December 9, 2020 – It's been a funny old year. Funny as in unusual. Not so much funny haha. The extraordinary nature of the year is reflected in the most-popular Croatia Google search list for 2020, which has just been published. This year's searches hold a stark contrast to last year's.

In 2019, the end-of-year list for Croatia Google search was dominated by results for sporting fixtures, celebrities and entertainment. Although the EU election results and the long-running teacher's strike in Croatia also scored highly in 2019, this year has been dominated by searches of an even more serious and pressing nature.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that the number one Croatia Google search for 2020 was Coronavirus. The global pandemic is likely to top lists all over the world. In this country, its ramifications also created several other high-ranking inclusions on the Croatia Google search list 2020.

Software Google Classroom and Office 365 za škole also feature in the top 10 Croatia Google search list 2020, as parents and students coped with the closure of teaching institutions and prepared to learn and receive lectures online. Another piece of online tech that features in the top 10 was ePropusnica, the travel pass required for inter-regional travel and international travel by car during the various stages of lockdown. If these results are anything to go by, Coronavirus has dominated the lives of Croatians in 2020.

Another big Croatia Google search term in 2020 was Zagreb earthquake. For anyone in Zagreb at the time of the first large tremor, this will also come as little surprise – it was the biggest earthquake experienced for 100 years in Croatia, and it came without warning. Though lasting just a few seconds, there was no reaction more immediate than that of city residents, who ran out into the streets partially clothed. Thousands must have searched the term to find out what was happening, and also after many of the hundreds of aftershocks that have followed.

Here's the list of biggest Croatia Google search terms in 2020

The most-popular Croatia Google search terms in 2020

1. Koronavirus
2. Google Classroom
3. Office 365 za škole
4. Potres Zagreb (Earthquake Zagreb)
5. Kobe Bryant
6. ePropusnica
7. Izbori SAD (US elections)
8. DIP
9. Joe Biden
10. Masoni (Masons)

The most-popular Croatia Google search apps in 2020

1. ePropusnice
2. Zoom
3. Andrija

The most-popular Croatia Google search events in 2020

1. Potres (Earthquake)
2. Izbori SAD (US elections)
3. Izbori (elections) 

Aside from the inclusion of the Masons (freemasons), the list is understandable on an international level. It perhaps tells us something about how Croatians use the search engine and how well they respect it as a source for delivering credible information. With Coronavirus vaccines now announced and, all hope, the biggest potential earthquake out of the way, for now, it's understandable for most Croatians to be looking forward to the return of more trivial matters dominating their Google searches in 2021.

September 18, 2020 - A look at historic search history in Croatia through Google Trends, with some rather surprising findings. 

I must say that I am more than a little surprised. 

With the huge rise in tourism numbers over the last few years, I was curious to see how that interest in Croatia was reflected in people's Internet searching habits. And if we are looking for data, there is no better place than the Google god, and its rather useful Google Trends tool in particular. 

Google Trends has information on search data dating back to 2004 (just in case you were wondering when people started taking an interest in your online habits), some 16 years ago. It is a very useful tool to track interest in a certain topic, and so, just for fun, I entered the keyword 'Croatia' into the system. 

No prizes for guessing what the big spike is in July, 2018... the World Cup in Russia of course, a time when Brand Croatia was one of the hottest things on the planet due to the marvellous performances of the team on the pitch and the fans off it, as well as THAT shirt. Croatia was HOT, and never was there such global interest in the tiny country which dared to dream. 

I have written about Google Trends before, and the spikes every two years reflect Croatia's participation and success in the Euros or World Cup, but the first major surprise for me was that it seems that - football aside - search interest in Croatia was bigger back in 2004 than it is today. 

And then an even bigger surprise.

Google Trends stores information on different sections of interest - this is how search interest in Croatia looks over time for travel since 2004. Apart from the brief (and it was brief) tourism interest dividend after the World Cup, it seems that interest in Croatian travel has been declining over the years. If the source was not the Google god, I would be a little skeptical of the data. 

 Some individual country charts of overall interest - the UK for travel.

 And the UK in general. 

The United States.

 I was expecting a large increase in interest from countries such as Norway, which has discovered Croatia in a big way in the last few years... but not really.

 Not all the trends were downward. German interest in Croatia peaked to its highest ever level after the World Cup.

Although, and again surprisingly... 

That surge of interest was not reflected in travel. 

Surprising trends. Feel free to play with the tool yourself here.

There are lessons to be learned in there somewhere, and one of them is not a surprise at all. Football sells, and there is perhaps no better medium to get widespread global exposure. Just ask Rwanda. Despite never having been to the World Cup or had a player play in the Premier League, the Visit Rwanda logo is seen 35 million times a day on Arsenal shirts around the world. Learn more in Lessons from Rwanda: Promoting Tourism Through Football, African-Style.