For years, there has only been one direction in the price trend for visiting the Kornati National Park: steeply upwards. This year, the officials are once again making big cuts in many areas, but are also granting discounts, especially in the low season and in advance, which can make the visit cheaper. If you buy your ticket on the spot, you pay 800 kuna for a boat up to eleven metres in length in the high season (July/August), which is around 110 euros. Last year it was 67 euros. During the rest of the year, the price remained stable at 400 kuna (54 euros). Skippers of yachts between eleven and 18 metres pay 1200 kuna (161 euros) to the local inspectors in the high season and 600 kuna (80.5 euros) in the low season. Last year it was 121 euros in the high season and 97 euros in the low season.
The price system has been restructured again, as it was last year. There is now a class for very small boats up to 6.99 metres, which is cheaper. However, this should be of particular interest to motorboats. Another new feature is that tickets sold in advance outside the park are now generally 50 per cent cheaper than those purchased on site. This means that outside the peak season, some day and multi-day tickets are even slightly cheaper, in some cases by up to 30 per cent. Another new feature is that there is now only a one-week ticket in addition to the one-day and three-day tickets, which used to be valid for five days. Along with the longer validity, however, it has also become significantly more expensive.
In an interview between the director of the national park and the German Motorboat trade magazine "boote" In the latest issue (5/2018), he also announced further drastic increases for the coming years. The aim is to ensure that the income from the fees for water sports enthusiasts covers the entire costs of the national park. These currently amount to almost 1.3 million euros, but the income is only around 640,000 euros. It is not clear why water sports enthusiasts alone should bear the burden of maintaining the national park. Waste disposal still does not work everywhere in the park, and the free mooring buoys announced in 2017 will not materialise this year.
In future, simply driving through the archipelago will cost a fee and an electronic registration system with cameras will be set up. However, the management of the national park, which has recently been constantly changing and overshadowed by allegations of corruption, is famous for announcements that are then not realised at all or only many years later.
Information about the national park and the price list can be found on the Website.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
