Record Tourism Weekend as Peak Season Starts

Ferries were full this weekend (Photo: Jadrolinija)

This weekend Croatia has recorded one million tourist nights per day, which is a new weekend record.

Massive queues at border and toll gates, over 20 km in places, and thousands of people waiting for connecting ferries in Split have signaled the start of the peak season in Croatia. It was reported that 35,000 people were in Split this weekend waiting for ferries to various islands.

From 1 January to 22 July 2017 9 million tourists have recorded more than 43 million overnight stays in Croatia, which is growth of 20% from the same period last year, Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli said today.

Huge queues at tolls this weekend (Photo: Dusko Marusic/Pixsell)

“The results of tourist traffic till now confirms that Croatia is becoming an all year round destination. From the start of the year we have seen growth of around 20%, with double-digit growth expected for the whole year,” Cappelli told Hina.

Tourists from Germany were still the most numerous, followed by Slovenes and locals in third spot. Poles, Austrians, Czechs, Slovaks, Dutch, and Italians were next.

Cappelli also says that excellent results from Scandinavian nations, South Korea, USA and the UK were also evident.

The most overnight stays over the weekend were recorded in Rovinj, Poreč, Umag, Medulin, Dubrovnik, Mali Lošinj, Vir, Crikvenica, and Novalja.

Rovinj (photo: Rovinj Tourist Board)

Last year’s record of 16.6 million tourists is sure to be broken this year.