura should be invited to the next meeting on the subject of renewable sources.
With the adopted National Plan for the Development of Sustainable Tourism and the Action Plan accompanying its implementation, the long-awaited establishment of legal regulations and the harmonization of regulations that directly affect competitiveness and sustainability in the nautical industry have been started. Also, the innovations that will be introduced by the Law on Tourism were presented, especially in the measures of the reduced rate of profit tax, which until now were not realistically applicable in the nautical sector.
In the end, the representatives of the Croatian Chamber of Economy pointed out that should continue to work on strengthening Croatia's position as a world leader in the segment of charter activities, and in this sense the Biograd manifestation, which is famous for the largest nautical fair in Central Europe and is the central gathering place of the charter industry through the Croatia Charter Expo, which was held this year as part of the Biograd Boat Show for the fifth time in a row.
