After the main tourist season and post-season results exceeded expectations, the Croatian Tourism Association (HUT) expects an even more successful tourist season next year, and preparations have already begun. The main goal is to provide enough workforce reports HRTurizam.
Namely, 4.1 million tourists visited Croatia in August, realizing 26.2 million overnight stays, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced after all the received data were collected and processed. Arrivals represent a growth of 65 percent compared to 2020, while according to the number of overnight stays, Croatia is up 57 percent compared to August 2020. Compared to the record 2019, we reached 86.3 percent of all arrivals and 94.3 percent of all overnight stays.
“This year we have shown that we are an extremely desirable and quality tourist destination and we expect that the next season will be even more successful. To achieve this, it is crucial to start preparations immediately. We expect continued investment and quality improvement throughout the sector,” emphasized Veljko Ostojić, the Croatian Tourism Association director.
Most of the tourists who visited Croatia in August were foreigners (3.7 million) and accounted for 91 percent of all overnight stays and 84.5 percent of all arrivals. Among them, most guests came from Germany and accounted for 35.7 percent of all foreign overnight stays or 8.6 million, an increase of 72.2 percent compared to August 2020, and 88.7 percent more or 1.1 million. On the other hand, compared to August 2019, there were 43.4 percent more Germans in Croatia, with 39.5 percent more overnight stays. After the Germans, the Poles are in second place in terms of overnight stays, followed by the Austrians, Slovenes, Czechs, Dutch, and Italians.
In September, 1.9 million tourists visited Croatia and are responsible for 12 million overnight stays, which is a plus of 245, or 147 percent compared to last September, but also 81 percent of tourist arrivals and 94 percent of overnight stays from September 2019.
With superior numbers of arrivals in the peak season, tourists stayed in Croatia longer this year and spent more, even compared to the record year 2019, which was especially emphasized in August.
According to the analysis of the Tax Administration and data in 2019, 2020, and 2021, the fiscalization system shows an increase in consumption, i.e., an increase in the number and amount of invoices in the hospitality industry compared to last year.
The results once again showed the importance of tourism in the overall Croatian economy, with a share of more than 20% of GDP, which generates a third of Croatian exports and employs about 100,000 people.
“Good management of human resources in tourism, primarily by investing in their knowledge and skills, we will raise the quality that has proven to be the key to success in the pandemic years. Continuously raising quality will enable greater competitiveness, which is the formula for success in the coming years. For this reason, we began to work on preparations for next summer actively and sent to the ministries our proposals for measures to preserve and improve the labor market in the tourism sector. It is necessary to start implementing the measures now, to keep quality people and attract new staff,” concluded Ostojić.
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