CENTRAL EUROPE LETTER
This should be the event of the year in Croatia. On July 26, the long-awaited Peljesac bridge is to be inaugurated, which will connect the cities of Split and Dubrovnik by bypassing the small Bosnian enclave of Neum, a section less than ten kilometers wide which until now cut the Croatian coast. in two. The Croatian government promises grandiose celebrations for this magnificent bridge of almost 600 meters financed at 85% by the European Union (EU) while having been built by a Chinese company, which has generated a lot of criticism. On the Bosnian side, on the other hand, we still wonder whether or not the work will benefit the inhabitants who are on this side of the border.
The Bay of Neum is in fact Bosnia and Herzegovina’s only access to the Adriatic Sea. The bridge is visible from afar. And, at the end of May, he occupies all the conversations of this seaside resort with the old-fashioned flavor of ex-Yugoslavia. “This bridge is beautiful and the majority of people here think like me”, assures the mayor, Dragan Jurkovic, who receives in the modest prefabricated buildings which serve as town hall for his municipality with less than 5,000 inhabitants entirely dependent on tourism. Won’t it keep passing tourists away? “The tour operators assured us that they would continue to bring tourists”he says.
Cheaper prices than in Croatia
As is often the case in the Balkans, this position is partly explained by ethnic criteria. Like its mayor, the overwhelming majority of the population of Neum is Croatian Catholic, and it is out of the question for them to criticize a project so ardently desired for years by the government of Zagreb. “Until now, Croatia was cut in two parts and we are going to reconnect them”famous for example Stipe Capeta, a hotel owner, assuring no concern for his own activity that he believes he can compensate with Bosnian tourists.
“Tourists come mainly for our good geographical position and our cheaper prices than in Croatia”, also believes his colleague Branomir Butigan, president of the local association of hoteliers. He runs the Grand Hotel, which, as its name suggests, is one of the largest establishments in the town. It welcomes many French tourists. Brought by tour operators, they often landed in Dubrovnik before being transferred to Bosnia without sometimes even realizing it. “Flyers attract them by writing in large “Dalmatian coast” and in very small “Bosnia” »explains the hotelier, laughing.
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