In the first nine months, Croatia was visited by 9.8 million tourists

In Croatian tourism, positive trends continued in September as in the main part of the season, so despite relatively poor weather conditions, there was an increase in tourist arrivals of three percent and overnight stays of six percent compared to last September, emphasized today in Zabok by the Minister of Tourism Damir Bajs.

At a press conference at the Gjalski Castle Hotel, the minister, along with his associates and representatives of the city of Zabok and the Krapina-Zagorje County, presented the first data for September and the first nine months of this year from the tourist boards, which relate to the Croatian Adriatic and the city of Zagreb. According to this data, in September, 1.1 million tourists stayed in Croatia, achieving 6.6 million overnight stays, which represents an increase of three and six percent compared to last September, while in the first nine months of this year, 9.8 million tourists visited Croatia – or three percent more compared to the same period last year. Also, in the first nine months of this year, a total of 59 million overnight stays were recorded, which is an increase of six percent compared to the first nine months of 2009. The best results on the Adriatic were achieved by Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, and Split-Dalmatia counties.

Among foreign markets, Minister Bajs highlighted the increase in arrivals of guests from Germany, Poland, Spain, Slovenia, Austria, and the Czech Republic, while declines continued from Italy. The good results in September are the result of joint advertising with tour operators and the commitment of all tourism workers, who approached this season cautiously, did not relax, and are working at maximum capacity, emphasized Minister Bajs. Croatia is already actively preparing for 2011. Thus, the tourism measures for the next season will be completed and presented among the first of competing countries before the largest world tourism fair in London at the beginning of November, in order to be able to “fight with the competition”, added. In response to a journalist’s question about tourism revenues this year, Minister Bajs stated that the figures on physical tourist traffic (arrivals and overnight stays) are the best so far in Croatian tourism, and that it would be good if the financial figures (revenue) were similar.

For next year, the goal of Croatian tourism will be to maintain Croatia’s share in European tourism at just over two percent, and to bring back domestic guests, for which special measures are being prepared for 2011. Minister Bajs also emphasized that it is important to develop continental tourism, for which there is increasing interest and great potential to increase the current share of five percent in total Croatian tourism. In this regard, he stated that castles are a significant tourist potential and that it would be good to utilize them for tourism offerings as they would remain protected (cultural monuments) while simultaneously becoming commercial.