February the 24th, 2026 – HRejting has revealed that most of Croatia’s public support an alcohol sales ban after 20:00, which is an idea currently being seriously floated.
As Index vijesti/news writes, the Croatian Government is currently busy preparing a legislative proposal that would ban the sale of alcoholic beverages after 20:00 nationwide at all points of sale except in catering establishments and restaurants. According to the latest HRejting survey, conducted for HRT by the Promocija plus agency, more than half of Croatia’s public support an alcohol sales ban after 20:00.
The survey was conducted from February the 16th to the 18th on a sample of 1,000 respondents, HRT reports.
Over 55% of respondents agree or mostly agree with the government’s alcohol ban proposal. Almost 40% mostly or do not at all agree with the idea, while 5% have no opinion or didn’t want to express it. Almost half of the respondents (over 45%) cite the reduction of addiction among young people and the suppression of night drinking as the main reason for making such a decision.
17.5% of those surveyed across Croatia see the introduction of order in tourist areas during the summer as a key reason. Slightly less than 12% believe that the goal is to reduce tourists’ drinking out in open spaces, while just over 10% of respondents think that it’s intended to help caterers and hospitality establishments increase their traffic.
Despite the majority of Croatia’s public seeming to agree with the proposal on an alcohol sales ban after 20:00, they’re divided on whether the move would endanger tourism. 13% of respondents believe that it will be significantly endangered, while 24% think there will be damage, but that it won’t be anything particularly excessive.
On the other hand, an equal number of respondents believe that the proposed alcohol sales ban will not harm tourism, but that it will have a positive effect by introducing order to the streets. The largest proportion of respondents, 32.5% of them, believe that the measure will have no impact on tourism.
