By the end of November 2023, the total tourist arrivals in Croatia amounted to 375.1k, representing a growth of 13% YoY. Furthermore, total tourist nights amounted to 941k, growing by 2% YoY. Meanwhile, if we were to compare the numbers to 2019, the total arrivals are 6% lower than that period, while total nights are 8% lower. Lastly, on a YTD basis compared to 2019, both the total tourist arrivals and nights were 1% lower.
The Croatian Tourism Board, HTZ, has recently published its latest report on the changes recorded by Croatian tourism, for November 2023. In the report, we can see that the total number of tourist arrivals amounted to 375k, growing by 13% YoY. Of this, foreign tourist arrivals amounted to 217.9k, increasing by 16%, while domestic tourist arrivals amounted to 157k, also increasing by 11% YoY.
Moving on to the tourist nights, in total they amounted to 941k, growing by 2% YoY. This growth was driven by domestic tourist nights only, which grew by 7% and amounted to 314k, while foreign tourist nights remained flat YoY, amounting to 314k. Of course, November is way past the summer season and even post-season of the Croatian tourism, so massive changes aren’t expected here. In terms of the average stay per person, in November it amounted to 2.51 tourist nights, representing a 10.5% decrease YoY.
Total tourist arrivals and tourist nights in Croatia (January 2019 – November 2023)
Source: HTZ, InterCapital Research
Taking a look at the tourist nights by the type of accommodation, 91% of the tourist nights were recorded in commercial accommodation, 8% in non-commercial accommodation, and 1% went to the nautical charter. Breaking the commercial accommodation down further, 62% of the total went to hotels, 22% to private accommodation, 4% to camps, while the remaining 12% went to other types of accommodation. Meanwhile, the largest number of tourist nights was recorded by domestic tourists, at 33% of the total, followed by Slovenia at 9%, Germany and Austria, both at 7%, respectively, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, at 6%.
In terms of the best-performing counties, Grad Zagreb recorded 170.4k tourist nights, followed by Istra at 149k, Kvarner at 148k, Splitsko-dalmatinska at 85k, and Zadarska, at 58.7k. Turning our attention to the performance compared to 2019, November 2023 recorded 6% fewer tourist arrivals compared to the same period in 2019, driven by a 16% decline in foreign tourist arrivals, while domestic tourist arrivals grew by 15%. Total tourist nights also declined, decreasing by 8%, driven by both a decline in foreign and domestic tourist nights, which decreased by 3% and 15%, respectively.
Finally, on a YTD basis compared to 2019, total arrivals are still 1% lower, due to a 3% lower number of foreign tourist arrivals, while domestic arrivals are 16% higher. A similar story is present with the tourist nights, which are 1% lower than in 2019, driven by a 6% decline in domestic tourist nights, while foreign tourist nights remained the same.
