American tourists top in Croatia in December

ZAGREB, 11 February (Hina) – In 2020 there were 64.2% fewer tourists in commercial accommodation compared to 2019, and they generated 40.8 million bed nights, a drop of 55.3%, the State Bureau of Statistics (DZS) reported on Thursday.

The negative result is due to the coronavirus pandemic, epidemiological measures and travel restrictions.

Even though last year foreigners again accounted for the majority of arrivals and bed nights, the decrease in their arrivals and overnight stays had the greatest impact on the final results. There were 5.5 million fewer foreign tourists (-68%) in 2020 and they generated 35.3 million bed nights, a 58% decrease compared to the record year 2019.

The number of domestic tourists was as usual lower than that of foreign tourists and there were 1.45 million domestic visitors who stayed in commercial accommodation and generated 5.4 million bed nights, which is a drop of 34% in arrivals and 23.7% in bed nights compared to 2019.

Pag

The DZS report indicates that only 17% of tourists who stayed in commercial accommodation in December 2019 stayed in commercial accommodation in December 2020, generating just 23.7% of the bed nights generated in December 2019. There were only 62,000 tourists in commercial accommodation in December 2020, an 83.2% drop year on year, and they generated 184,000 bed nights, a drop of 76.3%.

Most of the tourists in December were domestic tourists, of whom there were 47,000 or 65% fewer than in December 2019 and they generated 102,000 fewer bed nights, a contraction of 60% y-o-y. There were only 16,000 foreign tourists in Croatia in December 2020 and they generated 82,000 bed nights, which is a drop of 93.4% and 84.3% respectively y-o-y.

The majority of foreign tourists were from the USA (15%) and they mostly visited Split-Dalmatia County and the city of Zagreb. They were followed by tourists from Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, France and the United Kingdom.

About 54% of bed nights in commercial accommodation were in rooms, apartments and holiday homes while 35% of bed nights were in hotels.