“The final negotiations on the arrival of the first cruiser in January are coming to an end at last,” Mayor Mato Franković revealed this Saturday.
“We are currently talking with Viking Cruises to make Dubrovnik their homeport. We are discussing Croatian ports only: Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and Šibenik, with the final return to Dubrovnik. Viking is the first company to introduce a laboratory on its ships and will test all its passengers and the entire crew on the daily basis. This puts Dubrovnik in a much better situation regarding tourism, but it also shows the world that cruise tourism can be done with a high standard of health security,” said Mayor Franković, adding that everything, after all, depends on the epidemiological situation and the health standard in Croatia.
“The number of infected people is growing every day, but we hope things improve by January. We are hoping for a vaccine, but Istria serves as an example that coronavirus can be kept under control with people just acting responsibly, wearing masks, and respecting the social distance,“ the Mayor adds.
When asked about a possible film studio in the Dubrovnik area, the Mayor replied that he had already received several invitations from different companies interested in a partnership with the City regarding the construction of a film studio.
“These are serious companies. We know that tourism in Dubrovnik can and must be different than before and with digital nomads and the film industry on our side we are able to develop another type of story that will not rely on mass tourism,” Franković concluded.
