Continental part of Croatia becoming popular for tourists 

Osijek (Photo credit: Ivo Biočina/Croatian National Tourist Board)

ZAGREB, 12 October 2019 – Traditionally tourists have flocked to the Croatian coast, ignoring much of the rest of the country. Trends are now shifting, as the latest tourism data for 2019 confirms.

In all 14 counties in continental Croatia, including the City of Zagreb, there has been growth recorded in the number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays in the first nine months of the year. 

According to an analysis of eVisitor data published on the website of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), the share of all 14 continental counties, including the City of Zagreb, in the total 18.8 million tourist arrivals in Croatia in the first nine months this year is 11.1 percent. The counties also make up 4 percent of the total 103 million overnights recorded so far in 2019, Jutarnji list reports. 

Leading the way is the City of Zagreb which has welcomed 1.1 million tourists so far this year, this is 2.7 percent more than the same period last year. There have also been almost 2 million overnight stays, up 4.2 percent from 2018. 

Advent in Zagreb (Photo: Julien Duval/Zagreb Tourist Board)

The rest of the 13 counties welcomed 965,200 tourists in the first nine months of this year, with almost two million overnights. 

After Zagreb, the most-visited continental county is Karlovac with 328,000 arrivals, up 2.4 percent from last year. Overnights were up 1.2 percent to 576,000 in the county.

Krapina-Zagorje was in third place with 137,000 tourist arrivals, this is growth of 12.4 percent from last year. Overnights grew by 8.1 percent to 287,800. Zagreb county in fourth place with 110,100 arrivals and 182,000 overnights. This was growth from last year of 14.7 and 14 percent respectively.

Osijek-Baranja county was in fifth place with 171,100 arrivals, which is 10 percent more than last year, whilst overnights were up 15.6 percent. 

Međimurje and Varaždin counties were next with over 60,000 tourists visiting each county so far this year. This represented growth of 9 percent in Međimurje and 15.4 percent in Varaždin.

Pleternica

The biggest growth in tourist arrivals came in Požega-Slavonia county where arrivals grew by 31.3 percent and overnights by 26.4 percent compared to last year.