Last year, Croatia recorded 20.6 million arrivals and 108 million overnight stays, as reported by the eVisitor system.
Such data also show that during this year, there was a notable increase of nine per cent in arrivals and a three per cent increase in overnight stays in Croatia compared to the previous year.
Compared to 2019, the overall performance in all accommodation capacities remained stable. However, within commercial establishments such as hotels, campsites, and domestic establishments, there was a notable increase of 1.2 per cent in nights compared to the year before the 2019 pandemic.
Considering the current situation in emitting markets, as well as the global geopolitical and macroeconomic situation, we can say that 2024 will be a challenging year.
In 2023, Croatia’s tourism highlights included increased stays in Istria (30 million nights, +2 per cent), Split-Dalmatia County (20.2 million nights, +3 per cent) and Kvarner (18.5 million nights, +1 per cent). Other growing counties are Zadar, Dubrovnik-Neretva, and Lika-Senj.
At the same time, the city of Zagreb increased by 13 per cent with 2.5 million nights. The rest of the continent also experienced a 13 per cent increase, with over 2.6 million nights. Top destinations include Rovinj, Dubrovnik, Poreč, Split, and Umag.
In addition, the top markets for overnight stays last year were the following:
- Germany
- Croatia
- Slovenia
- Austria
- Poland
- Czechia
- Italy
- United Kingdom
- Hungary
- Slovakia
- Netherlands
17% Increase in Tourist Arrivals in December 2023
Over the past month, Croatia saw a 17 per cent increase in arrivals and a ten per cent increase in overnight stays compared to 2022, reaching over 394,000 arrivals and 938,000 overnight stays.
Notable destinations in December were Zagreb, Opatija, Split, Dubrovnik, Poreč, Rovinj, and Zadar, with top guest contributors from Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany and Italy.
These data also revealed that nearly 90,000 guests celebrated New Year’s Eve in Croatia, marking an increase of approximately 12 per cent compared to the number of guests welcoming the end of 2022.
In the third quarter of 2023, data published by the Croatian National Bank (HNB) show that income from international visitors reached €9.123 billion, marking an increase of 7.7 per cent compared to the corresponding period of 2022 – an increase of €653.3 million.
The cumulative receipts from foreign tourists in the first nine months of 2023 reached €12.972 billion, reflecting an increase of 11.4 per cent from the same time frame in 2022, equating to a rise in €1,331 billion.
