September the 26th, 2026 – Split is seeking an alternative accommodation structure that would steer the sector away from solely hotels or apartments with very little else in the mix.
Croatian tourism has grown and blossomed for decades on the basis of apartments and family accommodation. At the very moment when Split, the largest city on the Croatian coast, is trying to balance such a structure, the mere announcement of change has provoked resistance from private landlords. Ana Roksandic reports for Poslovni that according to data from the Split Tourist Board and the eVisitor system, back in 2025, Split was home to 27,726 beds in commercial accommodation in household facilities, as much as 5.4 times more than in hotels, which had 5,111 beds.
tourist satisfaction
Household facilities accounted for 68.28 percent, and hotels 12.59 percent of total commercial accommodation capacity. The Split Destination Management Plan for the period 2026–2029 has therefore opened a discussion on whether and how much such a structure should be changed, but also who would pay the price of that change. The association Let’s Save Small Family Landlords (SMOi) submitted an official statement to the City of Split on the Plan proposal. The association claims that the document unjustifiably presents private accommodation in a negative light.
“That Plan, prepared by the Institute for Tourism, proposes an increase in the share of hotels and campsites of as much as 65 percent, while private accommodation is through the Plan, without a convincing explanation, presented exclusively negatively and its restrictions are proposed, although the data of the Plan itself show that more than 85 percent of tourists are satisfied with the quality of accommodation,” SMOi stated. The authors of the study, Snježana Boranić Živoder and Ivo Beroš, however, dispute such an interpretation. The key difference, they say, is between increasing the physical number of hotel capacities and increasing their share in the overall offer.
“It’s important to clarify that this is not a recommendation to increase the physical number of hotel and camping capacities by 65 percent, but a recommendation to increase their share in total commercial accommodation capacities from 18.2 to 30 percent,” Boranić Živoder explained.
the goal of reducing seasonality
In the scenarios, Boranić Živoder adds, the announcements of the opening of two new hotels with a total of more than 850 beds were taken into account, as well as trends of growth in investment in hotel accommodation. But the argument for changing the structure is not only the number of beds, but their occupancy.
“Taking into account the goal of reducing seasonality, it is important to emphasise that hotel occupancy is at the level of around 160 days, while in the case of household facilities it is around 80 days,” Beroš stated. That is an important piece of data for Split, a city that already has high tourist traffic, but extremely concentrated on the summer. By comparison, according to data from the Split Tourist Board (TZ), in January 2025, 38,174 overnight stays were recorded, while in July there were 678,911, almost 18 times more. The authors of the study say: “The goal is not to replace one type of accommodation with another, nor to reduce overall tourist activity in any form of commercial accommodation. The change in accommodation structure is viewed in the context of extending the season, greater occupancy of all forms of commercial accommodation and the development of a high-quality and competitive tourist offer of the destination.” However, the question of tourist accommodation in Split cannot be separated from the question of housing either. At SMOi they consider that responsibility for the pressure on housing cannot be shifted onto private landlords.
“If one wants to manage the impact of tourism on the city, then the criteria must apply equally to everyone. A tourist bed cannot be a problem when it belongs to a citizen, and desirable when it belongs to a hotel,” warned SMOi association president Vedran Tomić. From the association, they emphasise that the Plan states the potential for the construction of as many as 14,836 new apartments, while, they claim, city and state properties that could be activated for housing are not sufficiently considered. On the other hand, Ivo Beroš emphasises that the Plan does not reduce Split’s problems only to private accommodation.
the pressures to consider…
“Commercial accommodation is one of the elements of a broader system of pressures on the Split destination, and not the only pressure,” Beroš said. According to his words, the calculation of sustainability and carrying capacity also covered traffic, crowds, noise, waste, infrastructure, housing and the spatial concentration of tourism.
“Two thirds of the beds in commercial tourist accommodation in the City of Split are located in household facilities. In them around 55 percent of total overnight stays are realised, of which almost half are realised in July and August,” Beroš stated. After public consultation, the Tourist Council of the Split Tourist Board is to decide on forwarding the Plan proposal for adoption to the City Council, which as the representative body of the City of Split adopts the Plan. After adoption, the City of Split and the Tourist Board should participate in the implementation of the selected measures. To questions about how the City sees the implementation of the Plan and its possible effects we did not receive an answer by the closing of the issue
