Croatia among fastest-growing destinations for Americans in 2018

by croatiaweek
November 29, 2018
in News

Croatia one of the fastest-growing destinations among American tourists, it has been revealed at the annual United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) gathering.

The Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) is taking part in the 2018 USTOA Annual Conference & Marketplace, which this year celebrates its 40th edition in Phoenix from 27-30 November.

Along with the HTZ, the tourist boards of Zagreb, Dubrovnik, and Dubrovnik-Neretva county are also taking part in the important conference.

According to data from eVisitor, so far in 2018, there have been 578,000 arrivals and 1.6 million overnight stays recorded from the United States, this represents a rise of 23% in arrivals and 18% in overnight stays compared to the same period last year.

Top destinations for American tourists in 2018 were Dubrovnik, Split, Zagreb, Hvar and Rovinj.

Dubrovnik, one of the top destinations for Americans in 2018

HTZ Director, Kristijan Staničić, who is at the conference, confirmed that Croatia is among the fastest-growing destinations among American tourists and expects this to continue into 2019.

“This is a very significant and important gathering, besides North American tour operators active members of the USTOA, it attracts a number of other associate members and representatives of tourist offices and the tourist industry from countries around the world. This is also a chance to meet with some key partners such as TravelZoo, Collette, Holiday Vacations, Cox and Kings, The Travel Corporation and Stride Travel,” Staničić said, adding that he expects double-digit growth in tourist traffic from the United States to continue due to the introduction of the American Airlines direct service between Philadelphia and Dubrovnik.

American Airlines will connect Philadelphia and Dubrovnik in 2019

Croatia’s status in America was confirmed by the results of a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey which revealed that Croatia was among the top five ‘Off the beaten track’ destinations, just behind Iceland and Cambodia and ahead of Colombia and Vietnam.

Besides in Phoenix, HTZ and the HTZ office in the United States, led by director Ina Rodin, will continue with active promotion by participating at the annual Signature Travel Network conference for travel agents in Las Vegas on 30 November.