One week into July and the numbers are on the rise.
On Saturday, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli announced that the number of visitors to Croatia in the first six months of 2017 increased between 22-23% compared to the same period last year, revealed the Ministry of Tourism on July 8, 2017.
In the first eight days of July 2017, the number of arrivals has increased by about 8%, and the number of overnights by 15% when compared to this time last year. During a visit with Nova TV, Cappelli stated that the planned growth for this year is greater than the European average of about 3%.
"We plan to achieve a 10% increase from last year by the end of this year,” Cappelli said, adding that around 800 million EUR is expected as investment in the hotel industry.
"By the end of the year, will be open forty hotels which are all four or five stars. This year, we will have 3,000 new beds in comparison to last year. By the end of 2020, we will build 350-400 hotels, smaller and larger, but all of the highest category,” said Cappelli. He also found that problems with the shortage of tourism workers are intended to be solved in the short-term by an agreement with one of the neighboring states.
"We have managed to find about 1,500 new employees who will work in the tourism industry, but I think that we will take some steps with neighboring countries, perhaps by signing a contract, so we can have a new figure by August 1 to save this tourist year in a short period of time. In the long run, through centers of competence, education and all of the activities we have planned, we will be able to find what Croatian tourism needs. At this time, about 150,000 people work in Croatian tourism. In the following years, increasing all these capacities will require a very high-quality staff. I think that in the next two or three years we will find quality, and we will in the short-term this year,” Cappelli concluded.
