INDEX received a photo of a large advertisement poster in Vienna inviting Austrians to spend their vacation in their country with a slogan: "Just like Croatia, only without sea urchins. Spend your summer vacation at home."

This is just one of the many attempts by the Austrian government to get its residents to stay in the country and not to go to Croatia.

On July 6, the Austrian Heute posted news about the Croatian sea being polluted, referring to the news published on morski.hr last year. In the article, Heute writes about feces in Peroj, Istria, and presents this year-old news as if it happened this summer.

The Croatian Tourist Board stated for Index that Branimir Toncinic, director of their representative office in Austria, contacted the Austrian Heute, and they also forwarded us the email he sent to their desk.

The director of the CNTB sent an email to the desk of the Austrian Heute 

"First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Branimir Toncinic, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board in Vienna. I wanted to write to you personally to politely inform you of the error in your reporting on the quality of the Croatian sea in an article you published on July 6, 2020.

The information in the article regards the situation in September of last year and does not reflect the current situation and water quality. The health and safety of our guests and residents are our highest priority, and the quality of water is tested regularly. Croatia is one of the most popular holiday destinations for Austrians, and such articles can cause us great harm.

I am sending you a link to the public state website baltazar.izor.hr where you can find relevant and updated results of water quality testing. The website shows that currently, 98.84 percent of the tested areas in Croatia have excellent water quality, and 0.95 percent have very good water quality. The newest testing took place on July 27, 2020, at 01:10 PM. I kindly ask you to correct the article and publish a new report", reads the email that Toncinic sent to the Austrian Heute.

We asked the CNTB what they thought about this and similar behavior of the Austrian government, which lifted restrictions for many countries on June 4, while the mandatory self-isolation for those returning from Croatia was lifted as late as in mid-June.

A large decline in the arrivals and overnight stays of Austrian tourists

"It is important to note that most foreign media have written positively about Croatia, which is certainly due to the Croatian National Tourist Board cooperating with its offices around the world, including the Austrian one, and consistently updating the media, tourist agencies, tour operators and tourists on the current situation in Croatia since the beginning of the pandemic. We proactively monitor articles about Croatia in key markets, and react immediately in case any inaccurate information is reported, and then provide corrections and accurate information proving that Croatia is still a safe and desirable tourist destination in cooperation with our representative offices," reads the CNTB's answer to Index.

Speaking of the Austrian market, there was a drastic decline of Austrian tourists in June compared to the same period of last year. There were about 200,000 fewer Austrian tourists, and the numbers from July also show a big difference when compared to last year's results.

"In June of this year, about 72,000 arrivals and 382,000 overnight stays were achieved from the Austrian market, whereas in June 2019, more than 267,000 arrivals and 1.36 million overnight stays were achieved from the same market. From July 1 to July 28 of this year, 143,000 arrivals and more than 908,000 overnight stays were achieved from the Austrian market, whereas in July of last year, more than 268,000 arrivals and about 1.7 million overnight stays were achieved from the Austrian market," reads the CNTB's response to Index.