July the 6th, 2022 - The Croatian nautical tourism sector is absolutely booming and represents an extremely strong branch of the country's most lucrative earner - tourism. The sector enjoyed an excellent pre-season, and it looks as if the very height of the summer season is going to be a great one as well.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatia is the first on many lists, and that can be either good or bad. It's the record holder for people leaving the homes of their parents and becoming independent last, but it's also very often the first when it comes to beach rankings. We suppose its up to you to decide whether to see a glass which is half full or half empty.

Maybe you didn't know, but Croatia has the most boats for rent in the entire world, reports RTL. The country boasts about 4,500 yachts and other vessels for rent in the fleet - which ensured Croatia the title of the world's nautical superpower.

The Punat marina on Krk has 850 moorings in the sea and 500 on land - and this is where the largest amount of nautical traffic within the Croatian nautical tourism sector in all of Kvarner is realised.

A couple from Austria chose it as their base: "In earlier years, I rented a boat in Croatia. I saw this area and the marina and I really liked it! Now we bought our own boat and decided to come to this marina," recounts Nadine Walcher.

This marina continues to record some truly excellent results, even though we're only at the beginning of the peak summer season. "The marina is full, we're already doing better now as far as 2019 is concerned in terms of occupancy and when we're talking about it financially," explained Robert Skomersic, an employee of the marina in Punat.

A Slovenian family has been loyal to Krk's Punat marina for years. They stay there until the end of July, but they come regularly from spring to autumn! "Slovenia is close and there is a sea like this... it doesn't exist anywhere else," said Gregor Preseren.

Of all the charter vessels in the world, i.e. those that are for rent, 40 percent are here in Croatia, making this country a world superpower in that segment. Since the beginning of this year, the Croatian nautical tourism sector has achieved one million and one hundred thousand overnight stays.

"This year, the pre-season has already achieved significant results, which we're satisfied with. Within the entire ACI system, which includes 22 marinas across the Adriatic, transits, i.e. daily berths, are at the level of what was recorded back in the record year of 2019,'' said the head of corporate communications of ACI marina, Adriana Miskovic.

Along with the extreme south of Croatia, Kvarner is also becoming more and more popular when it comes to Croatian nautical tourism. In the last five years, there has been a 65 percent increase in the number of overnight stays being realised by boaters, and the revenue is also growing.

"Guests from within the Croatian nautical tourism sector are also the type of guests who spend more than the average guest does, about 130 euros per day, or 170 if we're talking about a charter, and the total earnings in the ports within the Croatian nautical tourism umbrella last year amounted to around 160 million kuna,'' says the director of the Kvarner Tourist Board, Irena Persic Zivadinov.

For more on the blossoming Croatian nautical tourism sector, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

July the 6th, 2022 - There have been an impressive 227% more overnight stays realised in Dubrovnik-Neretva County so far in 2022 than during the same period back in 2021.

As Morski writes, after two uncertain pandemic-dominated years filled with numerous epidemiological restrictions, lockdowns and last minute rule introductions, tourism has well and truly returned to the Croatian coast with better results than many could have ever initially expected. Down in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, tourism companies and employees are busy rubbing their hands with satisfaction because their results in the first half of the year are an enomous 227% better than they were this time last year.

During the month of June 2022, there were 239,603 arrivals and 1,037,414 overnight stays registered in the area of ​​Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The most overnight stays were realised by guests from the rest of Europe, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and from other parts of Croatia. There were also a significant number realised by visitors from more distant markets such as the United States of America.

From the beginning of this year to the end of June, 1,978,615 overnight stays were realised in Dubrovnik-Neretva County. When compared to the same period back in the pandemic-dominated year of 2021, 227% more overnight stays were realised. The most overnight stays from January to the end of June were realised by tourists from the European countries of the United Kingdom, Germany, the rest of Croatia, France and Poland. Following closely after European tourists came the Americans.

Compared to the pre-pandemic, record year of 2019 to which we're always comparing things to, there was an increase in overnight stays from the domestic market as well as from Ireland and Poland, while a huge number of overnight stays came from European countries including the United Kingdom with 70%, 80% came from Germany, 81% came from France, and 75% came from across the Atlantic Ocean - the United States of America.

For more on Croatian tourism's recovery this year, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

July the 1st, 2022 - Porec tourism so far has been going beyond excellently, with one million overnight stays now having been realised, bringing in better results than the record, pre-pandemic year of 2019.

As Morski writes, according to Croatia's praised eVisitor system for the registration of tourists, the gorgeous Istrian city of Porec achieved its millionth tourist overnight stay on the 28th of June, 2022. Since the beginning of this year, there have been 225,000 arrivals for Porec's tourism ''picture'', which is an increase of 5 percent compared to 2019, which is the pre-crisis year we all keep comparing everything in 2022 to.

An excellent pre-season filled with numerous sporting events spilled over into the now height of the summer tourist season, and 50 percent of all guests making up Porec's tourism statistics are guests from Germany and Austria, followed by the neighbouring Slovenes, guests from other parts of Croatia, and also Italians.

''These are exceptional results,'' said the director of the Tourist Board of the City of Porec, Nenad Velenik, noting that this number was realised on the same day as it was back during the record year of 2019, even with Porec having less accommodation capacities than in 2019 because two hotels are currently out of order.

Judging by the number of overnight stays realised in this popular Istrian city so far, Porec is looking forward to an excellent remainer of this year's tourist season.

''We've been achieving excellent occupancy rates throughout the pre-season period, as well as throughout the month of June, in which we've achieved more than 510,000 overnight stays. Sporting events, which involved the arrival of large sport groups, influenced our above-average pre-season, which in some terms was up to 30 percent better than the same time back during the record year of 2019.

The German and Austrian markets are dominating Porec as a destination, which gives us a spring in out step in terms of our successful marketing activities in cooperation with the regional tourist boards. There have also been some very encouraging results coming from the nearby Italian market, which is once again back to what it was, and it seems that the trend of Croatian guests from other parts of the country speaks in favour of the fact that throughout two coronavirus-dominated years, we still succeeded in luring the local population, the numbers from which are cumulatively better by up to 32 percent when compared to 2019,'' said Velenik, who, given the pace of capacity filling for July and August, expects a better year for Porec tourism than 2019.

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

June the 29th, 2022 - Continental Croatian tourism is blossoming this tourist season much like the rest of the country's tourism is, with returns to pre-pandemic levels being recorded across the board by this previously deeply hindered sector.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, continental Croatian tourism is waking up, and up in the north of Croatia, more precisely in gorgeous Medjimurje, things are almost at the level of the record year of 2019. Ivica Grudicek from HRT checked out the popular Terme Sveti Martin to see how they survived the global coronavirus pandemic, and also to see how they're managing to deal with the current problems - rising energy prices as a result of inflation and an ongoing lack of labour.

Nusa Korotaj, the general manager of Terme Sveti Martin, said that Terme Sveti Martin were a valuable asset back during the pandemic, and that now things are slowly returning to how they once were before that. As she explained, they have returned to the figures from back in 2019, and maybe the revenues will be even higher this year.

"We have to take into consideration that inflation is indeed high, so the cost side of things isn't even close to the period from back in 2019, it is a challenge for us and for all directors in the hotel industry," she emphasised, adding that before the global coronavirus pandemic, Croatian guests visiting Sveti Martin were the most numerous of all, with 60 percent of overnight stays being recorded by them, and all other overnight stays were guests from neighbouring countries. During the coronavirus pandemic and immediately afterwards, guests were mostly locals, but, as she now says, foreigners have started to return.

"We have a lot of guests from Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland," said Korotaj, which is a clear indication of continental Croatian tourism making a comeback.

The rise in energy prices is having a strong impact on business, and as Korotaj noted, this is currently the proverbial cancer wound of all of the country's hoteliers and managers, especially those with thermal capacities to boast of, because they are highly dependent on energy.

"As far as the workforce is concerned, our colleagues down on the coast are having some big problems, but the situation here at Sveti Martin it is different. The vast majority of employees are local people and they have been workinb here for many years. We also have several Indians and hard-working Ukrainian women employed here,'' she said, adding that they are ready and equipped to welcome the summer season.

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

June the 29th, 2022 - The City of Dubrovnik, Croatia's southernmost city and tourist Mecca, has realised one million overnight stays through the eVisitor system. Here's a look at which nationalities are making up the majority of this impressive figure.

As Morski writes, according to Croatia's highly praised eVisitor tourist check-in and check-out system, 1,029,182 overnight stays have been realised in the City of Dubrovnik from the beginning of the year to June the 25th, 2022, which is a very encouraging increase of 411 percent when compared to 2021, according to the Dubrovnik Tourist Board.

In the same period, 324,117 arrivals were realised in the city, which is an increase of 415 percent when compared to the same period back in 2021. At the same time, foreign tourists made up 289,745 of these arrivals (595 percent more than in 2021) and 944,783 overnight stays (526 percent more than in 2021), while Croatian tourists made up 34,372 arrivals (62 percent more than in 2021), and 84,399 overnight stays (67 percent more than in 2021).

From January the 1st to June the 25th, 2022, the most numerous tourists staying in Dubrovnik were from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Germany, the rest of Croatia, France, Ireland, neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland. Compared to the record, pre-pandemic year of 2019, from the beginning of 2022 to the end of June, Dubrovnik has now succeeded in realising about 63 percent of 2019's tourist traffic, as reported by local portal Dubrovnik dnevnik.

According to the types of accommodation being stayed in by tourists, from the beginning of this year to June the 25th, 169,049 arrivals were realised in Dubrovnik's many hotels (marking a 441 percent increase when compared to the same period back in 2021), and 92,592 arrivals in private accommodation (375 percent more). There were 579,848 overnight stays registered in the Pearl of the Adriatic's hotels (equal to an increase of 493 percent) and 334,769 overnight stays were registered in private accommodation (an increase of 349 percent compared to the same period back in 2021).

Currently, 18,237 tourists are staying in Dubrovnik, which is 154 percent more than in 2021 making up 83 percent of the realised tourist traffic compared to the same day back in pre-pandemic 2019. The most numerous guests are from: the United Kingdom, the United States of America, other parts of Croatia, Germany, Ireland, France, Norway, Finland, Spain and Poland.

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

June the 20th, 2022 - Zadar Airport is recording impressive pre-pandemic results in terms of air traffic so far this year, as it seems that the horrendous coronavirus-dominated era is well and truly behind us.

The beautiful City of Zadar and its surrounding islands are highly popular destinations for foreign and domestic visitors, and now all epidemiological restrictions in Croatia and across Europe are now a thing of the past, Zadar Airport's numbers are finally climbing to excellent heights following two years of nail-biting stagnancy and depression.

As Morski writes, ever since the summer season officially opened, Zadar Airport's traffic has finally been at pre-pandemic levels. New airlines are also being introduced, and record numbers continue to be expected.

Over this past weekend, about 20,000 passengers will pass through the airport, both in departures and arrivals.

Zadar Airport had one of the best recoveries after the COVID-19 crisis last year and back in 2020, and this year the situation seems to be even better. There are four new airlines, charter flights have started, there are as many as sixteen new destinations and there is almost no European city with which Zadar is not currently connected.

This Dalmatian airport's traffic could exceed the record figures seen back during the pre-pandemic year of 2019 this year, and due to the growing number of passengers, the passenger terminal is also being expanded. This is a multi-year project, in the first phase a temporary building will be built for the reception and departure of passengers while the existing one is being expanded, writes HRT.

Most passengers are carried to and from Zadar Airport by the wildly popular Irish carrier Ryanair, which holds more than 60 percent of the routes, and it has opened its third base in Zadar.

''This is extremely important to us, given that Ryanair opens bases only at airports where it has many years of cooperation and trust. This year, there are fourteen new lines as far as Ryanair is concerned, which would mean ten to fifteen lines a day from Zadar Airport to all European destinations,'' said Nikola Barac, a spokesman for Zadar Airport.

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

June the 20th, 2022 - Split Airport is rubbing its hands in anticipation of an excellent July as the height of the Croatian summer tourist season begins to ramp up.

After two dreadful years of coronavirus-induced issues directly affecting travel and tourism, the sector is understandably delighted with the current figures being recorded throughout all Croatian airports, as it seems the woes caused by the global pandemic are well and truly behind us now.

2019, the year before the world as we knew it changed in the most unprecedented manner, is remembered as being a record one. Numbers in terms of air and tourist traffic were phenomenal, and the desire to get back to that during those most difficult two years of 2020 and 2021 seems to finally be coming to fruition.

As Morski writes, proof that the summer tourist season across Split-Dalmatia County is heating up has definitely been confirmed by the fact that 40,000 passengers and 175 planes from 90 destinations and 24 countries were expected at Split Airport over this past weekend.

Mate Melvan from Split Airport stated that this is the beginning of what they refer to as ''June's striking weekends'', which bring a lot of people through the airport and signal a great July that could be at the record level of 2019 or hopefully even stronger.

From the beginning of this year until today, 660 thousand passengers have passed through Split Airport, and last year in the same period 116 thousand of them, which is a difference of 550 thousand passengers.

Compared to 2019, we have 80 percent of the turnover so far, and we expect to end the year within 80 percent. Split is now connected with 24 countries and 90 destinations, meaning the city is connected with the whole world,'' said Melvan.

There will be no less crowds at Split's ferry port either, where 50,000 passengers and 11,000 vehicles are expected over this four-day extended weekend, N1 reports.

Jelena Ivulic from the Croatian ferry company Jadrolinija stated that the pressure on the port has been on since Wednesday afternoon, meaning that they had to introduce two more ferry lines than they'd normally have over this past weekend.

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

June the 20th, 2022 - The first concrete Croatian tourism data is finally in, and it looks as if we can well and truly put the coronavirus-dominated years of 2020 and 2021 behind us. The Finance Minister believes that we could very much blow even the record year of 2019's numbers out of the water this summer season.

As Morski writes, Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Maric has expressed his hope that there will be no sudden and negative shocks to come, and as long as there aren't, this year could absolutely surpass the record year of 2019.

After two pandemic-dominated years, people are finally up and about and travelling once again. The epidemiological measures for Europe are now a thing of the past. Neither the Ukrainian war, nor the enormous jump in prices, nor the rage of ongoing and seemingly endless inflation are preventing anyone from hopping in their cars, on buses, trains and planes. This trend has been very clearly shown by all the announcements of the tourist season here in Croatia, but also the actual Croatian tourism data from the field.

After the excellent Easter tourist results, this new, concrete Croatian tourism data speaks very much in favour of the announcements of an excellent height of the summer tourist season. Corpus Christi (Croatian: Tijelovo) is one of the holidays by which one can typically assess what kind of summer season awaits the country, and the data on traffic generated for that holiday on the country's motorways heading in the direction of the coast show that this tourist season could surpass that of 2019.

According to Hrvatske autoceste (Croatian motorways), 38,387 vehicles entered the motorway via the Lucko toll station on the 16th of June, 2022. That is 4.4 percent more vehicles than were recorded back during 2019. At that time, 36,752 vehicles entered the motorway for Tijelovo at Lucko. Considering that Croatia is widely recognised as a car destination in Europe due to its highly developed and excellently built motorway network, this data is sufficient to be rubbing our hands together for some really great tourist months, Jutarnji list writes.

Minister of Finance Zdravko Maric joined in with the good announcements for the season a few days ago, saying that the value of fiscalised bills/receipts for the tourism sector in the first five and a half months of this year is 22 percent higher than the record tourist year of 2019, and that we have every right to expect a top quality tourist season.

The announcements of an excellent tourist season are supported by the concrete Croatian tourism data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) which notes that 1.5 million tourists stayed in commercial accommodation in the first four months of 2022, who realised 4.4 million overnight stays, which is 184 and 190 percent more than in the same period last year.

In the first four months of this year, commercial accommodation recorded one million tourists and almost three million more overnight stays than in the same months back in 2021, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced.

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

June the 18th, 2022 - Despite being the subject of endless complaints before the global coronavirus pandemic struck and forced the industry to a halt, Croatian cruise traffic is making a marked comeback as we approach the height of the summer tourist season.

Croatian cruise tourism was an enormous ecological issue up and down the coast, but the vast majority of (understandable) complaints and issues arose from Croatia's tourist Mecca - the southernmost city of Dubrovnik. The Pearl of the Adriatic felt plagued by these giant floating cities which pollute the waters and cause enormous infrastructure issues for the entire area. The pandemic, which threw a massive spanner in the works for more or less all forms of travel, especially for leisure and tourism, saw Dubrovnik's waters free of huge vessels for a very long time.

It seems now, however, that Croatian cruise traffic is making a decided return to not only the country's traditionally most visited city, but all along the coast. Sibenik, quite a bit further up the coastline, included.

As Mladen Miletic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Viking Sky, a 228-metre-long Viking Cruises cruiser flying the Norwegian flag, made its way through the St. Anthony's Canal in front of the Port of Sibenik a couple of days ago.

This ancient coastal Dalmatian city, which is steeped not only in history but also in rich culture, has now become almost a regular stop on the routes of this gigantic 400 million US dollar ship with accommodation capacities for more than 1,000 passengers who can enjoy two swimming pools, a winter garden, theatres and cinemas, and numerous shopping opporunities when on board.

In gorgeous Opatija last weekend, the luxurious Azamara Onward could be seen floating in front of the array of Austro-Hungarian architecture this Kvarner town is so famous for.  The Marella Explorer 2 was also moored in the nearby Port of Rijeka, whose company announced the arrival of nineteen large ships for this summer tourist season, while the aforementioned City of Dubrovnik expects as many as 345 cruise ship arrivals this season, bringing with them more than half a million passengers.

For more on Croatian cruise traffic and tourism, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

June the 15th, 2022 - Istrian local culture is doing very well in attracting tourists from all over the world, with traffic for the first five months of 2022 on the Istrian peninsula being excellent.

As Morski writes, larger Istrian towns and municipalities have been enjoying better results during these last five months than they did back during the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. Istrian local culture, which is abundant and very rich, from the Pula amphitheatre to the numerous small museums dotted throughout the county, is doing very well in drawing in the international crowds.

Statistics show that any tourist who comes to Istria for seven days visits the Euphrasian Basilica, the only Istrian monument under UNESCO protection, at least once. It attracts all generations and people from all walks of life.

''We liked it, it's interesting to get better acquainted with the history of this area, to see what they used to do and how they used to do it,'' said Sebastian and Filip from Germany.

Porec is also breaking records left, right and centre. In the first five months of 2022, they've enjoyed tourist results which are several percentage points better than the record year of 2019.

''June has started out very well, we're enjoying numbers which are as much as 20 percent higher than they were back in 2019, so we're going full speed into the peak of the tourist season,'' said Nenad Velenik, the director of the Porec Tourist Board.

The second pearl of Istria, gorgeous Rovinj, has enjoyed some even better numbers. The warmth which it somehow radiates, is a lure for tourists. The first eco-museum in the country is located in Rovinj and it has proved to be an unavoidable stop for visitors, even the most professional ones.

''Such museums are extremely important to tourism because they show what the tourism of the future should look like. They respect the rich legacy with the help of numerous technological innovations,'' emphasised Davide Gnola of the Maritime Museum of Cesenatico in Italy.

Come rain or shine, the imposing, ancient Pula Arena is always open to visitors, and recently it was additionally decorated with greenery. When it comes to Istrian local culture, few would fail to mention this astonishingly well-preserved Roman structure.

''Pula's monuments are some of the best preserved ancient monuments in the entire Mediterranean,'' stated Darko Komso, the director of the Archaeological Museum of Istria. Back during pre-pandemic years, it was visited by half a million tourists.

For more, check out our dedicated travel section.