There was a time that Croatia went from 0 to 100 in terms of visitors. If it is an almost unprecedented destination for the great masses of tourists, to become a “must” where the last Mediterranean jewel to explode. Tourism then became an economic power of the nation, and Dubrovnik became a space that began to rival places like Barcelona.
And then Croatia reversed.
Tourist collapse preserve. As we said, the walled city of the Dalmatian coast, known as the “pearl of the Adriatic”, became the last decade in a paradigmatic example of what has been called extreme tourist.
With visitors, surpassing in a proportion of 27 to 1 the residents and a historical center transformed into a mass consumption decoration after their stellar role in thrones, Dubrovnik faced the Warning of UNESCO to lose its condition as a humanity heritage if it did not put a brake on lack of control. The diagnosis was devastating: tourism, far from enriching the city, was killing its authenticity and expelling its inhabitants.
The radical turn. And then 2017 arrived, when Mayor Mato Franković assumed the challenge of reverse the situation with measures that, unlike those applied in other European cities, do not remain in superficial patches. While Venice imposes rates on hikers or Barcelona limits hotel beds, Dubrovnik has set a maximum capacity within the walls of 11,200 people.
Not only that has also drastically reduced the arrival of cruises: of the eight newspapers that docked only two in 2016, with the obligation to remain at least eight hours to promote more leisurely and profitable tourism. With the implementation of control cameras and the Dubrovnik Pass, the City Council obtains real -time data that allow it to manage flows and anticipate saturations.
Urban and social reforms. Plus: The transformation is not limited to regulating the entry of tourists. The Strategic Plan includes the purchase of buildings of the old town to allocate them to affordable rentals for young families, the opening of a school in a historic palace and new standards that penalize the tourist lease of homes, thus encouraging repopulation.
As curious measures as the prohibition of suitcases with wheels (replaced by an economic equipment transport service) seek to preserve the material and immaterial heritage, preventing the streets from becoming a noisy and hostile showcase. The message is clear: Dubrovnik does not want to be a theme park, but a living city.
Most controlled tourism. Plus: From next year, access to walls and museums must be reserved in time slots, with a traffic light system that will indicate the moments of greater and lesser influx. The intention is to avoid human stamps and improve the experience of those who visit the city, although some residents suspect that it is a tool to maximize income.
In parallel, the limitation of cruises has reduced the pressure on the summer peaks, allowing the number of visitors not to exceed the critical threshold of 10,500 people a day in high season.
Resistances and criticism. The measures have not convinced everyone. Neighbors such as veteran Marc van Bloemen consider that the reforms do not go to the bottom of the problem and accuse the session of treating the city as an ATM, where the inhabitants feel displaced. In his opinion, time reserves are a trick to attract more visitors and not a real limitation.
Faced with this skeptical vision, others such as Marko Milos, local guide and resident of the historic center, defend that the situation has improved with respect to the maximum saturation years and highlight that the reopening of schools and the return of families is returning life to the center.
The international look. Travel agencies such as Regent Holidays recognize the value of the Dubrovnican experiment, although they warn that the rigidity of the system could divert tourists to other less saturated Croatian regions, such as Istria or the Adriatic islands.
However, the fact that a city so dependent on tourism chooses to sacrifice immediate income volume in favor of sustainability and quality of life makes it a global reference. The mayor insists that it is a long -term commitment: less visitors, but with a greater expense and a more balanced coexistence with residents.
Necessary risk. Thus, the path taken by Dubrovnik is a rara opinionan exception in a world where most destinations continue to pursue unlimited tourism. The Croatian city dares to challenge that logic and seeks a new balance where quality does not mean quantity.
Franković recognizes in the BBC that the benefits will not be immediate, but he hopes that, in a few years, Dubrovnik is remembered not as a tourist decoration, but as a living community that knew how to recover his soul. If the experiment thrives, it can mark the course for other cities trapped between the profitability of mass tourism and the survival of its identity.
Image | Alex Proimos, Kenny McCartney
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