Croatia welcomes 10% more tourists so far in 2023

Rovinj

Croatia has recorded over 11.5 million arrivals and nearly 57 million overnight stays in the first seven months of the year from January to the end of July.

This represents a 10 percent increase in arrivals and a 4 percent increase in overnight stays compared to the same period last year, equating the results in arrivals and overnight stays to the same period in 2019, the Croatian Tourist Board said in a statement. 

The most overnight stays during the first seven months were achieved in Rovinj, Dubrovnik, Poreč, Umag, and Split.

The results so far in 2023 are based on data from the eVisitor system, which includes tourist traffic in commercial and non-commercial accommodations as well as nautical charters (eCrew system).

“The growth in tourist arrivals in the first part of the year and July represents an excellent result for Croatian tourism. We must not overlook the fact that Croatia achieved this in a year when tourism competition fully resumed, global inflation came into play, and unfortunately, the conflict in Ukraine persists. All these factors make our competitive play in the tourism market very demanding, but we believe in the continuation of the positive trend during August and September, and we already have very good indications for the post-season,” stated Kristjan Staničić, Director of the Croatian Tourist Board.

Looking at counties, during the first seven months, the most overnight stays were recorded in Istria (16.4 million overnight stays, +3% compared to 2022), Split-Dalmatia County (10.5 million overnight stays, +5% compared to 2022), Kvarner (9.7 million overnight stays, +2% compared to 2022), Zadar County (7.9 million overnight stays, +3% compared to 2022), Dubrovnik-Neretva County (4.5 million overnight stays, +11% compared to 2022), Šibenik-Knin County (3.3 million overnight stays, -3% compared to 2022), and Lika-Senj County (1.8 million overnight stays, +4% compared to 2022). Zagreb recorded 1.4 million overnight stays, which is 17% more than last year, while the rest of the continental area recorded over 1.4 million overnight stays, a 17% increase compared to last year.

“After achieving the best preseason so far, we are pleased that the excellent results have continued into the summer period, when we generate the majority of total tourist traffic. We can be extremely satisfied with all the data, but what we continuously emphasise is that the goal is not just a strong season, but a year-round and regionally balanced tourism, and we are creating conditions for such tourism. 

The fact that we are at the level of record-breaking 2019 in terms of overnight stays and arrivals confirms that the tourism sector has fully recovered from recent crises and that now is the right time to establish strong foundations for managing tourism in the future, to remain competitive on a global level and resilient to all future challenges. 

Therefore, we are introducing the first comprehensive Tourism Law, currently in public discussion, which will be among the first in the world to provide a legal framework for sustainable tourism management based on data. In addition, to support investments in projects that promote year-round tourism development, we have secured record funding of 1.3 billion euros for the tourism sector. I believe that this will elevate the quality and position Croatia as a competitive destination with high-quality offerings and ensure that we become a leader in sustainable tourism,” emphasised Nikolina Brnjac, Minister of Tourism and Sports.

Split

In terms of markets, the most overnight stays during the first seven months came from the German market (11.4 million overnight stays, same as 2022), Croatian market (6.8 million overnight stays, +4% compared to 2022), Slovenian market (6.2 million overnight stays, +3% compared to 2022), Austrian market (4.5 million overnight stays, +2% compared to 2022), Polish market (3.5 million overnight stays, same as 2022).

In July, there were 4.8 million arrivals and over 29.5 million overnight stays in Croatia, which represents a 3 percent increase in arrivals and an equalisation in overnight stays compared to last year, or a 2 percent increase in arrivals compared to July 2019, according to eVisitor system data.

In July, the Adriatic counties recorded 4.5 million arrivals and 28.9 million overnight stays, representing a 2% increase in arrivals and an equalisation in overnight stays compared to last year. In Zagreb, there were 145 thousand arrivals (+12% compared to last year) and 266 thousand overnight stays (+8% compared to last year), while in the rest of the continental area, there were 172 thousand arrivals (+8% compared to last year) and 355 thousand overnight stays (+10% compared to last year).

Dubrovnik

The most overnight stays in July were generated by guests from the German market (5.1 million overnight stays), Slovenian market (3.8 million overnight stays), Croatian market (3.3 million overnight stays), Czech market (2.1 million overnight stays), Polish market (2 million overnight stays), and Austrian market (1.9 million overnight stays).