From disaster to yet another brilliant result – this is how the evaluations of the tourist season look, around whose success swords have been crossed in recent years. Controversy has not been absent this year either. The catastrophic evaluations are, of course, attributed to the media, which always and in everything see only darkness, as claimed by numerous advocates of the misguided premise ‘the media must focus only on the positive’. On the other hand, a part of economic analysts, who base their thoughts solely on statistics, persistently repeats that everything is excellent, sometimes interpreting them without contact with the real world.
As always, statistics provide a basis for both camps. Those who view domestic tourism through rose-colored glasses refer to data from the eVisitor system, which shows that in the first seven months of this year, three percent more tourists arrived in Croatian resorts than in the same period last year. This influx of tourists achieved one percent more overnight stays than from January to July 2023. On the other hand, the ‘scoopers‘ – as the opposing camp is derisively called because they are horrified by the expensive ice cream scoops – point to the data for July, during which 144 thousand fewer tourists arrived. The largest decline was recorded in Istria and Kvarner, which is explained by a greater absence of traditional guests in that area, Germans (eight percent fewer overnight stays) and Italians (seven percent fewer). Although almost 150 thousand fewer tourists sounds alarming, it is a decline of only three percent compared to last July.
As you sow, so shall you reap
No matter how many tourists arrived, certain segments of the domestic economy reliant on this branch, which unfortunately means too much to us, did not benefit equally from them. So, who are the losers and who are the winners of this year’s tourist season? And what do people on the ground say about it, not just dry data? Within the tourism industry, we could already declare hotels as winners. After a very good pre-season, quality results were also achieved at the peak of the season, and facilities that are continuously invested in, especially those of high category, record high occupancy, emphasizes the director of the Croatian Tourism Association (HUT) Veljko Ostojić.
– Five-star hotels were 96 percent full at the peak of the season, five-star camps 100 percent, and four-star hotels 93 percent. Business challenges are faced by lower-category facilities, especially those with two stars, which are trying to achieve prices that the market clearly does not accept due to inflationary costs – states this tourism worker with many years of experience and former Minister of Tourism in the government of Zoran Milanović. Since 2024 is the first year of the ‘reality of Croatian tourism’, after two previous brilliant seasons on the wings of stronger demand for Croatia during the ‘COVID years’, the saying ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’ can now be applied, adds Ostojić.
