Even though Croatia has achieved record tourism numbers and revenues in 2015, it’s extremely high share in GDP does set of certain alarms.
According to the data released by Croatian National Bank ( HNB) on April 1, 2016, revenues in tourism from foreign tourists reached 7 billion and 961 million EUR which is an increase of 559,5 million EUR or 7,6% when compared to 2014.
Revenue from leisure tourism was 7 billion and 742 million EUR ( an increase of 534,1 million or 7,4%) while revenue from business travel and tourism recorded its first increase since 2007 totaling 219 million EUR ( an increase of 13% compared to 2014).
In the last quarter or during October, November and December 2015 tourism revenues were 663,5 million EUR which is an increase of 6,4% or 40,7 million EUR.
„We are very happy with the results and revenues that reached almost 8 billion EUR, which was in accordance with our expectations. When we add domestic guests and their spending, revenues will go up to 9,3 billion EUR and this represents the best result we’ve achieved so far. This is the result of a great synergy within the tourism sector and fantastic work done by all subjects within this industry. Taking into account all the investments that are planned in 2016 in the hotel sector and other services, I believe 2016 will be even better” said Anton Kliman, Minister of Tourism.
Even though results are fantastic and very optimistic, one thing does raise certain concerns. Tourism’s share in Croatia’s GDP in 2015 was 18,1% which is an increase of 0,9 compared to 2014 showing once again just how dependent Croatian economy is on tourism. If we know just how much our tourism depends on geopolitical events and weather, we don’t even want to imagine what would happen if there were any unexpected setbacks in this particular industry.
