10 things Croatia must do for a successful tourist season next year

Split

This year, Croatia has seen a noticeable increase in tourist complaints, particularly regarding the rising prices and the perceived mismatch between cost and quality.

We have received countless emails from visitors who have expressed dissatisfaction with the value for money, highlighting concerns that the high prices are not being matched by the level of service and experience offered and that they will think twice now about returning.

This growing discontent signals a need for the Croatian tourism industry to reassess its approach to to maintain its appeal to international travellers.

According to official European Travel Commission (ETC) data for the second quarter of 2024, Greece and Spain achieved more than a 20% increase in tourist spending compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, which is used as the benchmark for measuring tourism performance.

French and Italian tourism saw spending grow by over 15%, while Croatia did not even rank among the top ten European countries in terms of tourist spending growth.

Croatian tourism is becoming uncompetitive and portal Kult Plave Kamenice today published a list of ten essential actions that local tourism authorities and the entire industry should undertake for a more successful 2025.

1. Avoid raising prices (or consider slightly lowering them).

2. Provide better value for money. Direct promotional campaigns for 2025 towards establishing Croatia as a destination that offers value for money.

3. Improve service standards in hotels and restaurants.

4. Enhance the quality of services at airports, ferry ports, and on motorways.

5. Crack down on all forms of tourist exploitation: incidents like the recent charge of €550 for a ride from Split to the airport in Kaštela must not be repeated without consequences for the driver involved.

6. Strongly combat any form of violence towards foreigners. Croatia must not gain a reputation as an unsafe country or one that is unwelcoming to foreigners.

7. Open more five-star hotels. These are essential for the modernisation of Croatian tourism and for increasing spending. Without many five-star hotels, tourist spending cannot grow, as guests in cheaper hotels cannot spend much.

8. Prevent illegal practices in the tourism and hospitality industry.

9. Start systematically introducing knowledge into Croatian tourism and hospitality immediately. For instance, Croatia lacks a central educational institution that links gastronomy and tourism. Without systematically introducing new knowledge into the Croatian tourism industry at all levels, the sector cannot improve or become more efficient.

10. Urgently abandon the ideology that suggests we no longer need tourism growth or that there is no room for it. Tourism and economically much more developed countries than Croatia are experiencing strong tourism growth.