August the 13th, 2024 – Pula tourism growth has seen the city stand out on both the Istrian and national scales, with marked increases compared to last year.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sinisa Malus writes, the current tourist season has seen numerous controversies plastered across the headlines. That’s been the case both in terms of growth itself and in terms of certain segments of what’s being offered, primarily private accommodation and the hospitality sector.
The large increase in the number of new apartments and holiday homes that have sprung up on the market in the past two or three years has led to rather low occupancy in these segments. The same can also be said for destinations that continue to suffer from a lack of quality hotel offers. The structure of the guests directly reflects the structure of the offer, according to tourism experts.
more and more americans are contributing to pula tourism growth
Impressive Pula tourism growth has seen this Istrian city stand out in the crowd, and the numbers are more than promising. In the first seven months of 2024, Pula was visited by almost 260,000 tourists who realised 1,085,000 overnight stays. This is 6% more arrivals and 3% more overnight stays recorded than last year. In addition to the higher quality offer, tourists were also attracted by plenty of rich concert experiences. During July alone, visitors to Pula could enjoy top performances by big names like Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz and Duran Duran.
More than 20,000 guests are in Pula at the moment, almost a quarter of whom are staying in hotels. It is precisely because of the quality and service that high-category hotels record high occupancy, and Grand Hotel Brioni Pula stands out as the big winner of the tourist season in Istria. It had excellent bookings in the first seven months of this year. The decision to keep this gorgeous hotel open throughout the year certainly contributed to this, as well as to Pula tourism growth on the whole. That strategy has obviously paid off, and the structure of the guests is generally somewhat atypical for Croatian tourism as it currently stands.
“The structure of hotel guests is diverse, we also have a lot of guests from Great Britain and the Benelux countries, and the largest share of guests comes from the markets of Germany, Austria and Italy. In addition, we consider important the fact that there is also a good trend of increasing the number of guests from the USA”, the management of this hotel revealed.
The well known Arena Hospitality Group, which owns this hotel, enjoyed an 18.9% increase in total revenue in the first six months of this year, seeing it reach a staggering 50.3 million euros. Income from accommodation increased by 17.2% to 39.5 million euros, while the occupancy rate increased by 162.8 basis points to 38.5%.
“As far as the region is concerned, domestic guests from elsewhere across Croatia predominate, especially when it comes to business stays and weekend stays during the pre-season,” they added from the hotel.
tech is required more frequently, seeing this hotel triumph
Attendance in the business segment was also very successful and numerous companies and organisations recognised (especially in the pre-season) the Grand Hotel Brioni Pula as a perfect place for holding events, meetings and presentations.
“This is especially the case during the pre-season and post-season. This hotel attracts many business guests who readily express their satisfaction with the professionalism and high standards we have here. These guests attach a lot of importance to the advanced technology that is available in the hotel which enables them to combine their leisure and business obligations in a carefree way. Encouraging guests to use digital technologies has turned out to be a very successful move for us”, they concluded from the Grand Hotel Brioni Pula.
The Pula Tourist Board says that Croatian tourism needs more such guests, as well as matching facilities. Such hotels, according to director Sanja Cinkopan Korotaj, bring quality guests and a longer season, i.e. year-round work. Such guests have more money, and they spend it not only on accommodation, but also use other facilities, from culture, recreation, to sport.
The positive Pula tourism growth proves what experts have been claiming for a long time now. For the new direction of Croatian tourism and the acquisition of a better group of consumers, the quality of the hotel offer should be well coordinated with the quality of service and offer in the destination itself. A five-star hotel cannot function in a two-star destination. The property boom under the camouflage of short-term rentals remains a big challenge, both for Istria and for the entire Croatian coast.
