September the 2nd, 2026 – Eurostat reports that Croatia has recorded modest tourism growth throughout the entire first half of 2026, as EU overnight stays rise.
Over the first six months of 2026, tourist accommodation establishments across the European Union recorded 1,321 million overnight stays, a 1.7% increase compared with the same period in 2025 (1,299 million nights), according to official data released by Eurostat on 1 September 2026. Eurostat reports that while the EU as a whole continued its recovery and expansion, growth was highly uneven across member states. The strongest increases were recorded in Ireland (+14.6%), Malta (+9.9%) and Slovakia (+5.9%). Nine countries registered declines, with the sharpest falls in Cyprus (–7.7%) and Romania (–6.7%).
Croatia, long one of Europe’s leading tourism destinations, registered only a mild increase of approximately 0.5% in overnight stays during the same period. This placed the country near the bottom of the group of member states that still achieved positive growth, just ahead of Finland and the nine countries that recorded outright declines.
international visitors drive the numbers up
Foreign (non-resident) tourists accounted for 48.9% of all overnight stays in the EU in the first half of 2026. Nights spent by international visitors grew by 2.5%, nearly three times the increase recorded by domestic guests (+0.9%). Dependence on foreign visitors varies dramatically across the bloc. Malta (95.2%), Cyprus (92.6%) and Luxembourg (87.7%) recorded the highest shares of foreign overnight stays, while Germany (18.5%), Poland (19.8%) and Romania (23.0%) remained heavily reliant on domestic tourism.
Croatia’s modest 0.5% growth comes against a backdrop of strong overall EU performance and particularly rapid expansion in several smaller markets. The figures cover the traditionally quieter first half of the year, before the peak summer season. Full-year results will depend heavily on performance in July, August and the shoulder months of September and October. Eurostat’s data underlines that while tourism demand in Europe remains resilient, competition for visitors is intensifying and growth is no longer automatic even for established destinations.
