Russian citizens from 1st July 2013 will need a visa to enter the Republic of Croatia.
Russians are among the top ten tourists to the Adriatic in terms of numbers and the third fastest growing nation in terms of visitors to Croatia. For the Russians, due to Croatian accession to the EU in 2013, visas will once again become a requirement. If only every tenth Russian fails in their application that will account for 20,000 fewer guests than expected, 150,000 fewer room nights and a 20 million euro loss to the economy. Tourism Minister Veljko Ostojic said that the problem with visas was one of the few things regarding Croatia’s entry into the EU, which may be negative.
“A decrease in the number of tourists because of the introduction of visas happened to others so it would be unrealistic to expect us to be able to avoid it. On several occasions, I have already spoken with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Interior on how to speed up and simplify visa issuance, especially for visitors from Russia and Ukraine.” – said Minister Ostojic.
The Minister added that if necessary the Croatian consulate in Moscow would be properly equipped in order to be able to deal with visas quickly and efficiently as to make visiting Croatia as easy as possible for Russian tourists.
