Croatia recorded 16.2 million arrivals and 88.5 million overnight stays between January and August. This represents an increase of 8% in arrivals and 2% in overnight stays compared to last year and reaches the figures of 2019, the record year for the Croatian tourism industry.
The Split region remains the favorite of French visitors
Since the start of the year, more than 520,000 French people have traveled to Croatia and have accumulated more than 1,800,000 overnight stays (figures from 09/10/2023). The top 5 regions favored by the French are those of Split-Dalmatia, Dubrovnik-Neretva, Istria, Zadar and Kvarner (Primorje-Gorski Kotar). Istria and Kvarner benefit from OT Croatia’s strategy which aims to extend the tourist season, but also to discover other destinations less known to the French. They have recorded the sharpest increase (+20% compared to 2022) in arrivals and overnight stays since the start of the year.
These regions also form the top 5 for other markets, for them the Istria region comes out on top. This is explained because it is the region with the most developed and varied tourist offer in the country. The highest number of overnight stays is achieved by Germany (18.8 million), followed by local tourism (10.6 million), Slovenia (9 million), Austria (6.6 million) and Poland ( 5.7 million). Nikolina Brnjac, Croatian Minister of Tourism and Sports highlights : “The tourism trend and results remained positive during the summer period. Having recorded the best pre-season in the history of Croatian tourism, we are approaching the late season with great optimism. Several regions on the continent recorded better results than in 2019 and 2022, demonstrating visitors’ interest in tourism locations outside the coastline and islands. These results confirm that it is possible to achieve balanced and permanent regional tourism, and we must continue to work on this axis.”
Croatian Tourist Office HERE
