June 2026 brought 6.1 percent fewer overnight stays than last year. Domestic guests are seeing strong growth, but they cannot offset the dramatic drop from key foreign markets, especially the German one.
According to data just released by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Croatian tourism recorded a worrying decline in June 2026. Commercial accommodation facilities registered 3.0 million arrivals and 13.5 million tourist overnight stays, which is a 6.6 percent drop in arrivals and a 6.1 percent drop in overnight stays compared to June 2025. These figures confirm that the downward trend, already visible in previous months, is continuing and deepening.
The only bright spot in the June report is domestic guests. They accounted for 387,000 arrivals and 1.2 million overnight stays, representing an 11.8 percent increase in arrivals and an 11.7 percent increase in overnight stays compared to the same month last year. However, their share of total overnight stays is only 8.9 percent, while foreign tourists, who generated 91.1 percent of all overnight stays, are recording a significant decline.
Foreign guests accounted for 2.6 million arrivals and 12.3 million overnight stays, a drop of 8.9 percent in arrivals and 7.5 percent in overnight stays compared to June 2025. This data is particularly concerning given that June is traditionally the month when the pre-season transitions into the full swing of the main tourist season.
The most dramatic decline is seen among tourists from Germany, traditionally Croatia's most important source market. Although they still rank first with 2.7 million overnight stays and a 22.1 percent share of all foreign overnight stays, their number of overnight stays is down by as much as 28.1 percent compared to June 2025. On average, they stayed 7.7 nights per arrival.
Guests from Austria also recorded a decline, with overnight stays down 6.0 percent, and they hold a 10.3 percent share of foreign overnight stays. On the other hand, tourists from Italy (5.0%), Slovenia (3.9%), Poland (3.2%), the Czech Republic (2.4%), and the United Kingdom (1.2%) saw growth. Their shares of total foreign overnight stays are as follows: Slovenia 9.9%, Poland 8.8%, the Czech Republic 6.6%, the United Kingdom 5.3%, and Italy 3.8%.
Istria County once again recorded the highest number of overnight stays, totaling 4.3 million, which accounts for 31.9 percent of all overnight stays in Croatia. However, it is not immune to negative trends, compared to June 2025, overnight stays fell by 10.0 percent. Foreign tourists in Istria accounted for 4.1 million overnight stays, down 11.1 percent, while domestic guests grew by 15.9 percent with 219,000 overnight stays.
Split-Dalmatia County ranks second with 2.7 million overnight stays (a 20.0 percent share) and a decline of 1.7 percent, while Primorje-Gorski Kotar County recorded 2.2 million overnight stays (a 16.4 percent share) and a decline of 7.5 percent. Interestingly, the most numerous guests in June were those in the age groups up to 14 years and 55 to 64 years, each of these groups accounted for 2.2 million overnight stays, or 16.2 percent of total overnight stays.
