Croatia expects 30% of last year’s tourism in 2020
- by croatiaweek
- in News
Makarska, Croatia
ZAGREB, May 11 (Hina) – The opening of hospitality establishments in Croatia has relaunched tourist-hospitality activities and it is expected that about 30% of last year’s turnover will be achieved by year’s end, a meeting of the Tourism Council of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) said on Monday, as reported by the Tourism Ministry.
Tourism Minister and president of HTZ Gari Cappelli told the meeting that he was pleased that an acceptable solution was found in cooperation with epidemiologists and professional associations in the tourism sector, allowing establishments to begin working again in line with recommendations.
He said that the next steps to revitalise tourism in Croatia relate to preparing international processes and opening borders to allow foreigners to enter the country.
“This requires tight cooperation with epidemiologists and for positive trends to continue regarding the number of people infected with the coronavirus and those recovered. Recently, as part of Croatia’s presidency the Council of the EU, we held a video conference of tourism ministers and we expect our initiatives to be realised at the EU level and for a common travel protocol to be adopted with mutually aligned regulations. This would leave room for bilateral agreements,” said Cappelli.
Assessing that the third phase of lifting lockdown restrictions has set the conditions to relaunch tourist trends, HTZ Director Kristjan Stanicic revealed that he has received encouraging feedback from foreign partners, travel agencies and tour operators.
The ministry and HTZ recalled that in this part of the tourism year a fall in turnover of 74% has occurred in arrivals and a 66% decrease in bed nights year on year as a result of restrictions of movement around the world.
Last year, a record 21 million tourists visited Croatia, which was 5% more than in 2018. According to the data, there were 108.6 million overnight stays recorded in Croatia last year, which was also a record and 2.4% more than from 2018.
