According to the data of the eVisitor system, which contains the tourist traffic from commercial and non-commercial facilities and nautical charter (the eCrew system), 217,000 arrivals (+20%) and 612,000 overnight stays (+17%) were made. From these figures, 126,000 arrivals (+22%) and 377,000 overnights stays (+21%) were made by foreign tourists, whilst there were also increases in domestic tourist arrivals (+17%) and overnight stays (+12%).
In 2017 102 million overnight stays were made
The good results in January were the consequence of the robust promotion of the pre-season and the varied tourist offers with the emphasis on events. “The Croatian National Tourist Board is continuously running marketing campaigns which are aimed at positioning Croatia as a year-round destination. A winter brand campaign was successfully conducted, and soon we will start with the implementation of a promotional campaign on markets throughout the world for the pre-season which will be active until the end of March. Events such as the Snow Queen Trophy on Sljeme and the European Handball Championship held in four Croatian cities had a positive effect on the tourist traffic in January", said Director Staničić, announcing the forthcoming launch of the Croatian National Tourist Board's programme for the allocation of support for events.
“The continuation of double-figure growth of tourist traffic at the beginning of this year is the best indicator of how various events, from sporting events to the many new offers, are positively influencing the development of tourism in Croatia. Today’s guests coming to Croatia are looking for a varied offer and features, and this is precisely what our activities and programmes continue to focus on. I believe that 2018 will be successful tourist-wise not only through the growth of the tourist offer but also through the greater step towards the better positioning of Croatia as a year-round destination”, detailed Minister Cappelli.
The largest number of overnight stays in January was made in Zagreb
Observing the tourist traffic by counties, the largest number of overnight stays was achieved in Zagreb (143,000 stays), followed by Istria (107,000 stays) and then Kvarner (80,000 stays). In Split-Dalmatia County 62,000 overnight stays were made, in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County 46,000, Zadar County 25,000 stays, Šibenik-Knin County 14,000 and in Lika-Senj County 10,000 overnight stays. In the continental region, not including the city of Zagreb, 124,000 overnight stays were made, and most of them were in Krapina-Zagorje, Međimurje and Varaždin counties. Looking by destinations, in January, apart from the city of Zagreb, most of the overnights were made in Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Split, Opatija and Poreč.
In January the most overnight stays were made by tourists from the markets of Bosnia and Herzegovina (60,000 overnight stays), Germany (36,000 overnight stays), Italy (34,000 overnight stays), Slovenia (34,000 overnight stays), and Austria (30,000 overnight stays), whereas looking by the structure of the accommodation most of the overnights stays were in hotels (359,000 overnight stays) and private accommodation (124,000 overnight stays).