Tourists flock to Croatia over Easter holidays

A big increase in tourists this Easter in Croatia compared to last year

Over 135,000 tourists visited Croatia during the Easter holiday weekend, creating around 493,000 overnight stays, the Croatian National Tourist Board said in a statement. 

According to data from the eVisitor system for the period from April 15 to Monday, April 18, 2022, 103,000 tourists visited destinations in Croatia from abroad, whilst 31,000 were local tourists.

The 493,000 overnight stays this Easter weekend is three times more than the same period in 2021 when 147,000 overnights were realised.  

“In addition to the excellent results achieved during the extended Easter weekend, we are also pleased to note that about 145,000 tourists stayed in our country on Saturday. It is also the day with the largest number of tourists on a daily basis this year, and we expect positive trends in the continuation of the pre-season, ie during May and June,” said Croatian National Tourist Board director Kristjan Staničić, adding that Croatia has the opportunity to enter the main part of the season with extremely favourable results and trends.

During Easter, most tourist nights were realised in Istria (about 188,000 nights), Kvarner (more than 90,000 nights), Split-Dalmatia (more than 55,000 nights) and Dubrovnik-Neretva County (more than 43,000 nights).

The most popular destinations based on overnight stays were Poreč, Rovinj, Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Split, Umag and Zadar. 

Germans created the most overnight stays this Easter in Croatia, followed by tourists from Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Slovakia. 

“We have exceeded the number of 3.6 million overnight stays since the beginning of the year, which is 120 percent more overnight stays than in the same period last year, but also 95 percent of overnight stays in the same period in 2019. These results confirm the strengthening of the recognisability of Croatia as a year-round destination of added value, which is our strategic commitment.

Tourists perceive Croatia as a destination of pleasant and quality vacation, and we focused our activities on maintaining that status, but also on developing Croatia as a sustainably responsible destination. 

Despite all the challenges, the tourism sector is showing its resilience and quality this year as well, and the Croatian tourism offer is showing its competitiveness, which is also an additional incentive for the rest of the tourist year,” said Minister of Tourism and Sport Nikolina Brnjac.

Most overnight stays in 2022 have been realised in Istria, Kvarner and Split-Dalmatia County, with Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Split, Porec and Opatija the most popular locations. 

Most overnight stays so far in 2022 were realised by guests from the domestic market, followed by Germans, Austrians, Slovenes and Italians.