Croatia's national football team and John Malkovich in a new promotional breakthrough for Croatian tourism in the US
According to data from the eVisitor system, which tracks tourism turnover recorded in commercial and non-commercial accommodation as well as nautical charters (the eCrew system), Croatia recorded more than 7.6 million arrivals and 29.5 million overnight stays between January and the end of June. This represents an equal performance in both arrivals and overnight stays compared to the same period last year. Out of this total, the Adriatic coast accounted for 27.1 million overnight stays, matching last year's results, while the continental part of the country, together with the city of Zagreb, recorded 2.4 million overnight stays, representing a 1 per cent growth.
"Given all the geopolitical circumstances and market disruptions, we are satisfied with the results achieved in the first half of the year, which are on par with last year's. According to Eurostat data for the first quarter, Croatia is the fourth top European destination by overnight stays, leaving behind competitors such as Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal. We have adapted our promotional activities to the current situation and the challenges we face, which has yielded good results. We believe that, with a smart pricing policy, we will successfully manage this second half, the main part of the tourist year and the post-season," pointed out Tonči Glavina, Minister of Tourism and Sport.
When Croatia's tourism results are segmented by county, the highest number of overnight stays in the first half of the year was recorded in Istria (8.7 million overnight stays), Split-Dalmatia County (5.3 million overnight stays) and Kvarner (4.7 million overnight stays). In terms of specific destinations, the leaders were Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Poreč, Zagreb and Split.
"The results achieved confirm the quality and competitiveness of our overall tourism offering, but also the importance of the continuous promotional activities we conduct in key source markets. These efforts further strengthen Croatia's visibility, stimulate interest in travel outside the peak season and promote the diversity of our offer. In doing so, we followed trends in the tourism market and adjusted our communication messages within the campaigns accordingly. Furthermore, we placed a special emphasis on collaborations with strategic partners, namely airlines, tour operators, agencies and carriers. For this purpose, together with the network of tourist boards, we secured over 6 million euros this year for collaborations with around 70 partners. In this way, we directly influenced the increase in the number of air routes to our country, which stands at 330 this year, or 74 routes more than last year," said Kristjan Staničić, Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board.
Looking at the source markets, during the first six months, the highest number of overnight stays was generated by guests from Germany (5.6 million overnight stays), Croatia (4.2 million overnight stays), Slovenia (2.9 million overnight stays), Austria (2.5 million overnight stays), Poland (1.6 million overnight stays), the UK (1.4 million overnight stays), the Czech Republic (1.1 million overnight stays), the USA (1 million overnight stays) and others.
When looking at the results achieved by type of accommodation within the commercial segment, hotels, which account for a 14 per cent share of commercial capacity, generated 47 per cent of commercial arrivals. Campsites, accounting for a 20 per cent share of commercial capacity, recorded 15 per cent of commercial arrivals, while private household accommodation, which makes up a 52 per cent share of commercial capacity, accounted for 27 per cent of commercial arrivals.
