In March 2023, the total number of tourist arrivals amounted to 434.5k, representing an increase of 33% YoY. Meanwhile, total tourist nights amounted to 1.12m, which is an increase of 16% YoY.
Recently, the Croatian Tourist Board published the latest report on the developments in the tourism sector, including data for March 2023. The report shows that the total number of tourist arrivals amounted to 434.5k, which is an increase of 33% YoY. Of this, foreign tourist arrivals amounted to 279.7k, an increase of 40% YoY, while domestic tourist arrivals amounted to 154.8k, representing an increase of 21% YoY.
Moving on to tourist nights, in March 2023 they amounted to 1.12m in total, representing an increase of 16% YoY. Of this, total foreign tourist nights amounted to 790k, an increase of 16% YoY, while domestic tourist arrivals amounted to 331.7k, also an increase of 16% YoY. This would also mean that the average stay per person amounted to 2.58 nights, a decrease of 12.5% YoY.
Total tourist arrivals and tourist nights in Croatia (January 2019 – March 2023)
Source: HTZ, InterCapital Research
Looking at the tourist nights by the type of accommodation, the majority stayed in hotels (62%) followed by private real estate at 22%, 4% in camps, and 12% in other types of accommodation. In terms of the tourist nights by country of origin, the domestic market had the largest share, at 30%, followed by Slovenia at 10%, Germany at 9%, Austria at 7%, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 6%.
Meanwhile, the counties that recorded the most tourist nights are Istra, at 259.1k, Kvarner, at 187.8k, Grad Zagreb, at 160.1k, Splitsko-dalmatinska, at 152.4k, and finally, Dubrovačko-neretvanska, at 108.2k.
The first 3 months of 2023 have gone quite well for the Croatian tourism industry, and given recent forward-looking data such as the booking numbers at various online reservation sites, Croatia stands at the top of the list. This would mean that in the future, more arrivals and nights could be expected. It would seem that the current macroeconomic and geopolitical situation is not affecting the tourists’ sentiment, which for a country like Croatia is really good news. Finally, the inclusion of Croatia into the Schengen and Eurozone areas is also quite supportive of this trend.
