CROATIA | TATJANA JOSIPOVIĆ 10 3 The most important providers of tourism services in Croatia are travel agencies and tour guides. The former is defined as a company, a sole trader, a craftsman or their organisational units, providing tourism services as traders, organisers or retailers44 or organising, mediating or providing other services connected with the trips or stays of tourists [art. 7(21) TSA]. The services of a travel agency, which can only be by them unless otherwise prescribed by law45, are listed in article 12(1). The main travel agency obligations are to display its company name, seat, working hours, general information and, to keep any business secrets, entrust the transportation of travellers to a licensed carrier, use tourist escorts and authorised tourist guides for package trips and excursions, as well as to provide pre-contractual excursion information to travellers46. A travel agency is obliged to have at least one employed operations manager who will be responsible for its functioning (art. 16 TSA) and a citizen of Croatia, other EU/EEA Member State or Switzerland, or other states on the condition that they have a special permission issued by a competent authority in charge of the provision of services [art. 18(1)]. To perform the duties of an operations managers, the person must have a registered company or trade for the provision of tourism services in the Republic of Croatia or a permanent residence in Croatia and meet the conditions and professional qualifications for operations manager, as well as have obtained the consent of the Minister competent for tourism [art. 18(3)]. Finally, The as a regulated profession47, the operations manager must have at least secondary level education and a passed certification exam for that position [art. 18(2)]. In turn, the tourist guide is a person who guides and provides professional verbal information to tourists concerning the natural beauties and values, cultural and historical monuments, works of art, ethnographic and other sights, historical events, famous persons, legends about various events and personages, economic and political events [art. 69(1) TSA]. The TSA expressly provides for 44 The trader is any natural or legal person acting with respect to the contracts regulated by the TSA for the purposes connected with commercial, business, craft or professional activity [art. 7(7)]. An organiser is a trader who combines and sells or offers packages [art. 7(8)] and a retailer is a trader who is not the organiser but sells or offers packages combined by the organiser for sale [art. 7(9)]. 45 A travel agency organises, sells and executes package trips, excursions or tourist transfer services, facilitates the purchase of trips in the form of linked travel arrangements, mediates in the sale of package trips and excursions, sells, mediates and books hospitality and catering services or tourist guides. 46 Articles 20-25 TSA. 47 In EU law, a regulated profession is defined as: “a professional activity or a group of professional activities, access to which, the pursuit of which, or one of the modes of pursuit of which is subject, directly or indirectly, by virtue of legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions to the possession of specific professional qualifications; in particular, the use of a professional title limited by legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions to holders of a given professional qualification shall constitute a mode of pursuit” [art. 3(1)(a) Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications].
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