Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik-Neretva County continued along the same path in terms of tourist results for September, and there has been a significant increase in the number of arrivals and overnight stays. Konavle is making waves as a top quality rural tourism destination!
As DuList reports on the 9th of October, 2017, at the county level, in September, there were 258,418 arrivals, which is 13% higher than in September last year. There were also 1,101,696 overnight stays recorded, which is 8.6% more than when compared with September 2016.
On a year-round level, arrivals increased by 15% and overnight stays by 12%. This trend is present in almost all tourist communities within Dubrovnik-Neretva County as a whole. It's time to look at the whole area, from Ston right down south to Konavle. Surprisingly, growth was not recorded in the Dubrovnik Primorje region, and the reason seems to be that one hotel in this municipality was closed throughout the season!
According to the data obtained from Slaven Zvono, the Director of Dubrovnik-Primorje's Tourist Board, during the period from the beginning of 2017 up until now in the wider Dubrovnik Primorje area, there were 27,642 tourists and they made up 155,070 overnights, which is 5% less arrivals and 10% less overnight stays than was recorded in the area last year.
"The reason why arrivals and overnights haven't been following the positive growth trend seen in other tourist destinations is due to the fact that one of our hotels was undergoing reconstruction and remained closed during the tourist season'' stated Slaven Zvono.
Overall, in Dubrovnik-Primorje's hotels, from the beginning of the year, there were 12,933 arrivals and 61,643 overnights, which is 20% less arrivals and a concerning 34% fewer overnights compared to last year. However, private accommodation and camps in the area have definitely seen a positive growth trend. In private accommodation and camps, there were 14,649 arrivals and 93,427 overnights, which is 12% more arrivals and 16% more overnights compared to last year.
Ston has also seen some excellent results during 2017. According to data from the Dubrovnik-Neretva County Tourist Board, in the first nine months of this year, Ston recorded 32,687 arrivals and 177,063 overnights. Compared to the same period last year, this equals an increase of 15% in arrivals and an 18% increase in overnight stays. Good results were also achieved in September. In the wider Ston Municipality, there were 4,628 tourists who achieved 21,024 overnights in September, as opposed to September of 2016 when the number of tourists was 3,963, realising just 17,793 overnights in the Ston area.
The increase was also seen in Župa Dubrovačka (Parish of Dubrovnik). Namely, in the first nine months of 2017, Župa Dubrovačka saw 116,250 tourist arrivals, equalling an increase of 11% in comparison to the same period last year. This increase in the number of arrivals was accompanied by 494,405 overnight stays, which is a significant increase when compared to last year, when 456,393 overnights were recorded in the area.
Rural tourism in the Dubrovnik area has experienced a huge ''boom''.
Konavle, Dubrovnik's overlooked neighbour to the south, saw a whopping 130,000 visitors since the beginning of the year, up until the 30th of September, recording an approximate 700,000 overnight stays!
''These results are above our expectations and we believe that the rest of the season will stay at that level,'' stated the satisfied Director of Konavle's Tourist Board, Frano Herendija.
He added that all types of accommodation in the area seem to be getting better results than they did last year. Hotels are somewhere around 10% higher when it comes to the number of overnight stays being realised, and private accommodation is about 19% higher than the numbers recorded in private accommodation last year.
Finally, of course, the City of Dubrovnik itself cannot go without a mention! The Pearl of the Adriatic saw an incredible 1,030,226 tourists arrive from the 1st of January, 2017 to the 30th of September 2017, which is 17% more than in the same period of 2016. There were 3,507,916 overnight stays, equalling 14% more than there were last year!
This is the best ''tourist September'' for Croatia's southernmost destination with 164,712 arrivals (16% more) and 558,927 nights (13% more). Otherwise, the City of Dubrovnik's millionth arrival was realised on September the 24th, 2017, while last year, that same figure was accomplished later, on November the 5th, 2016.
