September 10, 2019 - The Croatian Tourist Board, also known as HTZ, announces the tourism numbers for the first eight months of 2019.

According to the eVisitor system, from January to August, Croatia recorded 16.5 million arrivals (+5 percent) and 90.1 million overnight stays (+2 percent). Foreign tourists achieved 14.7 million arrivals (+5 percent) and 79.1 million overnight stays (+1 percent), while domestic tourists recorded an increase of 10 percent in arrivals and 7 percent in overnight stays.

"The first half of 2019, as well as the previous two peak months, July and August, are in line with our expectations and plans this year. In total, since the beginning of the year, we have achieved five percent more tourist arrivals and two percent more overnight stays. But apart from tourist traffic, what particularly delights us is the positive financial results. Namely, according to the Tax Administration, since the beginning of the year, a total of HRK 20.6 billion was realized in providing accommodation and food and beverage services, which represents an increase of 8 percent or HRK 1.6 billion,” said Minister Gari Cappelli, adding that these results are an excellent announcement for the overall results of tourism revenues in 2019.

"After a successful peak season, we are entering the post-season, for which we launched campaigns in 14 European markets in mid-August. In September and October, we expect a repeat of last year's figures or, depending on the market, a further increase in the number of arrivals and overnight stays, primarily from the far-away markets of the US, China, and Korea, but also from Russia and France. Also, very intensive preparations are underway for the next tourist year,” said HTZ director Kristjan Stanicic, adding that the strength of Croatian tourism is confirmed by the latest report of the World Economic Forum, according to which Croatia is ranked 27th in terms of tourism competitiveness, which is an improvement of five-places compared to 2017.

During the first eight months of 2019, the highest number of overnight stays were recorded in Istria (24.3 million), Split-Dalmatia County (16.9 million overnight stays), and Kvarner (16.2 million overnight stays). Zadar County follows with 12.9 million overnights and Dubrovnik-Neretva County with 7.2 million overnights. Sibenik-Knin County recorded 6.2 million overnights, while Lika-Senj County recorded 3 million overnights. Zagreb achieved 1.7 million. 

In continental Croatia, not including Zagreb, 840,000 arrivals (+8 percent) and 1.7 million overnight stays (+8 percent) were recorded, while in the counties, the most overnight stays were recorded in Karlovac (511,000), Krapina-Zagorje (258,000), Zagreb (157,000), Osijek-Baranja (145,000) and Međimurje (144,000).

At the national level, during the first eight months, most overnight stays were recorded from the markets of Germany (17 million), Slovenia (9.5 million), Austria (6.3 million), Poland (5.4 million), Italy (4.9 million), the Czech Republic (4.7 million) and the United Kingdom (3.5 million). When looking at accommodation, most overnights were recorded in households (34.5 million), hotels (19.4 million), and camps (16.2 million). The top destinations in the first eight months, according to overnight strays, are Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Porec, Split, and Medulin.

In August, there were 5 million arrivals and 33.1 million overnight stays in Croatia, which represents an increase of 8 percent in visitors and 3 percent in overnights compared to August 2018. In August, the most overnight stays were recorded in Istria (8.7 million), while in Kvarner and Split-Dalmatia County, 6.3 million overnight stays were recorded. This is followed by Zadar County with 5.2 million overnights and Sibenik-Knin County with 2.5 million overnights. Dubrovnik-Neretva County recorded 2.3 million overnight stays, while Lika-Senj County achieved 1.2 million overnight stays. Zagreb reached 289,000.

In August, 191,000 arrivals (+8 percent) and 421,000 overnight stays (+6 percent) were made in continental Croatia, of which the most overnight stays were achieved in Karlovac (197,000), Krapina-Zagorje (48,000), Zagreb (36,000), Međimurje (32,000) and Varazdin County (32,000). At the national level, most overnight stays in August were recorded by the markets of Germany (6.5 million), Slovenia (3.3 million), Italy (2.9 million), Poland (2.1 million), Austria (2.1 million) and the Czech Republic (1.7 million).

You can see the HTZ results here.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

For the first time ever, the Croatian Tourist Board organised the presentation of Croatian tourism in Australia. The presentation and the workshop were attended by 70 Australian tourist agents and seven largest tour-operators in Melbourne. It was organised together with the Tourist Board of Slovenia, under the title "Experience Croatia, Feel Slovenia".

Kristjan Staničić, the Croatian Tourist Board's director, commented on the event, saying that the number of people attending made everyone at HTZ very happy, as presentations and workshops are held so often. Last year, more than 243,000 people visited Croatia from Australia, which is a significant growth of almost 15 percent when compared to the year before. Australians visit Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split the most, and those three destinations see almost 70 percent of all Australian arrivals.

But, HTZ presented Istria, Slavonia and other regions of Croatia in Melbourne as well. In 2019, the growth compared to the same period of 2018 is around 7 percent.

11 Croatian tourism organisations participated at the presentation and the workshop: The Dubrovnik-Neretva County Tourist Board, Rijeka - European Culture Capital 2020, Croatia Airlines, the City of Zagreb and the Dubrovnik region's tourist boards, Katarina Line Cruises and Tours, Atlas Plus, Navigare Yachting, Bagatin Clinic, Aronda Adriana Travel, and Olivari. Four Slovenian partners were also there to present our neighbours.

Australians have been travelling much more lately, and many factors contribute to that: a strong Australian dollar, globalisation, which lead to lower airfare prices and made travelling to Europe simpler. They are known to be active and adventurous on their travels and stay in their European and American destinations for longer (which makes sense).

Most Australian tourists come from New South Wales, which is where the presentation is going next: after the first presentation in Melbourne, Croatian and Slovenian tourism will next be presented in Sydney on July 4th - it wouldn't make much sense to make the journey just to have the one presentation!

Read more tourism stories on TCN Travel page.

The Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ), in cooperation with tourist boards of Spain, France, Catalonia, Monaco and the City of Zagreb, is presenting its luxury tourism segment at the prestigious Mediterranean Luxe event in Singapore, held at the same time as the International Luxury Travel Mart Asia Pacific tourist fair.

The Mediterranean Luxe is a special presentation of the luxurious products and services, actually of which types of luxury tourism certain destinations offer. This year, it brought together over 80 international buyers and businesses, the Croatian Tourist Board reported.

"Luxury tourism is the tourism which has added value, and Croatian participation at an event like this one, dedicated fully to this segment of tourism, confirms our variety and the richness of what our tourism has to offer. I believe in the potential of the further growth of this segment, as our country has numerous unique localities and experiences, as well as already developed high-end accomodation, and those can be the foundation of luxury tourism in Croatia,'' Kristjan Stančić, director of the Croatian Tourist Board said, adding that this is the continuation of activities aimed at attracting guests from the Far Eastern markets.

Mediterranean Luxe promotes the tourist sector of the Mediterranean region, and informs the tourist agencies and other visitors about news in the luxury tourism segment. In addition to other presentations, the program included the gastro presentations for the destinations participating at the event, and Croatia presented itself with "fuži s tartufima" (hand-made pasta with truffles), fritule and chosen liqueurs.

The tourist boards of Catalonia and Monaco started that the Mediterranean Luxe brand, and the globally recognised tourist agency Kuoni, prepared two programs on the topic of luxury travel that includes each destination participating at this year's event. The first of the two include a journey from Monaco to the Italian cities of Milano and Venice, after which, the luxury travellers will make their way to Zagreb, Croatia.

"The Croatian capital Zagreb sets the trends in our country, and presents its luxury tourism segment. We're very glad to find ourselves in the company of the world's leaders in the luxury tourism segment. We're happy we became a part of the program organised by the Kuoni agency, and that we're being presented on the Asian market, which is a continually growing market for Zagreb, in terms of arrivals and overnights. Back in 2015, Malaysia, Singapore and Phillipines were the 19th markets for Zagreb, and in 2018, they took the 9th spot on the list, which shows the growing interest for our city on this market" Martina Bienenfeld, Zagreb's Tourist Board director said.

On the occasion of the 64th meeting of the UNWTO Commission in Zagreb, Croatian National Tourist Board director Kristjan Staničić met with UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili with whom he spoke about innovations in tourism, air transport, and themed promotions of tourism products such as gastronomy. They also announced the opening of the Croatian Tourist Board office in Madrid next year, reports HRTurizam on May 29, 2019. 

“I think that now is the right time to open your office in Madrid,” said Pololikashvili, offering all of his support in the office opening process. 

"We plan to open the office in Madrid in January next year, just before the FITUR fair, the largest tourism fair in Spain. Future representation is especially important for UNWTO's headquarters, but also because of the growing number of Spanish tourists who last year made about 290,000 arrivals and more than 640,000 overnight stays, which represents a 13 percent increase compared to 2017,” said the director of the Croatian Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, adding that the Spanish market is also crucial because of its connection with South American countries.

The meeting also discussed the flights between Zagreb and Madrid, as well as the overall better connections between Spain and Croatia, but also Croatia and China, which was marked as a strategically important and very potent market for Croatian tourism.

They discussed the special promotion of Croatian gastronomy, within which Pololikashvili invited a Croatian delegation to the 4th Global Conference of UNWTO dedicated to wine tourism, to be held in Chile in early December 2019.

Recall that the newly established offices of the Croatian Tourist Board opened in Shanghai recently, along with HTZ offices established in Seoul and Los Angeles. 

The meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Europe (CEU), which is taking place in Zagreb on 27-30 May, was formally opened on Tuesday morning by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković who described the event as a compliment to Croatia and its tourist trade.

The meeting, which is taking place in Zagreb for the second time, has brought together representatives of more than 40 countries and Zurab Pololikashvili, the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), who praised Croatia as a good example of the development of the tourism sector and the whole country.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

The Croatian National Tourist Board, or HTZ, launched the first marketing campaign to promote this year's preseason in twelve European markets, reports HRTurizam on March 4, 2019. 

The target countries of this campaign are Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Slovenia, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. The campaign will be conducted on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as in the form of an advertising display, until April 15th.

"This year we continue to implement activities that significantly contribute to further positioning Croatia as a year-round tourist destination. In this sense, we are also conducting this marketing campaign for the promotion of the preseason in 12 key markets, specifically promoting nautical tourism, active tourism, culture, wine and gastronomy, and natural beauty. Namely, these are the products that represent the main motive for the arrival of tourists in the periods before the season,” said Kristjan Staničić, director of the Croatian Tourist Board.

According to the Croatian National Tourist Board, they recently completed their first campaign this year, which was carried out in five important markets - Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain. The primary goal of this campaign was to raise Croatia's recognition as an attractive tourist destination, as well as to strengthen the national tourist brand.

During 2019, the Croatian National Tourist Board will carry out four major promotional campaigns as well as two promotion campaigns for both these two brand campaigns. The primary goal of these promotional campaigns is, among other things, a positive impact on tourism traffic, which in the previous year accounts for more than 525,000 arrivals and 1.4 million overnights, i.e., an increase of 11 percent in arrivals and 6 percent in overnights compared to the same period last year.

Croatia's Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli and Croatian National Tourist Board director Kristjan Staničić will be in Berlin for the ITB this week with around 30 other Croatian companies and tourist boards. 

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Kristjan Staničić, director of the Croatian Tourist Board, gave a lengthy interview to Globus weekly, about the prospects for the 2019 tourist season, interest thus far, rise of the competitors etc. We'll translate the most interesting highlights from the interview.

He starts off by saying that the numbers from the fairs that were held so far are comparable to last year's, but that it's still too early in the year to be making projections. Situation is optimistic, but now is the time to take promotional activities up one notch, in order to secure succesfull year. Croatia's visibility on foreign markets is continually rising as well, as the activities undertaken in that direction have shown results. The journalist asks Mr. Staničić about the first numbers for the 2019 tourist season on the German market, which are supposedly not too optimistic. Mr. Staničić, however, says that the numbers are very preliminary and that there's no reason for concern about the largest Croatian tourist market. He adds that there are no surprises on any other major markets either.

Asked about the destinations that have been making a comeback in the past two years, such as Turkey, Greece, countries in Northern Africa, the director says that their come-back is noticeable, because of the large investment into promotion, as well as the very low prices they are promoting. Croatian response to that needs to be in the further increase of the quality of our tourist offering, and insisting on the fact that the value for money is still amazing in Croatia. Comparing Turkish tourist strategy to Croatian, he says that in Turkey the guest is much more within resorts, with all inclusive deals, while in Croatia the tourists are much more in touch with the local folks and their authenticity.

He discussed markets that are a bit further from Croatia, saying that the guests from the far East, the US, Canada and Australia are very important, as they are less oriented towards the summer, sun and the beach; rather they enjoy pre- and post-season, which is very important for Croatia. He talks about the importance of attracting larger number of tourists arriving by plane, so he welcomes Ryanair's increased presence in Croatian airports. 

If this year does indeed turn out to be the year of tourism stagnation, it might just speed up the processes that can bring about sustainability and a new growth model to Croatian tourism. Every tourist destination has its own limitations, especially if it doesn't work on its own  transformation in terms of infrastructure, content, and mode of promotion.

Croatia has a better position than its competitors when it comes to natural beauty, the courtesy of hotel staff, the level of overall safety and the atmosphere, but there are some downfalls...

“After the exceptionally successful 2017 tourism year, we enter 2018 with the same goal, a goal of further positioning of Croatia as a year-round destination,” stated Tourism Minister Cappelli.