Tourism exceeds expectations over Christmas and New Year holidays

Advent in Vinkovci

ZAGREB, 7 January 2020 – Almost a quarter of a million tourists spent the holidays in Croatia, the Ministry of Tourism reported on Tuesday.  

According to the eVisitor system, there were 238,000 tourist arrivals and 621,000 overnight stays recorded during the Christmas and New Year holidays in Croatia from December 20, 2019 to January 6, 2020. 

This represented an increase of 8 percent over the same period last year in both arrivals and overnight stays.  

“The realised holiday tourist traffic exceeded our expectations, and it further confirms the fact that Croatian destinations are doing quality and continuous work on the development of the year-round tourist offer. Attractive content and rich Advent programs have been created that brought us into the positive atmosphere in 2020. We are facing a very challenging tourist year, but we are optimistic about maintaining our country’s competitive position in the large international market,” said Croatian National Tourist Board Director Kristjan Stanicic, adding that during the Christmas and New Year holidays, most nights were realised from the markets of Croatia, Austria, Slovenia, Germany and Italy.

Observing the tourist traffic on the coast, 134,000 arrivals and 405,000 overnights were realised in the Adriatic counties during the Christmas and New Year holidays, while 104,000 arrivals and 216,000 overnight stays were realised on the continent together with the city of Zagreb.

Looking at counties, the most nights spent on the coast were in Istria, Kvarner, and Split-Dalmatia County, while on the continent the most nights were spent in Zagreb, Krapina-Zagorje and Međimurje counties. Looking at destinations, the most overnight stays were in Zagreb, Opatija, Poreč, Rovinj, Dubrovnik and Split.