March the 30th, 2022 - Zagreb overnight stays have been very impressive over the Festival of Lights period, with 23,000 of them having been realised in the capital.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to the Zagreb Tourist Board (TZGZ), during the Zagreb Light Festival, arrivals increased by 179 percent, while the number of Zagreb overnight stays increased by 117 percent when compared to the same period last year.

As such, during the fourth edition of the Festival of Lights, in the period from the 16th to the 20th of March, 10,876 arrivals and 23,072 Zagreb overnight stays were registered. Most arrivals were from people coming from other parts of Croatia, followed by those from neighbouring Slovenia, Italy, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, and as far as Zagreb overnight stays were concerned, most guests were also from other parts of Croatia, followed by visitors from Italy, Germany, the USA, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia.

"We're very pleased with the results achieved, the interest and especially the comments on the organisation of this year's edition of the Zagreb Light Festival.

We also received the preliminary results from our online promotional campaigns which took place on the markets of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia and Serbia, according to which the festival's ads racked up more than 43 million views. Our advertorials have been read more than 76,000 times, and the leading markets are Slovenia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During these continued uncertain and difficult times, it was a real challenge to organise the Zagreb Festival of Lights, so I'd once again like to thank all of the partners and institutions that helped us in its realisation. Thank you to those of you who live here and thank you to our visitors for all the words of support and praise, and I'd like to especially thank the residents of Lower and Upper Town (Donji and Gornji grad) for their understanding for the occasional crowds that were created,'' said Martina Bienefeld, the director of TZGZ.

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February the 11th, 2022 - Zagreb tourism numbers appear to be on the rise as the world slowly begins to emerge from the global coronavirus pandemic. 2022's maiden month of January has shown some encouraging growth in terms of overnight stays for the Croatian capital.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to the Zagreb Tourist Board (TZGZ), the Croatian capital recorded an extremely impressive 174 percent more arrivals and 133 percent more overnight stays during the month of January than it did back in January 2021, which was heavily dominated by a poor epidemiological situation across Europe owing to the emergence of the Delta variant, as well as by lockdowns and harsh restrictions across the continent as a result.

A total of 42,456 arrivals and 106,093 overnight stays were registered, and, in addition to domestic guests, most overnight stays which have contributed to these promising Zagreb tourism numbers were realised by guests from Russia, Italy, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United States of America.

On that occasion, Martina Bienenfeld, the director of the Zagreb Tourist Board, said: "We're pleased with the statistics that we're closely monitoring because they show the trend of recovery of Zagreb tourism. Regarding the arrival of Russian guests who were the most numerous foreign guests in Zagreb in November and December last year and, now, in January, there is very good feedback from the field. Namely, by the airline Aeroflot and the travel agency Atlantis, which mostly bring Russian guests as part of arrangements related to coronavirus vaccination, everyone is very pleased with our hospitality, they have great first impressions and plans to come again in the summer. We're additionally pleased with the fact that, compared to January 2019, we are at 90 percent of that year's overnight stays, and the average stay has been extended to 2.5 nights. If the situation with the pandemic continues the current trend of gradual calming down, I expect a further increase in Zagreb tourism numbers in the coming months.''

It's also worth pointing out that in January there were 32,702 overnight stays realised by Croatian tourists from other part of the country, which is an increase of 62 percent when compared to January last year, and foreign guests realised 73,391 overnight stays, marking a very significant increase of 190 percent. Out of the total number of arrivals, domestic tourists made up 14,972 (79 percent growth) and foreign guests made up 27,484 (286 percent growth).

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