Slight increase in tourist arrivals, significant rise in overnight stays

The number of tourists who spent their holidays along the Croatian Adriatic coast in July and the first seven months of this year is only slightly higher than in the same period of 2007, but the number of overnight stays is significantly higher, the Croatian Tourism Board (HTZ) said last Thursday.

A total of 2.55 million tourists were vacationing in the coastal area in July, which is half the number of all tourist arrivals in the first seven months and a one percent increase in relation to July last year.

There were 18.1 million overnight stays in the said period, an increase of six percent in relation to 2007.

In the first seven months of this year, 5.55 million tourists visited Adriatic resorts, a two-percent increase in relation to last year. They accounted for 30.6 million overnight stays, a five-percent rise.

The increase in these figures was mostly due to foreign tourists. In July, there were 2.3 million foreign tourists vacationing in Croatia, a one percent increase in relation to July last year. The number of foreign overnight stays was 16.2 million, eight percent more than in July 2007.

In the first seven months, 4.75 million foreign tourists visited Croatian Adriatic resorts (two percent more), accounting for 27.1 million overnight stays (six percent more).

The number of domestic tourist arrivals in July dropped by four percent to 261,100. The number of domestic overnight stays dropped by six percent to 1.9 million.

In the first seven months of this year, there were 3.5 million domestic overnight stays (down one percent), and the number of domestic arrivals was two percent higher, 788,600.

The coastal region of Dalmatia recorded the highest number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays, both in July and in the first seven months.

Split-Dalmatia and Sibenik-Knin counties saw a 2-9 percent increase in arrivals and overnight stays, while the increase in Zadar and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties was somewhat lower (1-3 percent). (Hina)