Tourist Season to End in Plus

Although a number of business proprietors along the Adriatic coast complained that this year’s tourist season was quieter than usual, official statistics set to be released today show that this year could well in fact be the busiest in the country’s 23-year history…

Croatia’s Minister of Tourism Darko Lorencin has said that taking into account excellent post-season forecasts, especially for the first half of September, Croatia will finish this year’s tourist season in positive growth, and exceed the record set in 2008.

Dubrovnik, Croatia’s number one tourist destination again this year, has seen 10% more tourists and 5% more overnight stays this August compared to the same period last year. Although June and July were relatively quiet, tourists seemed to arrive later this year with the second half of August particularly busy. The popular region of Istria was also in the plus, with 4% more arrivals and overnight stays recorded this year.

One of the stars for the second year in a row was the Split-Dalmatia country, which saw a record 13% more tourists, and 8% more overnight stays this August than in August 2013. One of the more popular towns in the country – Zadar, which is also base for budget airline Ryanair, saw 17% more tourists arrive this year. Zagreb continues to attract more and more tourists, up 15% in arrivals, and a massive 20% overnight stays, reports dnevnik.hr.

Croatia’s traditional largest group of tourists, the Germans, were late in coming this summer, which may have had something to do with the football World Cup this summer in Brazil. The Brits were again the number one guests this summer in the country’s most visited destination Dubrovnik.