Croatian Parliament’s Small Hall hosted the team from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre who presented themselves to the members of parliamentary committees with two valuable cases: a study conducted by the Institute of Public Finance on "Economic and Financial Impacts of Audiovisual Activities and State Subsidies", and a presentation of the "Screen Tourism" project potentials. On behalf of the host, the deputy chair of the parliamentary Committee for Education, Science and Culture, and former Minister of Culture Jasen Mesić said that “good films are the cultural capital of every country, including Croatia, but film also has its economic value, not only because it hires a certain number of specific professionals, but also because it yields good economic and financial results”.


Anto Bajo

It is precisely this that is evident from the study conducted by professor Ante Bajo from the Institute of Public Finance, which proves that the local audiovisual production stands on good ground and is one of the rare successful branches even in the time of recession and crisis. The Croatian audiovisual sector is efficient and profitable on the European and global scale, but insufficiently liquid and quite in debt. The particular vigour of the audiovisual industry is also confirmed by the fact that 2011 saw a growth of almost 25% in pre-tax profit in comparison with 2007. “The annual impact made by the audiovisual sector exceeds the amount of state subsidy, which annually amounts to 70 million HRK. Every subsidised kuna in production gives back 1.5 to 2.3 kuna back to the state budget. Taking these results into account, I recommend the continuation of regular research and monitoring of the audiovisual sector, since its financial and economic effects are relatively high, just like its return to the state budget.”

Hrvoje Hribar, head of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, underlined the following before the MPs: “We have gathered here to discuss those values of our sector that can be expressed in mathematical terms and that are extremely important for this country’s economy.” Mr.Hribar also announced even better results and new possibilities should there be good will and reception from other ministries, alongside the ‘domicile’ Ministry of Culture.


Juliane Schulze

These possibilities of Croatian film and TV industry were presented by a guest from Berlin, a senior partner at Peacefulfish, Juliane Schulze, in her presentation on the effects of screen tourism. She backed them with the examples of the most developed countries which have lately successfully developed the destination-based tourism niche, relying on the appeal of film locations which became a special motivation and challenge to travellers across the world. It is a well-known fact that New Zealand had extreme profit from the fact that Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed there. On the other hand, the location in Scotland where Braveheart was filmed registered a 300% increase in the number of tourists. “The locations these films were made have an influence on the perception tourists have about the country,” said Ms. Schulze. Ms. Schulze also pointed out that the expression Game of Thrones Croatia has been entered in the Google search engine 1,570,000 times, and since the show was seen by 14.2 million viewers, the same number of people noticed the locations it was filmed on. “These figures show that international projects filmed in Croatia improve its global visibility in a way that is unparalleled to anything before.” In her presentation Ms. Schulze also said that in Croatia there are outstanding legal preconditions for the development of screen tourism, but that there is still room for improvement. “Croatia has proved to be an excellent stand-in for countries like Australia, France, UK or Bosnia and Herzegovina, but we should develop specifically Croatian stories and build strategies how to keep the film locations Croatian locations.”


Goran Beus

After the presentation, Goran Beus, chair of the Committee for Tourism, expressed his support to the project. “Tourism is all about the new product; it is important that our visitors do not perceive us only as a sun-and-sea destination. Our goal is to stop being strictly a seasonal country and the basic prerequisite is creating new values, new products and new contents. This is what the audiovisual industry is already doing and that is why this project enjoys our full support.”

Gvozden Flego from the Committee for Education, Science and Culture also backed this project, and another speaker was Amelija Tomašević, head of the Zagreb Tourist Board, who expressed her support to the project, but also criticism against the inflexible Croatian legislation and lack of support from the Croatian Tourist Board. “I congratulate you on this gathering because I see this is the first step towards the change of philosophy. Film has every potential to increase the wish and interest in visiting a certain destination – and at the end of the day this is what we want too.”


Minister of Culture Andrea Zlatar Violić

The presentation was concluded by Minister of Culture Andrea Zlatar Violić, who mentioned some of the difficulties in implementing such programmes, such as delays in payment or the amount of funds, because they depend of the budgetary schemes for the current and following year. “The greatest misunderstandings come from the very sector of culture, where classic subsidies are not distinguished from incentives. Incentives are a special kind of investment, and the profit earned has an impact on the entire state budget, not only on the sector covered by the Ministry of Culture.” Minister Zlatar also highlighted the importance of investment in monuments and natural heritage as possible filming locations, as well as in education of smaller communities. “By working together we can achieve good results and avoid falling into the biggest trap – not using the possibilities at hand,” concluded Minister Zlatar Violić.

The photographs from the Parliament in high resolution can be downloaded on this link. The photographer was Alan Vajdić.