Business closed: Law unleashes chaos in Croatian resorts

2023-08-14 17:40:37

On August 5, a national holiday, there were long queues when crowds of holidaymakers queued in front of bus stations and gas stations, the news portal “index.hr” reported. Shops in train stations and petrol stations are among the few exceptions to which the closing time does not apply.

Tomorrow, Tuesday (15 August), is the Catholic holiday of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which means that shops and bakeries will have to close again and renewed chaos is feared. The new regulation has been in effect since May of this year. However, it is most effective on public holidays. Since each shop is allowed to specify 16 Sundays a year on which it is open, the Sundays have not been so important so far. Especially in the holiday areas on the long Adriatic coast, the shops use their contingent on open Sundays in the summer tourist season.

Your opinion? Vote:

Balance between work and family

However, this option is not available on public holidays. Apart from shops in airports and bus stations, as well as petrol stations, everything will remain closed. The conservative government in Zagreb justified the new law with the need for a balance between work and family life.

Around two dozen communities on the coast and on the islands – including Split, Pula, Rovinj and Hvar – have now declared individual public holidays or Sundays to be fair or trade fair days. With this they hope to be able to overturn the new shop closing time law. The Ministry of Economy in Zagreb indicated a retreat at the weekend. According to the ministry’s statement, the legislature has provided for the possibility for shops to be open on fair days.

In general, Croatia has become even more attractive to tourists since January 1st. The currency is now the euro. With the accession to the border control-free Schengen zone, the traffic jams at the border crossings to the transit country Slovenia are eliminated.