June the 23rd, 2024 – The Croatian hospitality sector (bars, cafes, restaurants etc) has been rubbing its hands together, reporting over 35 million euros in turnover when Croatia is on the pitch.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, the sheer sum of the cash turnover for the Croatian hospitality sector speaks volumes about the effect the Euros are having. It also provides somewhat of an answer as to whether the upcoming Olympics will affect the arrivals of foreign tourists and their spending habits.
It’s currently expected that this tourist season as a whole, including the pre- and post-season, will be solid this year. At the same time, for some business niches, football euphoria is a time of extraordinary “harvest”, with the fact that it undoubtedly depends on how long Croatia will stay in the Euro. The Croatian hospitality sector has been proverbially raking it in thanks to the Croatian national team.
fan supplies see the retail sector’s numbers climb
Among those who recorded above-average turnover on the days of the two matches of the Croatian national team so far are those in the Croatian hospitality industry.
According to the data taken from the Tax Administration on consumption measured by fiscalised turnover, on the day of Croatia’s very first match against Spain, cafes, restaurants and other establishments which deal with the provision of food and beverage preparation and serving services reported almost 19 million euros in turnover, of which. Those working in the Croatian hospitality sector in Zagreb alone reported more than 3.2 million euros.
On the day of the match between Croatia and Albania, bills worth 16.3 million euros were issued in the Croatian hospitality industry (of which about three million euros came from Zagreb). This slightly smaller amount can certainly be partially explained by the fact that it was a weekday and that the match took place earlier on in the day.
Nevertheless, even those 16.3 million euros are significantly more than the average daily turnover of the Croatian hospitality sector in the first twenty days of June. As of Wednesday, they reported around 295 million euros in turnover since the beginning of this month alone.
The positive influence of Croatia’s matches for the retail sector has so far been most heavily reflected in the increased spending the day before. In the trade sector, the day before Croatia’s first match, more than 110 million euros passed through the fiscal coffers, which is ten million more than the previous day and five million more than on Saturday, that is, on the day of the match itself.
All in all, since the beginning of this year, bills and receipts worth more than 17.8 billion euros have been issued in all activities in the fiscalisation system, of which 2.52 billion refer to the first 20 days of June alone. In the first five months of 2024, the total fiscalised turnover stood at almost two billion euros. That is 14 percent higher than in the same period last year.
The fiscal coffers of those in the Croatian hospitality sector had registered more than 1.37 billion euros by the end of May. That’s a whopping 37 percent more than was recorded by the end of May last year. With 295 million euros already having been reported and registered until June the 19th, this month will obviously exceed last year’s comparable turnover (with 410 million euros in turnover). That means that it is looking more than likely that last year’s half-year turnover of the Croatian hospitality sector (1.4 billion euros) will be exceeded by hundreds of millions.
It’s impossible not to highlight the fact that significantly higher prices are to a large extent responsible for this increase. The latest data from the CBS on inflation also alludes very strongly to that. Looking at some annual comparisons, the largest price increase in May was recorded precisely in the Restaurants and Hotels category, with an average annual growth of almost 11 percent.
When it comes to tourism, bills and receipts worth almost 465 million euros were paid with both cash and cards in the accommodation sector. Compared to last year, this is an increase of more than 60 million euros or about 15 percent.
Over the first 20 or so days of June, bills and receipts worth more than 180 million euros were issued. That hints to the notion that June could end with more modest growth compared to the same month last year, with 342 million euros in turnover.
