French and Dutch tourists are increasingly making their way to Croatia throughout the year.
In 2018, 592,000 arrivals and more than 2.2 million overnight stays were recorded by the French market, which is an increase of 8 percent compared to 2017, reports HRTurizam on February 14, 2019.
"We are extremely pleased that the arrivals and overnight stays have increased in the pre and post-season periods, and that the French are increasingly coming to regions where there have not been many guests so far, osuch as Kvarner, Zagreb, Istria or Slavonia. All of this is the result of expanding the production of existing tour operators, but also opening Croatia as a completely new destination for some of the new French travel organizers. According to the information we receive from regular meetings with tour operators, the forecasts for the 2019 season are good and good sales trends should continue in this year,” said Danijela Mihalić Đurica, Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board representative office in France, as part of the 37th edition of the specialized fair Les Thermalies, which took place in Paris, where the Croatian tourist offer featured its potential in the health and SPA segment.
Six new lines have also been announced from France to Croatia for 2019. Namely, Volotea will operate from Lyon to Dubrovnik and Split, Marseille to Rijeka and Bordeaux to Pula. Air France, with an increase in flights to Dubrovnik by as much as 150 percent compared to 2018, announced a new direct line for Split from Paris, and EasyJet has announced a direct line from Nantes to Dubrovnik.
New flights have also been announced from the Dutch market.
In 2018, almost half a million arrivals and more than 3 million overnight stays were realized by the Dutch market, and compared to the same period in 2017, the arrivals of Dutch guests increased by 9 percent, while overnights grew at a rate of 5 percent.
By introducing new flights to Zadar beginning in April this year, there will be direct lines from the Netherlands in 2019. Extending the Transavia flight from Eindhoven to Rijeka throughout the summer season (April - October) in 2019 will also contribute to the seamless and faster arrival of guests in search of health services in Kvarner.
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