Tourism is improving the revival process of Zagreb

Friday, May 6, 2022

The tourism sector for many cities is one that’s creating jobs and bringing development to the country. Every year, more than 700 million tourists travel all over Europe, accounting for 38 million jobs in 2019 and a bit over 5.6% of the GDP of the region, turning Europe as the world leader when it comes to international tourism.

Many European countries and cities ended up seeing a major economic source dry up due to the pandemic, lockdowns, travel restrictions, adapting to the ‘new times’ to save businesses and keep away from the sharp drop in job generation and income. Around 35 million people in 2020 had jobs associated with the tourism industry, an obvious decline.

It wasn’t easy to stay afloat in the last two years, and still many cities are going through that damage from the consequences of COVID as others are exactly using tourism to reactivate and recover their financial conditions.

In Croatia, where tourism represents 18% of the GDP of the country, Zagreb had to find pioneering ways to help such a sector.

To quote Mladen Kovačević, Expert Advisor at the City of Zagreb’s Tourism Department, “After enjoying strong and robust annual growth for almost a decade, took a substantial hit in 2020 as tourist arrivals had declined by 76% and overnight stays for 70% in comparison to the exceptionally successful 2019.” He goes on to say that “in 2021 we witnessed a certain upward trajectory, but still well-off pre-pandemic level of arrivals and overnight stays that, in comparison to 2019 declined for 56%.”

« Back to Page