"Travel agencies in Croatia are still waiting for a decision by the competent authorities regarding the extension of job-keeping measures for the first few months of 2022, which was announced as a possibility at the end of 2021," state agency Hina said on Wednesday, citing their trade association UHPA.

Head of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA) Tomislav Fain said that their businesses are still in jeopardy of bankruptcy, as their revenues in 2021 were 35 percent down from 2019.

“We still do not have precise information about whether the subsidies will be extended for travel agencies or not. We hope they will, because Labour Minister, (Josip) Aladrovic, announced their extension at the end of 2021 for the ‘most vulnerable activities’ – and agencies certainly are in that category. The new wave of the pandemic in early 2022 is an extra burden on our business, as there is hardly any or no work at all,” Fain told state agency Hina.

About 3,000 travel agents are employed by UHPA members.

Figures compiled by the state bureau of statistics show that over the first nine months of 2021, revenues reported by travel agencies have dropped by 65 percent compared with the same period of the pre-pandemic year of 2019. In 2020, the drop was even higher, more than 80 percent from 2019, said Fain.

“We appeal to the government, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy to extend job-keeping measures for travel agencies in the coming months, starting from January 2022. That is the only way agencies will manage to keep their workers and somehow prepare for the coming spring-summer season,” said Fain.

Last year’s good results in tourism occurred primarily due to the better epidemiological situation and by no means as a sign of recovery of organized tourism trends, and the continuation of job-keeping measures for travel agencies continues to be a key condition for their recovery and survival, concluded Fain.