The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has thrown the spanner of all spanners in the works for global tourism and Croatia, for which tourism is the strongest economic branch, has been anything but immune to these pandemic-induced, extremely negative trends. Istria, however, is recovering at a remarkably enviable rate.
As Novac writes on the 30th of June, 2020, Istria has recorded some truly encouraging and excellent tourist results for last weekend. Namely, from June the 26th to the 28th, only 6 percent fewer tourists were recorded in Istria than during the same days last year, long before coronavirus was ever an issue one could have imagined.
Last year, on June the 26th, 27th and 28th, 54,000 arrivals and 522,000 overnight stays were realised in Istria, while this year, 51,000 arrivals (index 94) and 300,000 overnight stays (index 57) were realised, which is incredibly impressive. This means that over these three days, Istria has only experienced 6 percent fewer tourists, and overnight stays reached 57 percent, which is much more than the expectations suggested, which went up to a maximum of around 40 percent of last year’s, pre-pandemic traffic.
Looking at the whole of the month of June, the numbers are indeed devastating, regardless of this brilliant result for beautiful Istria. Last year, that month held the record with an index of 116 when compared to June 2018, and this year, June is at the level of only 29 percent when compared to last year, local portal Glas Istre writes.
“Overall, June will end at 30 percent of tourist realisation when compared to last year, but the trend that is rising week by week and the announced bookings that continue to arrive give us the hope that July and August could be good. This is all with the clear indication that the situation can change extremely quickly, both in a positive and in a negative sense,” said the director of the Tourist Board of Istria, Denis Ivosevic.
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