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sibenik times
THE
ISSUE 29 | SatUrday, jUnE 20
th
2009 | yEar II
POWErEd By
šibenskilist
All the world’sa stage
All the Sienik streets, stairs, squares, passages,the waterfront, parks, the Cathedral and the theatreelong to the numerous stages which ecome livelyand usy during summer time at the unique worldperformance, the International Children’s Festival.This year from the 20th of June until the 4th of Julythe city will come alive to the 49th festival
 
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 sibenik times 
saturdayjune 20
th
2009.
Welcome to our beautiful city and tothe eleventh edition of the secondseason of “The Sibenik Times”. Thetourist season is in full swing. Whereasit seemed a few weeks ago, when therain was falling and the temperaturewas fifteen degrees lower, that thesummer would be a washout, bothin weather terms and business terms.There were horror stories of the globalrecession completely killing our touristindustry, that tourists would look forcheaper options or not go anywhereon holiday. But these rumours seem, atleast until now, to be unfounded. Eventhough the statistics will show a smalldrop in guests during the early part ofthe season there is no reason for masspanic. I recently spoke to the mayor ofPrimošten and he told me that theywere expecting an increase of around25% this season. It’s true that hotelaccommodation is less full than lastyear but it seems that private accom-modation, camps and marina businessis well up on last season. And there isno sign that cruise ship business hasdropped off at all as there seems tobe more cruise ships and more pas-sengers than ever before. I guess atthe end of the day people will alwaysgo on holiday no matter what the fi-nancial climate is like and no matterhow deep the recession is. Maybe itis time for the Croatian Tourist Boardto change their marketing slogan to“take a holiday you deserve it” insteadof “Croatian - a small country for a bigholiday.” After all if all you’ve heard isdoom and gloom for the last year itstime to put your feet up, relax andkeep your mind off your problems. Infact I even read in an English news-paper at the weekend that the endof the world recession was in sight soby the time you get back home thingsmay be better. Enjoy your stay in theSibenik – Knin County.
FROM THE EDITOR
SPEaK UP!
We woul love o e fom ou.Plese wie o se  e-mil ous bou ou s i Sibeik. yo-u commes e vluble o us e mos ieesig leeswill be publise eve week. I-eesig  uusul poos elso welcome. tks.MarK thOMaSmk.oms@sibeik-imes.com
CROATIA’S EU ACCESSIONNEGOTIATIONS TO RESUME
 
AUSTRIAN YACHT DETAINED OVER ILLEGAL CHARTER
 
DALMATIA HOLIDAY 'NEVER-ENDING'
 
HOLIDAY WEEKEND PROMISINGFOREIGN OFFICE CHANGES TRAVELADVICE FOR CROATIA
European Enlargement Commissioner OlliRehn announced last week in Brussels that heexpected Croatia’s EU accession negotiations wo-uld soon be unblocked and the process movedforward. That question would be discussed at ameeting of EU, Croatian and Slovene ministers of foreign affairs on Monday in Luxembourg, Rehnsaid. Slovenia has blocked the opening of additio-nal chapters in Croatia’s EU accession negotiationsbecause of a dispute over its maritime boundary  with Croatia. Mr. Rehn said: "For the last six mon-ths, we have been working on finding the best so-lution to the border dispute between Croatia andSlovenia. We are close to succeeding, and I believeit is time to end this process and unblock Croatia’sEU accession negotiations." Almost 400,000 tourists headed to the Adriatic last weekend as Croats took along weekend break for the Corpus Chri-sti holiday celebrated on Thursday the11th of June. Croatian auto club (HAK) warned of traffic jams on highways as well as border as foreign tourists alsocame to the country. Split airport wasexpected to handle 25,000 passengerson more than 100 flights over the fourdays of the long weekend. Although HAK also warned that there could be trafficproblems on Sunday as holidaymakershead home after the long weekend, theroads and border crossing moved relati- vely freely.The British Foreign Office has changed its tra- vel advisory warning about organized crime inCroatia. The office’s official website says Croatiahas a low crime rate and violent crime is rare. Theoffice is also warning UK citizens they should beaware of the global risk of indiscriminate terro-rist attacks, which could target civilians in placesfrequented by tourists. The former travel advisory for Croatia had claimed there was a latent dangerof terrorism and organized crime in Croatia, Hinanews agency has reported. Croatian Foreign Af-fairs and European Integration Minister GordanJandrokovic had responded to the former advisory by asserting it had not reflected the real security situation in Croatia. Around 267,000 British to-urists visit Croatia annually and have few if any problems, the Foreign Office has said. An Austrian yacht has been seizedby Croatian authorities over illegalchartering. Maritime authorities saidthe 21-metres long ‘Nikita’, owned by aGerman leasing company, is being heldin Sibenik until a court ruling on Fri-day. The Nikita’s Austrian skipper hasalready been fined 700 Euros for havingan incomplete passenger list – he wascarrying four Austrian tourists – but co-uld face a fine of up to 68,000 Euros forillegal chartering.Budget airline easyJet has suggestedthat the reasons to take a holiday toCroatia’s Dalmatia coast “are seemingly never-ending”. In a statement, the carriersaid a Croatia travel experience providesgood value for money for tourists, as we-ll as summer temperatures in the regionof 26 to 30 degrees C. British tourists inparticular were encouraged to take a va-cation in the country - as it was revealedrecently that less than three per cent of Croatia’s visitors come from the UK. Ro-utes between Britain and the Dalmatiaregion are provided by easyJet - fromLiverpool, Bristol and Gatwick airports.Paul Simmons, UK general manager foreasyJet, explained: “Croatia is one of Europe’s most popular holiday destina-tions, but most Brits are still in the dark about what it has to offer.” Indeed, the Austrian Times recently indicated thatCroatia is one of the top holiday destina-tions for Austrians, while Slovenians’ fa- vourite country is their Balkan neighbour.
 
saturdayjune 20
th
2009.
 sibenik times 
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DID YOU KNOW?
•Thisyearwillbethe49thInter
-iol Cile’s Fesivl i Sibe-ik.
•ThetheatretraditioninSibenik
se 130 es go, o ju29, 1870, we e ee builigws iugue.
•TheInternationalChildren’sFes
-ivl — ieioll ecogiseCoi culul eve.
•Thefirstfestivalwasheldin
1958, e esul of e iiiive effos of sevel cile seusiss.
•Performancesinthefestivalare
el ll ove e ci of Sibeik.
•Thefestivalisprobablythebig
-ges eve el i Sibeik  peo-ple come fom ll ove e cous well s fom bo o wce sows.
•InthevicinityofthecitySibe
-ik  is suouigs, ee ebou 1200 pive ccommo-io fciliies.
•Threecampsitesarelocatedin
e Sibeik e  e cosisof 880 cmpig pices.
•Inhotelandmotelaccommoda
-ios, ee e bou 1510 ooms pmes wi bou 3110bes i Sibeik.
•TheSibenikbayis10kmlongand
300-1200 mees wie, i flows o-ws e ope se  islsoug  ow cuvig cel.
 
CHINESE PRESIDENT TO VISIT CROATIANO SMOKING CROATIA
 
MARKETING THE KEY TO SUCCESS
Croatian Minister of Health Darko Mi-linovic has dismissed media speculationabout amendment of the anti-smokinglaw or postponement of its enforcement.Milinovic did so during his meeting last week with the Croatian Employers Asso-ciation (HUP) members. He said: “Thegovernment would be very foolish to ma-ke concessions only one month after anew law had entered into force. We willsee after six to nine months how muchimpact the law has really had on bars andrestaurants.We can talk about it in the autumn.”Milinovic added it was not true that Cro-atian restaurants had suffered an 80-per-cent drop in customer numbers since thenew anti-smoking law entered into forcein May. The minister said: “Around 30 percent of Croats are smokers and the other70 per cent are non-smokers. I want toprotect non-smokers and will not agreeto any changes in the law that endangerthem.” The minister noted smoking killedsome 15,000 Croats annually and recom-mended that restaurant proprietors find ways to attract more guests, such as lowerprices. A new scheme has been launched by Croatia’snational tourist board to try and tempt more peo-ple to take a vacation to the country. Head of theorganisation Niko Bulic told the AFP news agency this week that the internet will be the main tool inexpressing the benefits of a holiday Croatia style.The social networking phenomenon - which has be-come popular thanks to the emergence of websitessuch as Facebook and Twitter in recent years - willbe used to try and get people discussing what isso good about staying in Croatian accommodati-on. Welcometocroatia.com.hr will be the internetportal providing people with the opportunity toshare their experiences of Croatian villas and thelike. “Our main goal for this season is to be equal orbetter than our competition,” Mr Bulic explained.The President of the People’s Republic of ChinaHu Jintao will arrive in Croatia on a two-day offi-cial visit on the 19th of June. Hu Jintao is comingas the special guest of Croatian President StjepanMesic. Hu Jintao will meet with Mesic, Prime Mi-nister Ivo Sanader and Croatian Parliament Pre-sident Luka Bebic. The guest will be accompaniedby around 200 Chinese entrepreneurs who willtake part in a Croatian - Chinese economic forumin Zagreb. Mesic’s office said last week that theChinese president’s visit to Croatia would be ad-ditional confirmation of successful cooperationbetween the two countries. Mesic met with HuJintao during in 2002 and in 2008 in China, thesecond time on the occasion of the Beijing Olym-pic Games.
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