April the 2nd, 2026 – Croatian hotel owners are cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season, with around 170,000 visitors expected over the Easter break alone.
As Sinisa Malus/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian hotel owners are currently entering one of the most challenging seasons in recent years with moderate optimism. Hotel bookings before Easter are satisfactory, similar to those in 2023 and 2024. Croatian hotel owners are therefore harbouring a sense of cautious optimism for Easter. The aforementioned two years are comparable to this one as Easter fell earlier during them, as well.
croatian hotel owners express cautious optimism with a hint of worry
Despite the increased geopolitical uncertainty across the globe, Croatian hotel owners are entering this tourist season with a currently stable level of reservations and cautious optimism regarding the further development of the tourist season. They also have expectations of cost growth, which could grow at a higher rate than revenue growth for the third year in a row. This would crowd out space for necessary investments. Those are the main conclusions of a survey conducted in March by Deloitte. The survey included tourism companies that together have a total of 259 hotels and campsites and over 51,000 accommodation units.
The majority of properties, 55%, are currently recording a stable status of tourist reservations compared to the same period last year, and 33% are recording an increase of 3-6%. Optimism for the pre-season is being further encouraged by the comparison with 2023, and there is a situation where as many as 80% of properties are recording an increase in reservations compared to the situation in March 2023 (of up to 3%).
Around two-thirds of properties are not currently seeing any significant changes in the volume of reservations in different markets, and none of the observed properties are displaying any signs of a change in the length of stay of tourists compared to 2025. As for the estimate for the entire 2026 season ahead of us, the majority of Croatian hotel owners (81%) are expecting a repeat of the level of overnight stays as last year, while 14% expect an increase of up to 3%. However, 64% expect a more pronounced trend in last-minute reservations than last year.
the burning topic of pricing
Given such expectations, there can be no room for significant changes in prices. As a result of that, 72% of facilities plan to increase their average daily accommodation price (ADR) this season (between 3-6%) compared to last year, which is around the estimated inflation rate.
This year, the entire tourist sector is under additional pressure from a new increase in costs, and it’s more than certain that this pressure will only increase compared to the expectations from the survey due to the deepening of the unfolding energy crisis. As many as 76% of companies expect their expenses to exceed the growth of their income, which would be the third year in a row for such a scenario in Croatian tourism. Labour costs are expected to continue to rise, with 40% expecting labour costs to rise by 306%, 30% between 6-10% percent, with 29% expecting growth above 10%.
Croatian tourism is entering the 2026 season with cautious optimism. Everything is currently pointing to another season in which, due to various challenges, supply will need to be actively managed in order to repeat last year’s results. What is certain is that we’ll have another year of cost growth exceeding revenue growth. This reduces the overall profitability and investment potential of the whole sector, which must maintain its competitiveness by continuing to invest in improving quality and sustainability.
