August the 3rd, 2023 – Despite being popular, Croatian nautical tourism isn’t doing as well as it did in 2022 this year so far. There are several reasons for that…
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, although the ministry hasn’t yet published its official statistics related to the state of Croatian nautical tourism, the indicators of the reservation system of charter companies would lead us to believe that the current season is weaker than last year by about 10 percent. They can see the reasons for that in the increase in the number of boats for rent, but also in the competition, which returned to the table this year, as reported by HRT.
A family from Portugal is currently spending time here in Croatia for the first time. From Biograd na Moru near Zadar, they sailed along the central Croatian Adriatic.
“We’re from Porto in Portugal. We’ve already completed a tour of the Kornati islands, and today and in the following days we’re going north, to Telašćica. We’ve never been to Croatia, it is different and I enjoy it. The sea is excellent,” said one sailor from Portugal.
We’re now firmly in the peak of the summer tourist season, and along the Croatian Adriatic coast, slightly less people are enjoying it than last year. Sailboats that were rented at this time last year have remained docked.
Concerning gaps for Croatian nautical tourism in key months
“The April and May’s numbers in Croatian nautical tourism were on par with the numbers from last year, while in June month we witnessed a 10% drop, in July there was a 13% drop, and what we don’t like at all is that for August and September, we have another 25% of our capacities available. And that’s all with a 25% lower price than we had last year,” said Katarina Vujević Babara, the owner of a domestic charter company.
One of the reasons for this visibly lower amount of bookings certainly lies in the increased fleet – 16% more vessels were registered in the Republic of Croatia in 2023 than last year.
“In addition to that, this year, some 400 new vessels entered Croatia, some sailboats, some motorboats, some catamarans, and that sort of pool of guests that comes to us is primarily from the European market, they are practically always the same guests,” explained Selma Čmelik.
The pandemic is over, inflationary pressures are very real, and for many the novelty has worn off
For many guests who tried out Croatian nautical tourism, sailing was the safest way to holiday during the global coronavirus pandemic, but that moment has now long since passed, and other problems have arisen.
“The war in Ukraine, the increase in energy prices, inflation… and this year it’s very noticeable that visitors are very frugal,” said Marin Katičin, the president of the professional group of service providers on ships at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).
