Positive Tendency in Croatian Travel and Tourism Sector

Since Croatia has been placed in the orange category of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), concern was raised on the possible decrease in bookings and travel demand. Nevertheless, Staničić said that the country continues to register positive trends as Croatia has been placed on many markets as a well-prepared and safe tourist destination.

Revenue from tourism in Croatia in 2021 could reach 10.5 billion euros and reach a new record high. This should be done against the background of a small number of tourists. According to the Bloomberg Agency, the country finally had such revenue in the pre-pandemic season in 2019.

“This year’s tourism revenue will exceed 90% of 2019 revenue, with the peak two-month summer high exceeding 2019,” said Nicol Bryant, the tourism minister of the country.

“We had some forecasts at the beginning of the year, but they were not nearly as good as the tourist season. We have forecast up to 25 percent more overnight stays than in 2020, and we are already above 70 percent compared to 2019. The tourist season surprised us, but what is a good thing, it did not surprise us unpleasantly “, said Damir Krešić, director of the Institute for Tourism. He added that tourists hardly wait to return in time before the pandemic and are not afraid of it.

In this country of the Adriatic region, where 4.2 million people live, tourism revenues account for 20% of the country’s GDP. In 2019, 21 million tourists visited Croatia.

Krešić says that they are all satisfied with how the tourist season is going and believes that such figures could not have been predicted – “I don’t think there was a way to accurately forecast the course of the season,” he concluded.