BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3248 HINA ZAGREB, APRIL 29

HR-GOVT BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3248 HINA ZAGREB, APRIL 29 GOVT DISCUSSES POSSIBLE OUTCOME OF 1999 TOURIST SEASONZAGREB, April 29 (Hina) - Although Croatia is a safe country on the whole of its territory, NATO actions in neighbouring Yugoslavia have caused wrong perceptions, which will cause huge damage to Croatia's tourism this year. According to the Tourism Ministry, should the best possible scenario happen - the completion of the NATO operation by mid May - tourism business would decrease by 33 per cent in relation to 1998, which means that income from tourism would be lower by US$900 million. In case NATO actions continued until the end of May or last even longer - the decrease would range between 40 and 50 per cent, and the loss would amount to US$1.1 - 1.4 billion, Tourism Minister Ivan Herak told the Government on Thursday. In relation to last year, the Government expected a 10 per cent increase in tourism business. However, Croatia's tourism prospects started to dete