Travel Agencies Brought 2.2 Million Foreign Tourists to Croatia in 2017

Travel agencies brought nearly 2.2 million foreign tourists to Croatia for multiple days in 2017, which is 9 percent more than in 2016, while at the same time, they took nearly 580 thousand domestic travelers on multi-day trips within Croatia and abroad, which is 5.2 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

Foreign tourists who came to Croatia for multiple days through domestic travel agencies last year achieved 13.6 million overnight stays, which is 7 percent more than in 2016, with the highest number of ‘organized’ overnight stays, 3.7 million, being recorded by tourists from Germany, marking a 7 percent increase.

In second place regarding the use of services from domestic travel agencies last year were tourists from the United Kingdom (UK), who achieved 1.6 million overnight stays, or 15 percent more than in 2016.

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With 899.8 thousand overnight stays or 11.4 percent more, Poles follow. Austrians, on the other hand, achieved 794 thousand overnight stays through domestic agencies in Croatia, which is 1.1 percent less than in 2016, while Italians experienced a significant drop in overnight stays through agencies, by 11.4 percent, achieving 776.3 thousand overnight stays.

On the other hand, the countries from which the highest increases in tourist arrivals through Croatian agencies were recorded, above 20 percent compared to 2016, are the Scandinavian countries, the USA, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Greece, from where the highest increase in tourist arrivals through agencies was recorded, by as much as 110 percent, albeit from a small base, meaning that just over 1,600 came last year.

Domestic travelers through agencies achieved the most overnight stays in Croatia, but less than in 2016.

Domestic tourists who traveled for more days within Croatia and abroad through domestic agencies in 2017 achieved a total of 2.3 million overnight stays, or 6 percent more than in 2016, with approximately the same number of overnight stays achieved both in Croatia and in foreign countries.

While in Croatia, domestic travelers organized by agencies recorded 3 percent fewer overnight stays than in 2016, or 1.2 million, and 4 percent fewer of them used agency services, totaling 292.2 thousand, in foreign countries they achieved 17 percent more overnight stays through agencies, or 1.1 million.

After Croatia, domestic travelers achieved the most overnight stays, 152.5 thousand, through domestic agencies in Italy last year, which is 1.1 percent more than in 2016, followed by the Czech Republic with 78 thousand overnight stays or 5 percent more.

Austria follows, where domestic travelers through domestic agencies achieved just over 77 thousand overnight stays in 2017, but that is a decrease of 29.1 percent compared to 2016, while Spain ranks fifth with 71 thousand overnight stays or 12.4 percent more.

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Among the countries where domestic tourists achieved the highest increases in overnight stays through domestic agencies in 2017, above 50 percent, are Belgium, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA, Canada, Egypt, Japan, China, and Tunisia, but all from small ‘bases’, while the most significant increase in overnight stays was recorded in Ukraine, by as much as 781 percent, although with only 960 overnight stays.

Domestic tourists increasingly traveled through agencies in 2017 for one-day trips or excursions within Croatia and abroad, totaling 306 thousand or 5 percent more than in 2016, with the majority, 224.5 thousand or 2.2 percent more, going on excursions within Croatia, and 81.2 thousand or 13 percent more to foreign countries.

For one day, domestic agencies last year took domestic travelers mostly to Austria, Italy, and Slovenia, where, as well as in several other countries, more domestic travelers went than in 2016.

According to DZS data, there were 1,061 travel agencies and their branches in Croatia last year, employing a total of 4,924 people as of August 31, 2017, of which about 3,000 were permanent employees.

When these data are compared with DZS data for 2016, in 2017 there were 12 more travel agencies that organized trips for domestic and foreign tourists, the total number of employees was higher by 121, and the number of permanent employees was higher by 77.