November the 2nd, 2023 – Contrary to what most promotions would have people believe, Croatia doesn’t vanish into some other dimension when September ends. Here’s how the general Croatian post-season tourism picture is looking.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to data taken from the e-Visitor system, there are currently around 75,000 tourists staying in various locations across Croatia, of which 62,000 are foreigners. Some of them are spending time in the southern part of the Istrian peninsula. Guests who come to Croatia at this time of the year are typically looking for one very specific tourist offer. Instead of those looking for sun and sea, those looking for wind and waves are now arriving at the camps in the south of Istria.
“According to what we could see in Dubrovnik today, it could be concluded that summer and the season aren’t over,” she said. She revealed that the weather down there is still suitable for those wanting to take a dip in the southern Dalmatian waters and that a little less than eight thousand tourists are still present in Dubrovnik. “Today has been sunny and warm enough for many swimmers, and Stradun is also quite full of people. At the moment, a little less than eight thousand visitors are staying in Dubrovnik, which is at last year’s level,” she said.
The number of flights on offer dictates the length of Dubrovnik’s season
“Most of them are from the United Kingdom, Croatia, France and the USA. Given that Dubrovnik is an air destination, the number of visitors depends on the number of flights available at this time of the year, and the summer flight schedule ended last weekend,” she added.
She revealed that numerous airlines have extended the length of time their flights will operate and that Dubrovnik will remain connected to many European destinations during the winter. “Numerous airlines have decided to extend their flight schedules by seven days. This winter, Dubrovnik will remain connected to destinations such as London, Frankfurt and Turkey, and there are some excellent announcements for winter charter flights as well”, she asserted.
“Cruisers are also still coming. It’s interesting to note that there were more cruisers in October than there were in July and August. This year they brought approximately 500 thousand passengers with them. It’s good that they’re coming and staying longer than they did back during previous years,” she concluded.
The state of Croatian post-season tourism for 2023 so far
Holidaying in Croatia in November, in the rain and strong jugo winds? Foreign surfers say yes – that’s exactly what we’re looking for.
“We’re windsurfers, we need the wind. Today the conditions are good, they’re the best,” said Matjaž from neighbouring Slovenia. The reason for the arrival of this group of guests at this time of year is the wind, which reaches a speed of 40 knots. “If you know what you’re doing, then it’s not dangerous, and I’ve been doing it since I was a child,” added Matjaž’s colleague Dušan.
The autumn school holidays brought many Austrian to Croatia’s shores
In addition to Slovenian surfers, Austrians are currently staying in the only two camps which have remained open in the south of Istria. In Austria, namely, the autumn school holidays last until the beginning of November.
“We also came for good food and for the people, we like this time of year in Croatia. The prices are a little lower than during the summer season,” stated Nina from Austria. “This weather suits me, the air is great, the smells, everything suits me when I’m here,” added Martin.
Hotels are changing the way they do business
Apart from the still open camps, hotels, which used to close their doors at the end of the summer season, are now slowly changing their business as the Croatian post-season tourism picture grows stronger each year.
“This year, we thought it would be wise for Pula itself to keep its hotels open, to see which markets could be interesting in the long term. We also wanted to open a sales channel for luxury tourism, which is still in one stage or another of development in Pula”, explained Alex Živković, a local hotel director.
Pula is one of those Istrian cities which is simply bursting at the seams in the summer due to the tourist crowds, while in the winter it is empty, but there are still a few restaurant owners working as usual in the centre.
“People are definitely interested in coming. We’ve had Germans and Slovenians and Italians. They come here for a long weekend and take advantage of the weather and slightly lower prices,” concluded restaurant manager Ante Tadić. As such, an impressive 20 thousand tourists are currently enjoying their holidays across Istria. With that, the Croatian post-season tourism picture has surpassed even last year’s record, by 15 percent.
