Page 99 - SE Outlook Regions 2023

access, but that divided Croatian territory, cutting off the city of
Dubrovnik from the rest of the country.

Completion of the 2.4km bridge is seen as a historic moment for the
country.

Looking forward, Croatian construction companies will have projects
within the country and abroad.

In November, the local waste management company of the
Split-Dalmatia county picked a HRK155.6mn (€21mn) offer by a
consortium of Croatian construction company Saradjen and Slovenian
construction companies GH Holding and VGP Drava Ptuj to design and
build the first phase of the county's future waste management centre.

The project should start in 2023 and should be completed within 14
months. Its overall estimated value is HRK611.4mn. The project will be
co-financed with European Union grants with 71% of the overall
acceptable costs.

In October, Croatian railway infrastructure operator HZ Infrastruktura
signed a contract for a HRK199.1mn railway infrastructure renovation
project with the local unit of Austrian civil engineering company
Swietelsky. The company will upgrade a 3.4 km double railway track on
the section from the Zagreb East railway station to the central station in
the Croatian capital.

The upgrade works have to be finished in 18 months. The project will
be financed entirely from the EU-sponsored Recovery and Resilience
Facility (RRF).

In August, a consortium led by Croatia's Institut IGH won a deal worth
€22.6mn for supervision and legal advisory services on the construction
of European transport corridors VIII and X’s sections in North
Macedonia. Out of the total sum, the Croatian company will get €8.7mn.
The contact should be completed within 58 months.

3.4.6 Major Sectors

Tourism remained a key sector for the Croatian economy and recovered
better than expected in 2022, setting solid ground for further expansion
in 2023.

In 2022, the tourism activity was close to the pre-coronavirus
(COVID-19) level in 2019, as international travel restrictions have been
lifted, allowing the sector to rebound after two years during which travel
was constrained by the pandemic.

This is important for Croatia, which generates around a quarter of its
GDP from tourism, taking into account indirect as well as direct activity.

In November, statistics office data showed that the number of cruise
trips to Croatia increased more than three times y/y to 519 through
September. 76 international ships from 13 countries travelled to Croatia

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