April the 18th, 2024 – Czech tourists in Croatia have never hidden their love for the country, but have they had enough of the increasing prices compared to what they’ve become used to?
As Jutarnji/Novac/Dora Koretic writes, the long tale of Czech tourists in Croatia could be coming to an end as more and more of them complain of the country being too expensive. Many are beginning to prefer neighbouring Italy for their summer breaks.
Whether or not these rumours will evolve into anything is yet to be seen, but this is what the Czech portal iDnes has been reporting on over more recent days. More worryingly yet, it even devoted an entire page in its printed edition to the price hikes on the Adriatic coast.
In short, some of Croatia’s traditional, favourite guests, according to the official data of the Czech State Statistics Office, arrived on the Adriatic last year in slightly smaller numbers than usual. A minus of 30,000 Czech tourists was mentioned in that article. The Czechs consider that figure to be significant because 2023 was a record year for the amount of Czechs who took an annual holiday of at least four days abroad, according to Jutarnji.
Speaking a bit more precisely, a record number of Czech nationals travelled last year. There were exactly 5.7 million Czech passengers, which is 400 thousand more than there were last year. In addition, almost all of their more traditional destinations, with the marked exception of the Republic of Croatia and Egypt, profited from this figure, writes iDnes.
One of the main reasons why Czechs refrained from travelling to the Croatian Adriatic coast was the noticeable increase in service prices, including the introduction of beach shower fees.
“With Croatia, I assume that the mass tourism of the Czechs will gradually move elsewhere,” said tourism expert Stanislav Zíma. Neighbouring Italy, which was once considered expensive in comparison to Croatia, has come back into consideration.
The outflow of Czech tourists was also recorded in Egypt, which was visited by 100,000 less people than it was two years ago. It appears that many Czech tourists are also increasingly attracted to the exotic, taking the opportunity to fly last minute to Thailand, the Dominican Republic, Zanzibar or Kenya.
