April the 20th, 2026 – Croatia is set to crack down even harder on grey area tourism rentals making money without registration and proper checks.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Minister of Tourism and Sports Tonči Glavina recently presented the new Law on Hospitality Activities. This is an important step for Croatia as it will respond to the challenges of unregistered activities, a serious grey area in tourism rentals, as reported by N1.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports is currently in the process of adopting a new Law on Hospitality Activities, which will strongly respond to the challenges of the black and grey economy. This primarily includes unregistered activities, and it will work by properly ensuring the implementation of the Regulation on the collection and exchange of data on short-term rental accommodation services. This is so-called STR Regulation, which is key to establishing order, transparency and effective supervision in this market segment.
Tonči Glavina presented the details of the new law and stated that this is an extremely significant step forward for cracking down firmly on the issue of tourism rentals springing up like mushrooms and not being registered correctly:
“The current law has undergone nine different amendments, and that is why we’re now adopting a new law. The European Commission’s Regulation on Short-Term Rental has also entered into force. We’ve now made the biggest step forward in this matter and we have results. We’ve reduced the number of beds on offer in short-term rental properties, and the number of contracts for long-term rent has increased by 15%. This is most visible in all of the coastal counties. The conditions for long-term rent have now improved,” he added.
He stated that one of the main goals of this new law is the suppression of unregistered short-term rentals: “We’re moving towards the significant digitisation of all procedures carried out on the basis of this law. That also includes the complete system of modernisation when it comes to the categorisation of catering and hospitality facilities.
“With the entry into force of this law, all short-term rental service providers will receive a registration number for each accommodation unit they have. Each facility or accommodation unit will have to have its own registration number.
“If a facility that does not have a registration number is found on any of the rental platforms, it will be subject to fines. The regulation applies to all facilities that are engaged in short-term rental. The responsibility and jurisdiction rests with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the counties themselves,” he added.
The minister stressed that the process will be carried out digitally through the E-tourism system: “Everything will be digitalised. Without a registration number, advertising on platforms will simply not be possible,” he added.
He stressed that Croatia cannot allow itself to become the permanent poster child of what a mass tourism destination is, but that it should aim to be a year-round tourist destination.
