EN
HR
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports did not approve the election of Jadran Puharić as the Director of the Tourist Board of the City of Makarska, who will perform this function from March 2023. The commission that checked the qualifications of the candidates found that they all met the tender criteria, however, the Ministry subsequently found one deviation in in relation to the criteria.
A new tender will be announced as soon as possible in order to appoint a new director of the Tourist Board before the start of the upcoming tourist season.
"We listen to and respect the guidelines of the Ministry, and we will be the first in Croatia to elect the new leader of the Tourist Board in accordance with the new Tourism Act. The fact is that an oversight occurred on the part of the commission because the candidate's CV was not precisely advertised, which led to a wrong assessment It should also be mentioned that this is the first time that the director of TZ was chosen through a commission. I believe that there was no deliberate superficiality on either side and that everything was done in good faith. Although Mr. Puharić has all the necessary competencies to perform the job, although has done good things for Makarska tourism in less than a year and implemented a significant part of the program, it is a formal deviation from the conditions, but that is enough and we accept it. I regret that this decision of the Ministry did not come earlier so that we could implement it earlier new tender, but we cannot influence that", said the mayor Zoran Paunović who, according to the letter of the law, will act as the head of the TZ until a new tender is announced.
Namely, according to the propositions, in order for the candidate's application to be valid, it is necessary for him to have six years of adequate work experience with a university degree. In the case of Mr. Puharić, at the time of application, he had approximately 4 and a half years of experience with a higher education, because in September 2018 he obtained a master's degree. Although he obtained his bachelor's degree years earlier, as well as a sufficient number of years of experience, the academic degree did not correspond to the competition criteria.
The new director of the Makarska TZ will be greeted by a tidy cash register and a number of started projects. Four years ago, TZ's debt amounted to HRK 600.000, with a loan of HRK 380.000 for operational business. In the meantime, both the debt and the loan have been paid, and the TZ account now has a small surplus that will be spent on events, promotion and projects related to the sustainability of Makarska tourism.
"Whoever is elected to this position will receive an organized and equipped office and a destination that needs to be managed wisely, because the past 10-20 years have been going in the wrong direction. TZ and the City must act together, in the same direction and with the same goal. and that is to maintain the quality of life of citizens and tourist activities. We in the City are already working on this, the new Spatial Plan is the best example, and now the TZ must follow up with its strategy and destination management plan.", concluded Paunović.
Source: City of Makarska
Cover photo: Vice Rudan
