Negative Trend of Cruise Travel in the Adriatic – Fewer Ships, Fewer Passengers, Shorter Stays

The number of cruise trips by foreign ships in the Croatian Adriatic in July was 7.5 percent lower than in the same month last year, while for the seven-month period, it was 15.2 percent lower, continuing this year’s negative trend of such travel, according to data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.

According to DZS data, there were 99 cruise trips in July, and 335 over the seven-month period, with fewer passengers arriving in Croatia on these ships than in the same period last year.

In the seven months, 335 cruise trips by foreign ships in the Adriatic means 60 fewer trips than in the same seven months last year, while the number of passengers on them decreased by 13.1 percent or 467 thousand.

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During this period, the ships also spent less time in the Adriatic, with a total of 737 days of their stay recorded, which is almost 20 percent fewer days than last year.

The ships arriving for these trips to Croatia were flying flags from a total of 11 countries worldwide, but as in previous years, the majority in the seven months, 81, were under the Bahamian flag, followed by 79 from Malta, while fewer than 50 cruise ships from other countries arrived in the Adriatic.

As usual, the ships most frequently visited Dubrovnik, whose port recorded 267 cruise visits in seven months, followed by Split with 107 and Korčula with 69, and then Zadar, Hvar, Šibenik, Rovinj, and others.

When observed by month this year, only in February were there more cruise trips by foreign ships than in the same month last year, 14.3 percent more, but from a small base with only eight such trips; in January, the number of trips was the same as last year, four, while in all other months, there were fewer trips than last year, which has not happened in the last few years.

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The largest decline in the number of such trips this year was recorded in May, a month when there are usually many such trips, when there were 77 trips, which is 24 or 23 percent fewer than in May last year.

Some analysts who monitor passenger and general traffic in seaports partially associate the decline in cruise arrivals in the Croatian Adriatic with this year’s decision by Venice to limit the number of visitors to that Italian city, considering that foreign media reported when this decision was announced (in April this year) that it could affect the limitation of the number of cruise ships visiting Venice, but also fewer of these ships in the entire Adriatic Sea, including Croatia and Montenegro.

From Croatian Adriatic ports, in response to Hina’s inquiry in May, they stated that they do not believe that Venice’s decision will significantly affect the number of cruise arrivals in Croatian ports.