August the 16th, 2022 - The Pula tourism structure has changed somewhat, with the scene currently being dominated by much younger tourists than back during previous years.

As Morski writes, on the gorgeous Istria peninsula, the number of tourists this weekend exceeded a very impressive 300,000. Although the Istrian peninsula is mainly oriented towards family tourism, the number of younger guests, aged 18 to 30, is now increasing. Pula tourism is based precisely on the "city break" category, that is, it has become a destination for more frequent and shorter stays.

''In Italy, accommodation is way too expensive, here we found a house at a good price. We just arrived, we saw some beautiful beaches, the city is beautiful,'' said visitor Mateo.

''If we compare what we've currently got with 2019, which was the last pre-pandemic year, we see that we have a few percent more young people making up the Pula tourism picture, which if we look at July and August - when the numbers of people in the city are higher - it isn't a negligible percentage,'' pointed out Sanja Cinkopan Korotaj, the director of the Pula Tourist Board.

Manifestations and events that have never been seen before are not negligible either. Music week, wine city, and now a burger fest with a series of concerts in the Arena and on city squares are drawing more and more visitors to this Istrian city, and the bars, restaurants and cafes are full.

There are 25 thousand guests currently staying in the City of Pula. Private accommodation units are now sold out, and young people have started to fill the city's numerous hotels as well.

''We decided to stop in Pula on our visit to Croatia because we had heard only the very best things about the city. We visited many places there, and the beaches are beautiful,'' said Camilla.

This new structure of guests making up Pula tourism's picture, with a significantly higher proportion of young people, also increases costs for hoteliers, they say.

''Because they stay in one destination for a shorter period of, they want to see as much as possible in the shortest possible time, so in a way we're reduced to a type of station tourism. Because we have to change everything every day, bedding and everything, this creates additional costs for us,'' emphasised Deniz Zembo, a hotel owner from Pula.

Recently, hostels have also started to spring up, now there are about 20 of them in the city and they are getting better every year.

''We are talking about a lot of young guests who came of age during the coronavirus pandemic, they couldn't travel, and we are also talking about guests who are starting families and who will come to Pula with their families,'' added Boris Zgomba, the president of the Association of Travel Agencies within the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).

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

August the 5th, 2022 - Porec tourism is absolutely booming, with 2 million overnight stays having been achieved earlier than last year. While Istria has always been popular, this charming coastal city on the Istrian peninsula is making a massive name for itself and seeing this gorgeous part of Croatia emerge from the shadow of Dalmatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, this tourist season is seeing the entire country make a huge tourism comeback, recording better and better results. Porec tourism is doing excellently. This Istrian city is one of the country's most visited destinations and it has achieved two million overnight stays an entire month earlier than it did last year. Everyone hopes that the continuation of the summer season will remain as it is now, as reported by HRT.

"Porec tourism achieved a record three and a half million overnight stays back in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, and this year it seems as if the same is absolutely achievable," said Nenad Velenik, the Porec Tourist Board's director. He emphasised that Porec has defined itself as a 4 to 5 star destination, about 80 percent of the accommodation capacities are of this type and they fill up first. He added that earnings from tourism will be better than they were back in 2019, given that the tourist tax has increased.

Two million overnight stays in the City of Porec have been achieved earlier this year than they were last year, when the same figure was only achieved at the end of August, which speaks volumes about just how successful this season has been and continues to be. It should be added that on August the 3rd of the record year 2019, that same number of two million overnight stays was reached.

Currently, 30,000 tourists are staying in Porec, and they are accommodated primarily in hotel accommodation, then in campsites, and then in private accommodation. The most frequent guests are Germans, followed by Austrians, Slovenians, Croats, Italians, and in sixth place are guests from the Czech Republic.

"We've come to 2019's level, the index is at 100. When we look at the fact that we have 700 beds less in our destination due to work on accommodation facilities, then we can really be satisfied with all of this. The result of all this is sport tourism. We combined public and private, tourism and sport and in this way extended the season,'' said the mayor of Porec, Loris Persuric.

"We encourage content in the pre-season and post-season where we still have opportunities for growth and development. This tourist season has shown that we definitely do have that potential. Back during the pre-season, we achieved a 30 percent better result than we did back in 2019," said Nenad Velnik.

With Porec tourism booming, they don't plan to stop there. Investments will continue to be made in the city's infrastructure and cultural heritage. In Porec, they expect a good continuation of this situation throughout the month of August, and the announcements are excellent for the postseason as well.

For more, 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 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.