The numbers suggest that Dubrovnik's Winter Festival is set to become almost as popular as its Summer Festival!
Dubrovnik is well on its way to becoming a 12 month tourist destination, which is the aim Croatia wants to acheive before long as the standard ''summer destination'' label gradually grows outdated.
With so much to offer outside of the classic summer window and much more depth of character as a destination than just the sea and sunshine, Croatia has been gaining well deserved ground in sustainable tourism, gastronomic tourism, active tourism and more, with more and more continental destinations taking their respective places on the ladder and being uncovered by more tourists from far and wide each year.
Zagreb has transformed itself from a very regular capital city which was even referred to as ''the most boring in Europe'' by the popular German publication Spiegel Online, into a truly incredible winter wonderland for Advent. Croatia's capital city won the title of Best Christmas Market in Europe for the third year running last year, as huge numbers of tourists from Europe and much further afield descended on the city to experience the magic of the festive season.
Without turning this into a giant article about everything Croatia has managed to do in ditching the rather restrictive ''summer destination'' only label, it's important to state that even Dubrovnik, which has been the most harmed by that label, has made fantastic efforts in showing its adaptability as Croatia's tourist Mecca shapeshifts from summer in the city to winter fairytale with its blossoming winter festival, held annually.
As Dubrovacki Dnevnik writes on the 2nd of January, 2018, data from the Dubrovnik Tourist Board shows that a more than impressive 6,317 guests welcomed 2018 in Dubrovnik, which is a very promising 28% more than was recorded for the last New Year celebrations in the city.
Most tourists celebrating in Croatia's southernmost city were from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Italy, USA, Albania and Montenegro.
Highly successful tourist results were seen throughout 2017's final month when Dubrovnik acheived a huge 20,633 tourist arrivals, 13% more than in the previous year, and 42,765 overnight stays, which is 5% more than was recorded during December of 2016. In December 2017, most of Dubrovnik's guests were from other parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, numerous Asian countries, USA, Korea, Albania, Germany, France, Japan and Portugal.
The same data confirms that Dubrovnik broke records when it comes to tourism last year. From the 1st of January to the 31st of December 2017, an enormous 1,181,465 arrivals in Dubrovnik amounted to 17% more than in 2016. Out of the number of tourists, there were 1,125,423 foreign and 56,042 domestic tourists, with 36,214 arrivals recorded in nautical tourism. According to E-visitor data, which includes traffic from nautical tourism, there were an incredible 4,211,522 overnight stays in Dubrovnik.
Of the total number of tourists from the 1st of January until the 31st December 2017, 646,121 guests were accommodated in 50 of Dubrovnik's hotels, an increase of 6% in hotel accommodation compared to 2016, while the city's various private accommodation facilities saw 386,911 guests, a considerable increase of 28% when compared to 2016.
Great news for the Pearl of the Adriatic as many more people are realising that this city is much, much more than just a summer destination and has a great deal more to offer than just sea and sun.
