Data from the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Central Bureau of Statistics differ substantially.
According to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (DZS), the 1.5 percent decline in the number of tourist overnight stays in June this year, compared to the same period last year, was primarily due to the lower number of arrivals of tourists from Germany, Austria and Italy, reports Jutarnji List on August 12, 2018.
The largest decline, as much as 27.6%, was recorded by the German tourists. There was also 6% fewer Austrian and 4% Italian tourists.
“Due to the changes in the timing of religious holidays, which this year moved from June to May, there was a slight decline in the number of arrivals from the German market and the Austrian market, in which the religious festivities are bank holidays and are often used by people for travel,” said the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ).
Consultant Boris Žgomba mostly agreed with such an assessment, pointing out that the total number of arrivals in June was higher, but that the number of overnight stays fell. “This difference between arrivals and overnight stays in June suggests that religious holidays had a significant impact on the behaviour of foreign guests, who simply stayed fewer nights than last year because the schedule of holidays was unfavourable. Therefore, all those who are familiar with tourism were not surprised by the DZS data,” said Žgomba. He also added that June is not the most suitable month for comprehensive assessments of tourism trends and that we should wait for data for July and August.
Another issue is the difference between data published by the Croatian National Tourist Board, more specifically its eVisitor registration system, and the DZS statistics.
According to eVisitor, the decline in the number of the overnight stays in commercial accommodation units in June was 0.86 percent, about half of the decline from the DZS findings. “The statistics of the Croatian National Tourist Board’s eVisitor system and the statistics published by the DZS are not directly comparable because our numbers include commercial accommodation, nautical charters and non-commercial accommodation, while the DZS covers only commercial accommodation. When considering the total tourist traffic, not just commercial but also the results achieved in the nautical charter and the non-commercial accommodation sectors, the number of overnight stays in June grew by 0.6 percent, and the number of arrivals by four percent,” explained the HTZ.
In general, both statistics demonstrate there was an increase in the number of tourist arrivals in June. According to the DZS, there were 2.6 million tourist arrivals, while the eVisitor system showed 2.82 million arrivals. In the first six months of the year, there were six million arrivals and 22 million overnight stays, which is 12 and 9 percent higher than last year.
Foreign tourists' arrivals in June were also higher, according to both the DZS and eVisitor, ranging between 2.4 million (DZS) and 2.54 million. The number of overnight stays is between 11.9 million (DZS) and 12.312 million. According to both statistics, the number of arrivals and overnight stays of Croatian tourists increased by between 14 and 15 percent.
According to DZS data, among tourist destinations in June, the first place was won by Rovinj with 589,000 overnight stays, followed by Dubrovnik (570,000), Poreč (462,000) and Medulin (353,000).
Translated from Jutarnji List (reported by Vedran Marjanović).
