July the 24th, 2025 – Costs in Croatia have been a hot topic for a very long time now, and the Croatian Tourist Board director has appealed directly to those in the hospitality and tourism sector about high prices.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, has spoken out about high prices. He spoke to HRT Dnevnik and appealed to those in the tourism sector to “set their prices for services wisely”. He also stated that, despite maintaining price competitiveness, Croatia has now very much reached the edge of what visitors will tolerate.
He echoed a similar sentiment at the session of the Tourism Development Management Council, once again warning the Croatian tourism and hospitality sector to be reasonable when setting their prices.
“Prices are definitely in the focus of interest of the general public and the media. Today, we emphasised and appealed to the tourism sector to think carefully when setting prices,” he said, emphasising the need to remain competitiveness in relation to other Mediterranean destinations.
He pointed out that tourists will return every year and that tourism is a long-term activity and an enormously significant one for Croatia. “We must not make the wrong moves in terms of excessively increasing our prices,” he warned.
Speaking about which Mediterranean destinations are more expensive and which are cheaper, he explained that it is necessary to break down accommodation and catering services.
“In short, Croatia is within the price competitiveness framework, but I can say that, considering the data coming from Eurostat and some other institutions, Croatia is marginally competitive in terms of price,” he stated.
“For example, hotels and campsites are more affordable in Croatia compared to the countries from which tourists come – Austria and Germany, but we’re more expensive than Greece, Spain and Italy. On the other hand, private accommodation is a little more expensive than Italy and France, and a little more affordable than in Greece and Spain. Croatia is therefore still within some frameworks, but we’ve definitely reached the edge. That’s why we’re constantly appealing to the tourism and hospitality sector to be wise and think carefully when setting prices,” he said, adding that trends in the structure of guests show that Croatia has managed to retain a good position despite the constant talk of high prices.
“From all source markets: Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Poland, the USA and the domestic market, Croatia has been recording growth everywhere. This shows that Croatia is still an attractive destination. It’s good that we have dispersion across many markets,” he noted, before issuing a warning that despite safety becoming increasingly important for tourists, prices remain the absolute deciding factor.
