THE FACT that Croatia is the member of the European Union with the largest share of tourism in the GDP is often mentioned in Croatia.
At the same time, people forget that there are other members of the EU whose economy also highly depends on tourism, as well as that those are not only Mediterranean countries like Greece or Spain. In fact, one of the EU members where tourism accounts for a large part of the GDP is Austria, with tourism-related revenue accounting for 15 percent of its GDP.
Tourism accounts for as many as 15 percent of Austria's GDP
This information is very important in order to understand the current Austrian policy towards Croatia, which is anything but benevolent and friendly.
It was announced recently that Austria lifted the ban on border crossing for neighboring countries from Thursday, except for Italy, but traveling to Croatia is not encouraged for now, as pointed out by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg.
Lifting the restrictive measures imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic also means the abolition of the current mandatory quarantine for people coming from abroad, as well as the abolition of mandatory health checks for people coming from seven countries - Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.
Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs: the usual vacation in Croatia is not yet possible
When asked about traveling to countries such as Croatia and Greece, popular holiday destinations for Austrians, the head of Austrian diplomacy announced that the government in Vienna would decide on it next week.
"The usual vacation in Italy or Croatia is not possible at the moment. You have to be patient," Schallenberg said.
While there are rational reasons for advising against travel to Italy given the epidemiological situation in that country, there are no epidemiological reasons for Croatia to be blacklisted by Austria. This did not go unnoticed by the Austrian media, which criticized Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for selfishness.
Austrian media criticizing selfishness
Last week, the left-liberal newspaper Der Standard published a commentary by the prominent journalist Hans Rauscher, who stated that Austria currently has different criteria when it comes to the countries from which people are allowed to travel to Austria, and he called out the Austrian authorities for selfishness when it comes to their plans regarding the opening of borders.
"All southern countries want Austrian tourists to visit during summer, but the question is whether those tourists will be able to return to Austria afterward and not have to go through a 14-day quarantine," Rauscher wrote.
According to the current rules, Austrians must either go through a 14-day quarantine upon their return from Croatia or provide a test proving that they are coronavirus negative, which will undoubtedly deter many from spending their holidays in Croatia. These rules are valid until July 15, but they could be changed before should the Austrian government decide so. It is possible that the government will abolish those rules on July 15, but it could also, in the worst-case scenario, extend them.
Slovenia has already publicly protested against Austria's behavior, and its Minister of the Interior, Ales Hojs, stated that it seemed to him that Austria wants its citizens who would like to spend their holidays outside the country to spend them in Austria.
Bizarre excuses from Austria
The fact that the Austrian Minister of Tourism Elisabeth Köstinger repeatedly invites the Austrians to spend their summer in their homeland shows that Hojs was not wrong. Croatian Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli has already talked to his Austrian counterpart several times, but with no success. Austria obviously does not want to come to an agreement, nor does it want to make decisions based on epidemiological parameters.
One of the most bizarre excuses we have recently heard from Austria is that Croatia could reach an agreement with Great Britain on tourism, which is allegedly a problem for Austria. The Austrian media reported that the authorities were worried that Austrian tourists in Croatia might meet British tourists and thus get infected with the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, that problematic agreement between Croatia and Great Britain does not actually exist, and the Austrians being infected with the coronavirus by Britons in Croatia is a bit of a stretch, and nowhere near a valid reason for the behavior of the Austrian government. The Viennese newspaper Kurier wrote about the "lack of trust" between Austria and Croatia.
Disagreements between Kurz and Bavarian Prime Minister Söder
A recent event showcased how important it is for Austria to save its own tourist season, even by using dirty tricks against other EU members. On May 22, the first digital party congress of the Bavarian CSU was held, and an online guest was also the Austrian Chancellor Kurz, whose party is part of the European People's Party, just like the CSU.
Kurz used his guest appearance to invite Bavarians to come and spend their summer holidays in Austria, listing all the protective measures that have been taken, especially when it comes to regular testing of tourist staff. The Bavarian Prime Minister and President of the CSU, Markus Söder, responded to Kurz by criticizing Austria for not opening its border with Germany and causing traffic jams. Kurz replied that this was not an important issue.
In any case, the animosity between those two politically related politicians was clearly visible, because an increasing number of people from Germany have expressed their irritation over the Austrian behavior during the pandemic, even now when the opening up has started.
Austrian ski resort - a hotspot of the coronavirus spread
During the pandemic, the Austrian ski resort Ischgl was allowed to do business even after it became clear that it had become a virus hotspot, from where COVID-19 then spread throughout Europe. The media then accused the Austrians of wanting to get as much money as they could from skiers, even though it was clear that Ischgl should be closed immediately.
Still, it is hard to believe that the Austrian obstruction of the Croatian tourist season will still be going on after June.
As already announced, Austrian tourists are already booking holidays on the Adriatic, which can be easily reached by car in a few hours.