October the 13th, 2022 - Zadar has broken records left, right and centre when it comes to nautical tourism, with more vessels having entered the waters of this Dalmatian city in a single day this year than ever before. 150 cruise ships announcements for next year are also encouraging for many.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, yesterday in the City of Zadar, the record for the number of vessels that entered the city's waters in the same day was officially broken. After the July record of four cruisers, there were as many as five present in Zadar yesterday, and it represented a new test for the Gazenica Passenger Port, reports HRT.

The General Director of the Gazenica Passenger Port, Rebeka V. Pevec, said that everything went smoothly, and that the plan for next year is already being prepared, with the announcement of new cruises and their arrival in the city currently more than great.

"The most important thing to emphasise is that there will most likely be no further restrictions regarding the capacity of ships, and that's the most important thing for us,'' said Pevec, adding that diversity is also very important for the destination itself, because different profiles of guests are arriving. Zadar has that advantage, however, it needs to be raised to a higher level and offer new events.

The recovery of the cruise industry has also been well and truly confirmed by the 130,000 passengers who will pass through Zadar's international terminal this year. For the local economy, it is important to add that about sixty thousand crew members are also involved.

"The entire economy in Zadar County benefits enormously from these cruise ships. Year after year, we're witnessing that the level of service in the hospitality industry and tourism as a whole is rising,'' emphasised the President of the Zadar County Chamber of Crafts, Ante Lukacic.

''For next year, we already have an announcement of 150 cruise ship arrivals. What I can say is that sixty percent of them go to visit the national parks, go to the cities of Nin, Pag... and some forty percent stay in the area of ​​the City of Zadar itself,'' said the director of the Zadar Tourist Board, Mario Paleka.

For more, make sure to keep up to date with our dedicated news section.

October the 8th, 2022 - Days of Croatian Tourism (DHT) 2022 is currently being held in the historic Dalmatian city of Sibenik, where the ups and downs of the Croatian tourism picture are discussed, and plans to move forward to a more sustainable future are showcased. One bit of excellent news for 2022 is that the number of Croatian arrivals in September this year were higher than they were back in the same month of pre-pandemic 2019.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, This year's DHT manifestation is being held in the City of Sibenik this year and kicked off in the atmosphere of a good season that filled the budgets and coffers of the tourism sector. Grants from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO) in the total value of 2.2 billion kuna for public and private sector projects are also about to be implemented, for which tenders were announced very recently and will remain open until February 2023.

Those figures on tourist traffic in September are encouraging as the number of Croatian arrivals that month surpassed those of the record year of 2019 by one percentage point in terms of the number of overnight stays realised. According to data from Croatia's eVisitor system, during September this year, 2.2 million Croatian arrivals and 12.9 million overnight stays were achieved across the country. This is equal to 16 percent more arrivals and 7 percent more overnight stays than in September 2021. Compared to September 2019, 95 percent of arrivals and 101 percent of overnight stays were achieved, equal to one percent more overnight stays realised than in September 2019.

In the first nine months of 2022, there were 17.2 million Croatian arrivals and 99.7 million overnight stays realised, that is, 37 percent more arrivals and 24 percent more overnight stays than last year.

"This year, we're going to be placing special focus on the importance of developing sustainable tourism, as well as on doing sustainable business in Europe as the most competitive regional tourism market in the entire world. There can be no competitive tourism without high-quality and professional personnel, therefore we're giving the opportunity to young high school students who will present their own projects and solutions as to how tourism can combine tradition and new technologies in a very innovative way, as well as offer challenges and solutions.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

October the 6th, 2022 - Just how many Croatian hotel employees did this first post-pandemic tourism season actually lack? The numbers are now in, and they're concerning to say the least.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, over this past summer tourist season, around 7.5 thousand seasonal workers were missing in the accommodation sector, and workers were missing in 86 percent of tourist companies from the latest survey of the Association of Employers in the Croatian Hotel Industry (UPUHH).

If this extremely worrying trend continues, more than 8,000 Croatian hotel employees and the like will be missing next season, UPUHH director Bernard Zenzerovic revealed at a recent meeting with journalists. The sector is therefore appealing to strengthen education and training programmes for Croatian workers, to speed up work permit processes for foreign workers with MUP and more.

A survey in which 39 companies which employ 45 percent of all workers in the country's accommodation sector took part, revealed that due to the lack of workers, as many as 42 percent of companies were forced to reduce the scope of their operations or services. This is significantly better than the situation was last year, when business was reduced by 65 percent, but it is still a very high number, explained Zenzerovic. This is especially true because the public health crisis which rocked the world for the past two years wasn't an issue during the summer of 2022.

Because of all this, this year 37 percent of companies will have a reduced income this year, in contrast to last year when two thirds of companies reported this.

The survey also revealed that as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic, when many Croatian hotel employees and others engaged in similar jobs left the sector or even the country, the share of seasonal workers in the total workforce increased. In these companies, the share of seasonal workforce stands at around 70 percent. The turnover of workers also increased, that is, the number of workers who came to a certain company for the first time increased, and the share of permanent seasonal workers decreased by as much as 17 percent in just one single year.

"This shows that the permanent seasonal measure has now had its day and needs to be adjusted, because it's obviously no longer as attractive as it was before," said Zenzerovic.

Within the UPUHH, they propose to increase the amount of salary compensation that seasonal workers receive from the state during the months in which they don't work. As a good example of the sector's cooperation with state institutions, he cited the employment of pupils and students, which increased by around 21 percent this year, which is the result of an increase in the tax limit.

When it comes to foreign workers, the UPUHH pointed out that it is necessary to start working on measures that will speed up the processes involving stay and work permits and MUP's engagement as soon as possible. They propose to reduce the security check procedure for returning workers, which they rather ridiculously have to repeat every year, and given the fact that these returnees make up about 50 percent of the total number, it is an unsustainable way of doing things going forward.

They are advocating the digitalisation of the process of issuing work permits for foreigners at the level of the whole country, and they are asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to speed up the issuance of visas for the minority of workers who need them, and to increase the capacity of the services that process applications for stay and work permits for third country nationals within MUP.

"We need to actually realise that it isn't just Croatia which is fighting for these workers, the whole of Europe, Austria, Germany... they're all looking for them, and we have to do everything we can to remain competitive, because we now need to be aware that we can't meet our needs for workers here on the Croatian market," concluded Zenzerovic.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

September the 27th, 2022 - Istrian camps and hotels are continuing to break records during 2022's post-season, despite the poor weather conditions which are currently causing issues in that and other parts of the country.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, even the bad weather over the last few days hasn't succeeded in spoiling the excellent tourist results for Istrian camps and hotels during the post-season. For the whole year, compared to the record, pre-pandemic year of 2019, the number of overnight stays is now only 3% behind. Of the 350,000 tourists currently staying in Croatia, about 100,000 of them are on the gorgeous Istrian peninsula, as reported by HRT.

There are now much smaller crowds, the sun is still warm but not brutally hot, and the sea hasn't cooled down all that much either, meaning swimming is still very much a possibility, this combination is ideal for guests from the north. The Fazana camp is still half full, and among the 2,000 guests, the majority are retirees, parents with small children and school groups on trips away.

"The season is better than that of 2019. I can say that cumulatively, in total, the whole year will end with some 10% plus compared to 2019," said Roland Cinkopan, the director of the Bi-Village camp in Fazana.

Even in the camp in Pula, the cottages are still full, and the rent of several hundreds of euros per night is now half the price. "We wanted to stay a few days, but it's beautiful, especially with this view, so we're staying the whole week," said Paola from Germany, and that view extends to a luxury hotel with all the accompanying facilities. Although it has just been renovated, it was immediately recognised on the market and will not be closed even over winter. In the coming months, it will host congresses, and now individual guests, mostly Austrian nationals, are staying there.

Raising the overall level of quality and increasing consumption is part of the strategic plan for tourism development not only in Istria but across the rest of country, crowd reduction is also a top priority.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

September the 16th, 2022 - Croatian tourist season air traffic has reached heights that outdo those we saw back during the record breaking, pre-pandemic year of 2019.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, even with numerous difficulties still being faced by airlines, air travel to Southeastern Europe throughout the summer season so far has significantly exceeded pre-pandemic levels. This also includes Croatian tourist season air traffic levels.

Both Turkey and Greece exceeded the levels of arrivals of international visitors they recorded back before the pandemic struck by 9 percent and 2 percent respectively, and of the capital cities, Istanbul had the strongest growth of 2 percent compared to 2019, according to an analysis by ForwardKeys.

Most guests are from Germany

The number of arrivals to nearby Albania has also increased by as much as 28 percent, although it only accounts for 1 percent of the market share in all European air arrivals. All other countries are still in the red compared to the pre-pandemic summer of 2019, and neighbouring Slovenia has seen the smallest drop of a mere 7 percent compared to the pre-pandemic period, followed by Iceland with a drop of 8 percent, and Portugal, which lags behind by 10 percent.

According to the latest published data published by the Croatian Statistical Institute, the number of air passenger arrivals to Croatia fell by 11 percent in July alone.

In the period from January to July this year, 5.1 million passengers were recorded as having passed through Croatian airports, equal to 81 percent of the country's pre-pandemic traffic, with the largest number of passengers in the first seven months of 2022 being recorded from Germany, followed by the United Kingdom and then France.

In July this year, the highest level of Croatian tourist season air traffic was achieved by Split Airport, followed by Dubrovnik Airport and then Zagreb Airport. The most significant amount of international passenger traffic was achieved with British airports, which accounts for almost seven times more than last year, when the restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic were in effect.

When it comes to European cities, Athens had 7 percent less arrivals by plane in July and August than it did back in 2019, Reykjavik and Porto saw drops of 8 percent, and Malaga saw a considerable drop of 13 percent.

The main drivers of air traffic growth for Turkey are the constant decline in the value of the Turkish lira and its openness to the Russian market, from where direct flights to most of Europe are prohibited.

Departures within Europe were 22 percent lower

European destinations could have attracted more visitors during the summer months this year if the airline industry had coped better with the surge in travel demand during the late spring and early summer. If there had been no disruption, ForwardKeys estimates that the recovery of flight reservations within Europe would have been five percentage points higher. An analysis of departure markets reveals that within Europe, Greece has proven to be the most resilient, with departures to European destinations in July and August at 2019's impressive levels.

Poland saw a minus of 9 percent compared to 2019, Spain saw a drop of 12 percent, the UK saw one of 13 percent, Denmark saw a drop of 14 percent and Portugal had a drop of 15 percent. In total, departures within Europe were reduced by 22 percent. The strongest non-European market was the USA, with only a 5 percent drop compared to 2019. It was followed by Colombia and Israel, both with 9 percent.

The outlook for the next three months is optimistic, despite the still unstable circumstances. As of August the 31st, there were 21 percent less flight reservations when compared to the same period back in 2019, and the exceptions were once again Greece and Turkey, which both enjoyed a higher number of reservations than they did back in 2019, of 5 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

September the 6th, 2022 - Opatija tourism figures are looking more than promising so far, having achieved an impressive 92 percent of the overnight stays realised back during the record, pre-pandemic year of 2019.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, during the first eight months of this year, 863,000 overnight stays were realised in the gorgeous Kvarner town of Opatija, which is 46 percent more than the same period last year and 92 percent of the turnover realised back during the record year od 2019, the Tourist Board of the City of Opatija reported on Monday.

The director of the Opatija Tourist Board, Suzi Petricic, pointed out that the most requested and filled were high-class accommodation facilities, hotels or private accommodation units such as villas with swimming pools in the Opatija hinterland.

''After an excellent pre season and good results in the height of the summer season, we're now turning to the challenging post season,'' said the director of the Opatija Tourist Board, announcing the upcoming Chocolate Festival and Advent in Opatija.

63 percent of the overnight stays making up these Opatija tourism figures were realised in hotels, 34 percent in private accommodation, while 3 percent of overnight stays were in non-commercial accommodation. Over the course of eight months, the most numerous guests were from other parts of the Republic of Croatia, and the most overnight stays were realised by guests visiting from Germany (21 percent) and nearby Austria (19 percent).

In August 2022, 243,000 overnight stays were recorded, which is 93 percent of the Opatija tourism figures realised back during August 2019.

About 53 percent of overnight stays realised during the month of August in Opatija were in hotels, 44 percent in private accommodation, and the remaining 3 percent of overnight stays refer to non-commercial accommodation facilities.

The most numerous guests were from Germany, who accounted for 31 percent of all of the town's registered overnight stays, followed by Austrians with 15 percent.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

September the 1st, 2022 - German tourists have always been extremely populous and very important for the Croatian tourism sector, and there has been a significant 25% increase in the amount of overnight stays realised by German visitors in Croatian campsites.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, the Republic of Croatia is very well recognised over on the German market for its rich camping offer and the country is one of the absolute favourite foreign destinations for German tourists when it comes to this particular segment.

German guests have realised about 860,000 arrivals in various Croatian campsites up and down the country this year and achieved about 6.5 million overnight stays so far, which represents growth of about 25 percent when compared to the same period back in the pre-pandemic, record year of 2019.

''The continuation of these extremely positive trends from German tourists and the German market is also expected during the post-season,'' said Romeo Danghicchio, the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board's (HTZ/CNTB) representative office in Germany, on the occasion of the participation of HTZ at the Caravan Salon Fair, which is being held in the City of Dusseldorf until September the 4th, 2022.

The aforementioned German event is otherwise one of the world's leading fairs of this type, whose visitors have the opportunity to view the offer of a total of 736 exhibitors, whether they are popular destinations or a wide range of vehicles and all kinds of camping equipment.

In addition to the HTZ as the main exhibitor, the Kvarner Tourist Board, the Plitvice Lakes National Park, the Camping Association of Croatia and Valamar, are also presenting their respective offers at the fair.

In Croatia this year, faithful German tourists have realised more than 2.6 million arrivals and over 19 million overnight stays, which is impressive growth of about 15 percent compared to the record year of 2019.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

August the 31st, 2022 - How can Croatian numbers tallied up during the summer tourist season be accurate if as many as 40% of visitors are allegedly not even being registered properly?

As Morski writes, the Republic of Croatia has just passed the peak of the height of the summer tourist season. Forecasts say that income from tourism could reach an enormous twelve billion euros, that is, it will exceed the previous record set back in pre-pandemic 2019 by at least 800 million euros. However, not everyone in tourism did equally well. Travel agencies aren't keen on opening the champagne just yet. They're not at 2019's levels and for them, this season isn't exactly a "record" one.

Among those specialising in "organised tourism", this year also saw a major consolidation of the market. A major global player in the private accommodation segment recognised the potential of smaller renters, this was commented on by the president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies, Tomislav Fain.

He said that tourists have arrived at various Croatian destinations as evidenced by the congestion on the roads and at the airports, adding that the post-season now stretches until November the 1st, which is the result of the work of both the public and private sectors.

Croatian numbers aren't even close to accurate

''I'm extremely satisfied with the tourist season and we have a large number of guests here, however, the Croatian numbers that are displayed through eVisitor, which we have at our disposal, aren't even close to being accurate. The actual numbers of guests are up to 40 percent higher because a large number weren't even registered at all,'' he pointed out.

''I don't think any agency operating along the coast can possibly complain about July or August this year. Even if this year ends like 2019 did, we can't forget that we had two years in which we worked at a mere 10 to 30 percent, and just one normal season isn't enough for travel agencies to recover from what happened. In order to keep hold of our clients, property was sold, debt was incurred and it will take at least 4.5 years to recover,'' he said.

''School trips are coming back, and as the situation was uncertain, everyone showed up at the last minute. At one point, we couldn't respond to all the needs of the market. I hope that with the beginning of this school year it will also normalise. As for congress tourism, one part of that was completed in April and May, and in September and October, we can expect that additional boom in that regard,'' Fain believes.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

August the 22nd, 2022 - The summer is still very much in full swing on the gorgeous Makarska Riviera, with hotels still full and the overall Makarska tourism picture still booming.

As Morski writes, Makarska's coast in Central Dalmatia is still full of foreign visitors, and the third weekend of August is usually marked by a large shift of tourists, with more departures than arrivals, but the hotels are still fully booked, and there are crowds on the main roads and along access roads to tourist destinations.

This weekend, more than 10,000 guests will travel from tourist destinations along the Makarska Riviera, and fewer will arrive for their holidays in summer resorts from Brela to Gradac, according to local tourist offices. However, they pointed out that after this weekend, about 50 thousand tourists will continue their vacation on the Makarska coast, making the Makarska tourism picture full despite the gradual change of the times.

Hotels operating along the Makarska Riviera are continuing to do business without any free beds to speak of, hosting more than 14,000 guests in total, the same is the case in holiday homes and other forms of family/private accommodation, and the advance reservation of accommodation facilities is also recommended for people staying in rooms and apartments rented out from private home owners.

The change of guests is also being accompanied by significant traffic jams this weekend. On the D8 state road, people are continuing to drive in long queues, going very slowly and with rare stops, and traffic is also congested on the access roads to various destinations along that part of the coastline.

Along the road from Basko Polje through the Sveti Ilija tunnel to the highway and vice versa, the traffic has increased significantly, there is also traffic congestion on the access road to the toll booths near Zagvozd, yet the waiting times have decreased at the toll booths themselves.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

August the 19th, 2022 - Croatian marinas and berths up and down the coastline as full, with people finding it more and more difficult to find a free berth anywhere. Croatian nautical tourism is showing just what a wealth of potential it has.

As Morski writes, back during the global coronavirus pandemic, those visiting Croatia by boat proved to be the most loyal and resilient guests of all. They didn't give up on their holidays and docking in Croatian marinas even during intermittent lockdowns. Therefore, it isn't remotely surprising that this year there have been and continue to be some excellent tourist numbers in the blossoming nautical tourism sector, all over the coast.

Boaters lived up to previous expectations and the season is very good, much better than last year.

''At the ACI marina level, we've already exceeded the results, in the financial sense of course, from pre-pandemic 2019, which for me is excellent. What, for example, last year we did not have, is a significant number of guests from Italy. This year, the Italians also started returning to Croatian marinas quite a lot and in large numbers,'' explained Leo Ajdukovic, the director of ACI Marina Dubrovnik.

Both in down in southern and in the northern part of the Croatian Adriatic, it is difficult to find a free berth in Croatian marinas, and after a good main summer season, a great postseason is also comfortably expected.

''Last year the post-season was absolutely fantastic, it lasted throughout the whole of October, I hope that this year the post-season will also be the same as it was back in 2021, and maybe even last a little longer,'' said Leo Ajdukovic.

This good summer season has also been due to good preparation: ACI's biggest investment this year was in the Dubrovnik marina, and a massive 16 million kuna was invested in 232 metres of new waterfront.

The season down in Dubrovnik is unsurprisingly very good, however, this year will not outdo the record-breaking year of 2019. Compared to 2019, Dubrovnik is at almost 70 percent of arrivals and 80 percent of overnight stays, and the fact that things are finally returning to normal has been shown that the most numerous guests there are from Northern European countries such as Britain etc.

Although there are fewer arrivals and overnight stays overall, according to the first data, earnings should be significantly higher than they were back in 2019, which is logical - all prices have increased, including hotels, restaurants and all that places where tourists spend their money.

This summer season will be remembered for the Peljesac bridge opening and the first results are already visible: there are noticeably more guests on the Peljesac peninsula, and Jadrolinija has introduced another ferry.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.