"Everything has its price", as the saying goes, and people are used to accepting regular surcharges more or less grumblingly. In view of the Croatian government's orchestratedCost explosion It remains to be seen whether this reaction to the residence fees for boat owners in Croatian waters will continue.
The facts: At the beginning of the year, Croatia introduced a new scale of charges for the former tourist tax, now known as theResidence feesin force. This includes price increases that are particularly dramatic for owners of larger boats: For example, boats in the 12 to 14.99 m category with an annual berth will in future have to pay €1029 for the annual residence fee alone. Previously it was €176 - i.e. aPremium of almost 600 per cent. Boats over 15 metres in length are hit even harder.
But even boats between 5 and 8.99 metres in length are not spared as annual berth holders: your feedoubled from € 134 to € 267. For boats from 9 to 11.99 metres in length, in futuremore than five times instead of € 147: now € 775.
It may be comforting to know that for most trailer captains, i.e. owners of boats up to 9 metres in length and with a usual maximum holiday duration of 30 days, the fees remain the same at €53 (up to 8.99 metres in length with a 30-day stay) and have even been reduced slightly for shorter stays.
It remains to be seen how the owners of larger boats will react to this cost explosion. A deterrent example of this is thethe introduction of a boat tax, which was pulled out of a hat in Italy similar dimensions, which, according to the Italian association Assomarinas, will give the nautical industry afinancial slump This has resulted in a decline of around one third, from which the industry has still not fully recovered two years after the tax was cancelled.
It cannot be ruled out that the Croatian government's current decision will help the Italian naval industry to make up for lost ground.
The Croatian naval operator. Renata Marević, manager of Marina Punat on the island of Krk and at the same time representative of the DSV cruiser department there, criticised the new fees as unacceptably high:
"The marina management has strongly opposed the plans, and other entrepreneurs from the industry are also against them. However, we have not given up after the parliamentary decision and are continuing to work on changing the regulation."
SeaHelp, the breakdown service at sea, has not given up either, launching an online petition that was also supported by ADAC and had 2353 signatories by 10 November. In the petition, the Croatian government is asked to "reconsider the amount of the adopted regulation. In addition, all tourists should be treated equally with regard to the tourist tax and no exceptional situation should be created for water sports enthusiasts."
But this has long been the case: the fees in the state national parks have also increased dramatically in recent years: Whereas a day's stay in Kornati National Park in the 2014 high season for a boat up to 11 metres in length cost 250 kuna, today it is 500 kuna. Here too, skippers are being ripped off for no apparent consideration.
Boat length5-8,99 m9-11,99 m12-14,99 m15-19,99 mover 20 mto 8 days17 € (20)53 € (27)67 € (40)87 € (53)127 € (80)15 days32 € (40)94 € (47)127 € (53)160 € (67)241 € (107)30 days53 € (53)160 € (67)214 (80)267 € (94)401 € (134)90 days127 € (80)388 € (87)515 € (100)642 € (114)963 € (174)1 year267 € (134)775 € (147)1029 € (176)1283 € (201)1939 € (227)
