Almost every second family renter in Croatia lives off tourism, one third uses this income to raise their standard of living, and approximately one fifth uses it to cover investments or savings. This is shown by an analysis from the Institute for Tourism for HTZ, which reveals who the small Croatian renters are and what they actually live on.
Namely, for 14 percent of renters, income from tourism is the main source of income, while for 37 percent it is crucial for covering living expenses. A further 31 percent improves their standard of living with this income.
– For 11 percent of renters, the income is used to cover investments in the purchase or construction of accommodation facilities, while for seven percent it represents savings – they state from HTZ.
The analysis also reveals how many of them live in the same county where their property is located, so most will be able to obtain the designation of local host (except for those whose properties are located in residential or commercial buildings), as well as how many live in a house of which they rent out a part, thus not having to pay property tax.
In the first group, there are 74 percent of renters, while only 38 percent have residence in the property they rent to tourists. Thus, 26 percent of renters live and work in another part of Croatia. One in twenty renters is a foreigner.
Only 8.7 percent of renters have two or more properties, while the rest have one. One reason for such a structure may be the fact that, for tax reasons, or to avoid the threshold of 60,000 euros in annual income, some register apartments under multiple family members.
However, the analysis does not reveal the age structure of private renters, nor how many are retired and how many are employed. Seasonality remains pronounced in Adriatic Croatia: almost all properties are on the market from June to September, and outside the peak season, the most are open in May (81 percent) and October (68 percent). In continental regions, the picture is different – most properties operate year-round, indicating a different mix of travel motives and demand structure.
This analysis also provides a clearer picture of how much of the family accommodation truly supports household budgets and local communities, and how much falls into the realm of renting and pure investment business. It is likely that it served the government as a basis for shaping tax and legal changes last year, which sparked much debate in the public space.
However, while in recent months the greatest attention has been focused on family accommodation, the government has yet to seriously tackle the growing segment of non-commercial accommodation, or accommodation without charge, which is increasingly becoming unfair competition to family-run businesses. In this category, 28 percent of properties are now owned by foreigners.
