Travellers from the Emirates and the UK are increasingly looking to Croatia as their holiday destination, owing to its Mediterranean setting paired with affordable prices
In the latest Google report on the most popular travel-related queries in the UAE in 2017, Croatia placed among ten most frequent searches this year, reports The National on December 13, 2017.
According to Google data, Croatia ranks 7th on the list of the most popular destinations for travellers from UAE, placing below France, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and closely followed by Armenia, Montenegro and Cambodia.
As stated by The National, the data reflects the travel habits of "the leisure traveller, who is influenced by a combination of global trends, geography and the expansion of networks by the world’s best airlines, which offer a choice of direct routes to all these countries."
Reaching Croatia from UAE became even easier after Emirates launched direct flights to Split via the capital earlier this year, leading to UAE travellers discovering previously overlooked destinations in Dalmatia like Zadar and Šibenik. Naturally, Dubrovnik and Istria remain two champions of tourism where the travel habits of UAE visitors are considered.
Croatia, described as "Italy without the crowds", seems to owe its prestigious reputation among UAE travellers to its geographic position: the Adriatic coast offers the unique opportunity to enjoy an attractive Mediterranean vibe at a reasonable price, the latter being considerably lower than in other countries such as Italy or Spain.
It looks like low prices are one of the main motivators for travellers from all over the world to look to Croatia when deciding on their holiday destination. According to The Independent, TUI Group reported that UK travellers have been changing their habits recently, opting for eastern Europe to cut back on expenses - or, to be more precise, to get the most out of their planned budget.
Fritz Joussen, the chief executive of TUI Group, stated there was no recorded change to the average spend of UK travellers this year, £1000 per capita. However, the leading European travel operator reported they have seen a major shift of British tourists to Croatia and Bulgaria as a result of prices rising in western European countries such as Spain, where hotel prices have significantly spiked in 2017. "If a vacation to some of the destinations is too expensive because costs have increased, the destination will change," Joussen concluded.
