Croatian motorways saw fewer cars over the last week compared to the same period last year, and HAC and ARZ recorded lower toll revenues.
According to the data of the concessionaires Croatian Motorways (HAC) and Rijeka-Zagreb Motorway (ARZ), a total of 793,600 vehicles were recorded from the weekend of July 12 to 14, which is 2 percent or about 27,000 cars fewer than the same weekend last summer, reports Poslovni.hr and RTL on July 15, 2019.
The tolls also collected 3.1 percent less in revenues or 44.4 million kuna without VAT.
Over the past week, from July 8 to 14, the motorways of HAC and ARZ also saw slightly fewer cars than last year - 1.6 million or 0.1 percent less, while toll revenues from the total of almost 90 million kuna excluding VAT are down by 1.2 percent.
On Istrian motorways, according to data from the company Bina-Istra, last weekend also saw 1.2 percent less traffic with 150,400 vehicles, which is about two thousand less than the previous year.
Furthermore, only on Saturday, July 13, Bina-Istra recorded nearly 6 percent fewer vehicles than the comparable day of last year.
Fewer vehicles have also been reported by the Zagreb-Macelj Motorway (AZM), which recorded fewer cars, or a total of 110,800 each day, which is down 4 percent or about 5,000 cars fewer than the same weekend in 2018.
Judging by the first half of July, this tourist season could halt the continuation of record-breaking seasons. In the first 12 days of July, 100,000 fewer tourists visited Croatia than in the same period last year, RTL reported.
While the only exception is Split, which has recorded an increased number of arrivals, the rest of the coast is looking for reasons why the season is weaker.
According to data from eVisitor on the first 12 days of July, there were almost 100,000 fewer tourists who realized half a million overnights fewer than in the same period last year.
In the first weekend of July, more than 730,000 vehicles went through Croatian motorways which paid 39,650,000 kuna in tolls. Compared to 2018, this was an increase in the number of vehicles by 1.3 percent, however, toll revenues fell by 1.5 percent.
“On Sunday until 18:00, the Lučko toll station welcomed 31,000 vehicles, and employees counted 11,000 at the exit. It is far from those daily average traffic numbers in the past years when Lučko saw more than 60,000 vehicles per day The current situation also confirms this: At the exit of the Lučko toll station there are no crowds, no traffic,” said RTL reporter Ilija Radić on Sunday.
Radić explained that a similar situation could be found at the entrance to the highway. HAK claimed that the traffic was intensified in the direction of the sea, and the direction of the mainland for all of Sunday. However, longer stops, bigger crowds, and more traffic couldn’t be found.
“If it is to be judged accordingly and to all of the above, we can conclude that the season is not what it is has been the previous two or three years. There is about a month, or a month and a half of the peak season that may be able to fix the situation and maybe we can reach the figures from the past,” Radić concluded on Sunday.
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