Serbian carriers angry with Croats for stealing tourists for Kalemegdan tours. The "explanation"

Croatian media have reacted to an article saying that owners of travel agencies in Serbia complain that rich tourists, especially those from China, Korea and other eastern destinations, are often "stolen" by buses from neighboring countries, many of them coming from Croatia.

More precisely, they reacted to an article in the daily Vecernje Novosti under the headline "Serbia full of tourists, but neighbors are skimming the cream off the milk."

The article points out that "Croatian buses arriving empty in Belgrade as well as vehicles with Austrian registration plates create a considerable problem."

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"Croatian agencies arrive at Nikola Tesla Airport (in Belgrade) with empty buses, most often welcome Chinese guests and drive them to our tourist attractions. Everything is fine if they leave the country within the prescribed deadlines, but we are witnessing everyday situations where some vehicles, especially those from Austria, come empty, take tourists from cruisers, drive them around Serbia, return them to cruisers again and leave the country, which is certainly not in accordance with the regulations," the director of YUTA, the association of Serbian tourist agencies, told the newspaper.

According to the Croatian daily Jutarnji List, the article is illustrated with a photo of a Croatian bus, taken somewhere in Belgrade, owned by the company Darko Tours from Desinic.

The Croatian story

The company's director Dario Stih spoke for Jutarnji List to immediately explain how the whole story works and why nothing is in contentious when it comes to their activity in Serbia.

"It's true, we are indeed departing for the Belgrade airport where we take guests who have arrived through travel agencies as part of tourist tours. Namely, since Croatia became a member of the EU, the law stipulates that domestic buses are still allowed to take over foreign guests in non-member countries, under the condition that they must then leave within 24 hours of entry and return to Croatia. This is what we do: arrive with empty buses, for example, at the Nikola Tesla Airport, take on guests, then take them on a small city tour, then within prescribed deadlines cross the border to Croatia," Stih explained, adding that this type of service makes for perhaps five percent of the total bus business.

In addition, he noted that he understands the neighbors' objections, given that the arrival of buses from the region leaves them out of work, but he sees the reason for that in Croatian buses being mostly better equipped.

The president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies, Tomislav Fain, explained that, despite objections from Serbia, there is absolutely nothing illegal in the whole story, as there are is nothing illegal in foreign buses that can be seen carrying passengers in Croatia.

Jutarnji List notes that the number of foreign tourists in Serbia is increasing, so according to the latest data, 2.5 million tourists arrived in the country in the first eight months, an increase of 5.6 percent compared to the year before.

(Telegraf Biznis/Jutarnji List)