April the 25th, 2025 – Croatian Easter tourism has recorded some excellent numbers as we approach the main summer season, but more competitive pricing still remains a burning issue.
As Jadranka Dozan/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the past long weekend confirmed the rule that a later Easter is better for Croatian tourism, both from domestic and foreign guests. Tourism Minister Tonči Glavina says that an average of 165,000 guests were recorded this past weekend, meaning excellent figures for Croatian Easter tourism as a whole. During last year’s Easter holidays, which fell at the end of March, around 120,000 guests during that long weekend were recorded.
good croatian easter tourism figures don’t mean we can relax
The minister described the recent Croatian Easter tourism figures as very satisfactory, but also expected given a later Easter period. He expects good results for the pre-season as a whole. “However, this mustn’t sway us because the main part of the tourist year in summer will certainly be challenging due to the influence of geopolitical instability. It’s very important that we offer good prices, that is, that we’re competitive in terms of prices, not only in accommodation but across all accompanying services,” he warned.
The positive effects Easter falling later are, as expected, also reflected in consumption measured by recorded traffic in the fiscalisation system. As such, from Friday to Monday, bills and receipts worth a whopping 23.7 million euros were paid by card or cash in the accommodation sector. Over the four days of the extended Easter weekend last year, just under 15 million euros in turnover were recorded.
This growth was achieved on a 40% higher number of bills and receipts issued. At the same time, cafes, restaurants and other establishments within the food and beverage preparation and service sector reported more than 45.6 million euros in turnover last weekend. In comparable days last year, receipts worth slightly more than 32 million passed through the fiscal cash registers of businesses operating within this sector across Croatia.
profits for the catering and hospitality sector
This year’s extended weekend brought as much as 42% more turnover to those in the catering and hospitality sector, with the number of bills issued being 17% higher. At the same time, retailers reported income of almost 230 million euros, which is almost 30 million euros or 15% more turnover than what was recorded over last year’s Easter holidays.
All in all, it is evident that alongside Croatian Easter tourism itself, the level of spending was significantly higher overall than last year. Tourism-related spending undoubtedly contributed to this, but the turnover also reflects general consumer sentiment in Croatia. When it comes to festive spending, growth was certainly stimulated by the massive payments of Easter bonuses, which were even more generous for many employees than last year.
wage and employment growth
Overall, relatively strong wage and employment growth is still of greater importance for increasing spending. The latest wage data published this week shows that both wages and employment are still growing at double-digit annual rates. According to (March) payments for more than 1.4 million employees in legal entities, the average net salary for February was 1,416 euros.
Although only a third of employees receive an average salary or higher, the median salary is also growing at a significantly faster pace than the official inflation rate. According to data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the median amount for February stood at 1,175 euros, or 12.5% more than a year ago.
consumption growth
In addition to salaries and employment, consumption growth is also supported by the still double-digit percentage annual growth of cash loans. According to the latest available data from the Croatian National Bank, they slowed down the annual growth only slightly in February, to a still high 15.8% due to the so-called base period effect.
summer on the croatian coast is still out of reach for too many croats
In any case, Croats who are proverbially inclined to spend remain an important pillar for the upcoming summer tourist season. This remains the case despite the pressing issue of the increasing number of people who are struggling to avoid a summer break on their own coastline or islands.
Thus, Tourism Minister Glavina has stated that the results for the first quarter show that Croatian guests, as in the previous tourist year, were the second most numerous, both in terms of arrivals and overnight stays. In the run-up to the upcoming summer season, the Tourism Ministry is primarily targeting the top ten traditional markets from which the most tourists come and which bring in the majority of tourist traffic into Croatia.
The minister pointed out that this year, there will be an increased focus on the German market, which accounts for approximately a quarter of total traffic, and which recorded a decline of around 6% to 7% percent last year.
