Croatian Bureau of Statistics releases June data: foreign guests down 8.9 percent, but domestic tourists with 12 percent more arrivals improve overall picture, and the first half-year still in a slight plus.
In commercial accommodation facilities in Croatia during June this year, there were 6.6 percent fewer tourists and 6.1 percent fewer overnight stays compared to the same month last year, according to data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) released on August 11. The decline affected all main types of accommodation, but the overall result for the first six months is still 0.5 percent better than in the same period last year, with 7.2 million arrivals and 26 million overnight stays.
In June, there were 2.6 million foreign tourists, a decrease of 8.9 percent compared to last June, and they generated 5.7 million overnight stays, which is 1.2 percent less. In the first six months, a total of 7.5 percent fewer foreign guests arrived (12.2 million), while their overnight stays fell by 0.6 percent to 22.5 million.
On the other hand, domestic tourists significantly improved the statistics. In June, they recorded 12 percent more arrivals, totaling 387,400, and 8.2 percent more overnight stays, reaching 1.5 million. Looking at the entire first half of the year, domestic guests increased by 11.7 percent (1.2 million), and overnight stays rose by 7.7 percent, reaching 3.4 million.
Among foreign guests, Germans traditionally lead with a share of 22.1 percent of total overnight stays in June, or 2.7 million overnight stays. However, this is also 28.1 percent less than in June last year. They are followed by tourists from Austria with a 10.3 percent share, Slovenia with 9.9 percent, Poland with approximately 9 percent, and the Czech Republic with 6.6 percent. Notably, guests from Slovenia, Poland, and the Czech Republic recorded an increase in overnight stays, while Austrian tourists saw a decline.
The decline in tourist traffic in June did not spare any type of commercial accommodation. The most overnight stays are traditionally generated in facilities classified as "holiday and other short-stay accommodation," but it is precisely this category that recorded the largest drop, 5.6 percent fewer overnight stays than last year, or 6.3 million. Despite this, it retained the largest share of total overnight stays (47.1 percent) and accommodation capacities. In June, this group accounted for 56.2 percent of the total 377,000 accommodation units (rooms, apartments, and camping pitches) and 57.1 percent of the 986,000 permanent beds available to tourists in Croatia.
Hotels are in second place with 3.7 million overnight stays, a decrease of 1.7 percent. They offered guests 81,000 accommodation units and 171,000 beds, representing 21.5 percent of total units and 17.3 percent of beds. Campsites, with 3.4 million overnight stays, recorded a decline of 11.3 percent compared to June last year, although the DZS does not specify their shares of total capacities.
