Tourism Director comments on strategic goals moving forward

The Croatian tourism season is continuing at last year's record pace, according to Croatian National Tourist Board Director Kristjan Staničić.

Staničić said preliminary, still incomplete figures show that tourist arrivals and overnight stays during the first part of the season are at roughly the same level as last year.

He said there are currently more than 294,000 tourists in Croatia, adding that the results so far are encouraging, particularly as Croatia remains among Europe's leading early-season destinations, ahead of several of its main competitors.

Staničić noted that last year's pre-season was a record-breaking one and said those strong results have been matched this year, leaving no reason for concern about the overall performance of the tourism sector.

Addressing a decline in German visitors in June, Staničić said the figures should be viewed over a longer period. He noted that Croatia welcomed significantly more German tourists in May and explained that this year's travel patterns were influenced by the timing of religious holidays and school vacations.

He stressed that Germany remains Croatia's most important tourism market and said a more comprehensive assessment would be possible after July and August, when the main school holidays begin in the German regions that traditionally generate the largest number of visitors to Croatia.

Staničić also said Croatia's long-term objective is not to continue increasing visitor numbers indefinitely, but to focus on sustainable tourism and achieving a better balance throughout the year.

"Our strategic goal is to maintain annual tourism at roughly its current level, with around 21 to 22 million arrivals and approximately 110 million overnight stays. Instead of increasing overall numbers, we want to strengthen the pre-season and post-season. We are aware that during the peak tourist season we average more than one million tourists a day, which places significant pressure on destinations as well as municipal and transport infrastructure. This has a negative impact on the quality of life of our residents, but also on the experience of tourists themselves," he said.