Recently, the Croatian Tourism Board, HTZ, has released its latest report on Croatian tourism, for February 2024. According to the report, the total number of arrivals in February amounted to 321.3k, growing by 16% YoY, and 17% compared to 2019. At the same time, the total number of tourist nights amounted to 826k, growing by 9% YoY, and 23% compared to 2019.
The latest release by the Croatian Tourism Board, on the performance of the sector in February 2024 is showing us that there are some positive signs happening. Even though February does not play a major role in the overall tourism of the country, as that is mostly relegated to the several months surrounding the summer season, improvements in the number of arrivals and nights are still a positive development.
Accordingly, the number of tourist arrivals in February 2024 amounted to 321k, growing by 16% YoY. Of this, foreign arrivals amounted to 175k, increasing by 19% YoY, while domestic arrivals amounted to 146k, growing by 11%. Meanwhile, total tourist nights amounted to 826k, growing by 9% YoY. Of this, foreign tourist nights grew by 9%, while domestic tourist nights increased by 10% YoY. Furthermore, comparing the number to 2019, total arrivals grew by 17%, supported by a 48% increase in domestic arrivals, while foreign arrivals decreased slightly (-1%). Also, total tourist nights grew by 23% compared to 2019, with a 35% and 18% increase in domestic and foreign tourist nights, respectively.
Total tourist arrivals and tourist nights in Croatia (January 2019 – February 2024)
Source: HTZ, InterCapital Research
This would also mean that the average stay per person decreased by 5.7% YoY, to 2.57 nights, but grew by 6% compared to 2019. In terms of the tourist nights by the types of accommodation, 92% of nights were recorded in commercial, while 8% in non-commercial accommodation units. In terms of the overall numbers, 57% of nights were recorded in hotels, 21% in private accommodation, 3% in camps, and 10% in other types of accommodation.
Looking at the tourist nights by their country of origin, 38% were domestic tourists, 12% came from Slovenia, 7% from Bosnia & Herzegovina, 6% from Austria, and 5% from Germany. In terms of the best-performing counties, Istra recorded 190k tourist nights, followed by Kvarner at 142.9k, Grad Zagreb at 132.9k, Splitsko-dalmatinska at 87.8k, and Dubrovačko-neretvanska at 54.2k.
Overall, February saw an improvement in the tourist numbers, both in terms of arrivals and nights, and both on a YoY basis and compared to 2019. February represents the off-season for Croatian tourism. Furthermore, the largest share of arrivals/nights came from domestic tourists, and as the numbers are small compared to the main season, the growth in absolute terms isn’t as large. As such, further investments, and improvements to the regulatory environment and strategic direction (e.g. the Government’s tourism strategy) would be necessary to stimulate the growth of the sector outside the main season, leading to the goal of diversification.
