Tourist season in Croatia may exceed pre-pandemic levels this year

Friday, June 2, 2023

The director of the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) and vice president of ETC, Kristjan Stanicic, expects tourism in Europe to exceed the record results of the pre-pandemic period, especially in the Mediterranean together with Croatia, which will also achieve these results in June.

The data provided by the eVisitor system show that from the beginning of 2023 until May 27, Croatia has registered a total of 3.5 million tourists, with 10.7 million overnight stays, which is an increase of 27 per cent compared to the same period in 2022 and three per cent more than in 2019, Schengen Visa website reports.

The same source noted that 1.4 million of the expected 4.8 million overnight stays have been achieved until May 27, which is also an increase of three per cent compared to the same period of 2019, and an increase of 24 per cent compared to last May.

According to Stanicic, the intention of Europeans to travel remains strong and more than half of them have already booked their next trip, while 59 per cent of them plan to make two or more trips by the end of September.

He also pointed out that based on the ETC survey, more Europeans are concerned about prices this year than last year, 24 per cent versus 18 per cent.

Stanicic said that this year the trend of tourist arrivals from the United States to Europe is expected to increase, where the number of airline seats for this season has increased by 15 per cent compared to a year ago, and by three per cent compared to 2019.

At the same time, growth was also seen in marketing investments and tourism promotion in almost all countries.

Most Croatian competitors are investing more in promotion this year than in previous years, they are very active in the market, some have withdrawn funds from EU funds, and some national tourism organizations have joined forces with the private sector, so everyone expects better results, he also noted.

Moreover, the HTZ budget this year is about €34.8 million, which is an increase of four per cent compared to last year.

In April of this year, it was reported that a total of over 120,000 tourists were staying in Croatia, of which 100,000 were foreigners, thus marking an increase of about 50,000 tourists compared to the same period last year.

Even though the inflation crisis had a negative impact on the tourist sector, travellers are ready to enjoy their vacations in Croatia.

As a result, the director of a hotel in Croatia, Nevena Tomaš Čikeš, pointed out that during the Easter days, her hotel was almost 100 per cent full of foreign tourists.

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