January the 31st, 2024 – Vukovar tourism is on the up as more and more US citizens begin discovering eastern Croatia, which lies as far as possible from the coast.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Vukovar tourism is following an upward trajectory, and confirmation that this eastern Croatian city has become a desirable destination for many guests in 2023 came in the form of numbers. Vukovar enjoyed a significant increase of 41.26 percent in terms of arrivals and 33.35 percent in terms of realised overnight stays compared to 2022. Last year, Croatia’s hero city which sits on the banks of the Danube recorded 55,924 arrivals and 87,863 overnight stays.
If school excursions from elsewhere across Croatia are excluded from those figures, there were still 10.12 percent more arrivals and 5.48 percent more overnight stays recorded than there were one year earlier. Looking again at the figures without school excursions included, there were 18,264 arrivals and 38,460 overnight stays realised for the Vukovar tourism picture for 2023. That represents an increase of 10.14 percent in arrivals and 11.11 percent in overnight stays compared to the pre-pandemic, record year of 2019.
Tourists, mostly from elsewhere in Croatia, account for 73 percent of those numbers. They typically stayed in this eastern Croatian destination for an average of 2.1 days. The lure of Vukovar also resulted in the opening of 27 new accommodation facilities last year alone, meaning that today, there are a total of 82 such facilities boasting 1,124 beds in Vukovar.
It might be far from the Adriatic Sea, but 347 cruise ships still sailed into the port of Vukovar
The growth trend of river cruising also continued last year. There were 45,857 passengers on the 347 cruise ships that sailed into the Port of Vukovar throughout 2023. Most of them were guests from across the pond in America, while the others were fellow Europeans from Germany, Great Britain and France. The season on the Danube, one of the strongest assets of continental Croatia, was extended until the end of December.
There are more and more visitors to the city’s festivals and manifestations. The last one held in 2023 – Vukovar Advent – was declared among the five most beautiful in Croatia by Gradonacelnik.hr in competition with far larger cities and county seats.
Vukovar is a strong brand
The overall satisfaction expressed by guests in Vukovar was extremely high. The rating stands at 93/100, confirming the measurement of the quality and satisfaction of guests through the project of integral quality management in the destination – IQM Destination Vukovar. This quality measurement project has been carried out for three years, and the very high rating indicates the exceptional strength and recognition of the Vukovar tourism brand. Last year, 7,200 guests left reviews on various online platforms, and positive comments and high ratings position Vukovar as one of the most successful destinations in the continental part of the country, remaining attractive to visitors throughout the year.
Vukovar’s many attractions have retained the highest quality rating of all. Among them is of course the Vukovar water tower, the symbol of the city’s resistance against the Serbs.
