"Dubrovnik is no longer a city overcrowded with tourists, mayor Mato Frankovic told state agency Hina's conference on sustainable development in the Mediterranean while presenting the measures taken towards this goal," Hina said on Tuesday.

Addressing the directors of news agencies from the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN), Frankovic said that five years ago Dubrovnik was “a victim of its own success”, adding that global media had included Dubrovnik among the ten cities that should be avoided because of overcrowding.

“Only ten days into my mayoral term major global newspapers were writing about the death of Dubrovnik,” the mayor said.

He said that he had to find the middle way between growth, which brings money, and sustainability, which ensures that local residents feel good in their own city. “We started from the premise that if the people of Dubrovnik are happy, tourists will be ten times happier.”

The local authorities tackled the problem from three angles — visitors from cruise ships, day trippers and tourists spending the night in the city.

With regard to cruise ships, Frankovic said that they have a considerable positive impact on the local economy and that they could not just reduce their number. That’s why he contacted the director of the Cruise Lines International Association, which represents 90 per cent of the industry, to address the problem together.

The conclusion was that not more than 4,000 passengers from cruise ships could be allowed into the city together at the same time nor more than two cruise ships at any one time.

Dubrovnik authorities have motivated cruise ships to stay longer in Dubrovnik by offering them to pay less if they stay more hours.

Earlier, when they stayed for a shorter time, tourists would run around the city, take a few selfies and go, said Frankovic, adding that wasn’t the tourism they wanted.

He said this was a successful idea, which had shown that the problem wasn’t in the number but in the flow of people, because the city used to have a concentration of cruise ship only on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and now they were here every day.

Frankovic said that because of that they no longer had huge crowds of tourists, except once, in 2018.

As for day trippers, Frankovic said that 100 to 140 buses a day used to arrive unannounced.

The authorities decided to introduce a bus webshop for announcing their arrival, which also limited their number to seven buses every half an hour.

To organise tourism, it is key to have information and control, said the mayor. The buses that arrive unannounced have to pay €2,000, and those that have announced their arrival €100, he said.

The third angle, visitors that spend the night in the city, was the most difficult to deal with, according to the mayor. Tourists stay in Dubrovnik for an average of 3.5 nights, and the city introduced an application that tells them what is the best time to visit, taking into account the expected number of tourists.

The mayor thinks that the authorities have managed to achieve that Dubrovnik is no longer perceived as a city overcrowded with tourists and that it is on the path to sustainability.

The conference, in addition to representatives of agencies, was also attended by experts for sustainable business practices and communication, and Frankovic also talked about parking lots introduced only for citizens and about the Smart parking system, which is still the biggest of its kind in the world.

The city also introduced the option of car pooling with 30 electric vehicles, and part of the cameras allow the public to monitor the traffic situation.

The conference on the role of the media in sustainable development in the Mediterranean was organised by Hina in Dubrovnik, with the aim of promoting sustainability, socially responsible business and environmental protection, especially in the Mediterranean region.

The conference is sponsored by the JANAF oil pipeline operator, the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, and the Koncar and HEP companies.