Everything Pointing to Record Tourist Year

Records look set to be broken this year. According to official statistics from tourist boards on Croatia’s Adriatic coast and in Zagreb, there were 2.7 million arrivals in the period between January and the end of May this year, growth of 12% from the same period last year…

Overnight stays, which is a key tourism measure, were up 14% to 7.3 million.

“I am extremely satisfied that through a range of events and rich tourism offerings, we have achieved some tangible results with growth in the number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays through the first five months of this year. These events are important, as they are in the summer season, in helping prolong the season. I believe this is only the beginning of achieving our goals of transforming Croatia into a year-round destination, ” said Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin.

The best performing part of the country was Istria with 603,000 arrivals (+15%) and 2.4 million overnight stays (+18%). Next were Kvarner with 393,000 arrivals (+13%) and 1.2 million overnight stays (+16%), Split-Dalmatia County with 317,000 (+11%) and 1.1 million overnight stays (+12%), Dubrovnik – Nevertva County with 281,000 arrivals (+7%) and 919,000 overnight stays (+6%) and Zadar County with 175,000 arrivals (+11%) and 669,000 overnight stays (+16%).

Zagreb also recorded growth with 324,000 arrivals (+13%) and 570,000 overnight stays (+11%), as did Šibenik-Knin County 98,000 arrivals (+11%) and 342,000 overnight stays (+1,5%), and Lika-Senj County with 77,000 arrivals (+16%) and 136,000 overnight stays (+20%).

Germans (335,000 arrivals), Austrians (206,000), Slovenes (207,000), Italians (152,000) and Brits (71,000) were the largest groups of arrivals.

(photo credit / Sail Week Croatia)