In the latest report on the Croatian tourism performance for May 2024, the total arrivals into Croatia grew by 18% YoY, while total nights increased by 21% YoY. Furthermore, compared to May 2019, total arrivals grew by 23% YoY, while total nights increased by 36% YoY.
May 2024, being the most important month in Croatian tourism pre-season has demonstrated significant improvement. In fact, according to the latest report on Croatian tourism released by the Croatian Tourism Board, HTZ, the total arrivals in May 2024 increased by 18% YoY and amounted to 2m, while total nights grew even more significantly, by 21% to 7.64m. Breaking the arrivals down, total foreign arrivals amounted to 1.72m, growing by 19% YoY, while total nights increased by 12% YoY to 291k.
On the other hand, foreign tourist nights amounted to 6.9m, growing by 23% YoY, while total domestic nights amounted to 712k, increasing by 6% YoY. An increase was also recorded as compared to May 2019, with the total arrivals increasing by 23%, while total nights grew by 36%, supported by higher foreign & domestic arrivals, as well as foreign and domestic nights.
Total tourist arrivals and nights in Croatia (January 2019 – May 2024)
Source: HTZ, InterCapital Research
Due to these positive developments, the average stay per person also increased, growing by 2.8% YoY to 3.79 nights per person. In terms of where these tourists stayed, 91% of the tourist nights were recorded in commercial accommodation, 4% in non-commercial, and 5% in nautical accommodation. Inside the commercial accommodation, 38% of tourist nights were recorded in hotels, 27% in private accommodation, 26% in camps, and 9% in other types of accommodation.
The largest share of tourist nights came from Germany, at 28%, followed by Austria at 11%, Croatia (domestic) at 11%, the UK at 6%, and Slovenia as well as Poland, both at 5%, respectively. The most visited counties meanwhile, were Istra at 2.59m tourist nights, Splitsko-dalmatinska at 1.3m, Kvarner at 1.07m, Dubrovačko-neretvanska at 844k, and Zadarska at 812k.
The data demonstrated by the Croatian Tourist Board for Croatian tourism is quite positive. Double-digit growth numbers, especially in the more important pre-season, main season, and post-season months were quite rare last year (an argument could be made that similar growth was recorded in 2022, but that was more of a recovery following the reopening after COVID-19). Furthermore, growth in foreign arrivals and nights is also extremely positive, especially from Germany, Austria, and other similar Central European countries, which were expected to be hit harder by a recession this year and the last, leading to lower budgets for tourists. If a similar trend continues into the main season, 2024 could finally turn out to be a “record” year, after 2019’s strong performance, and several years of either recovery or stagnation (at least in terms of absolute number of arrivals/nights).
