As Morski writes, so far, the year 2022 has marked by domestic guests, but also visitors from nearby Austria and neighbouring Slovenia, which recorded a significant increase in terms of the number of overnight stays compared when to 2019. Overall, every fourth night in Kvarner over the past four months was realised in Opatija, which is fantastic news for Opatija tourism figures this year.
The best tourist results in all of Kvarner in the first four months of this year were achieved by Opatija, which was the most frequent choice for people wanting to spend holidays in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. From January the 1st to April the 30th, Opatija recorded 71 thousand arrivals and 190 thousand overnight stays, which is 23 percent of the total number of overnight stays spent in all of Kvarner. In other words, so far in 2022, every fourth night in Kvarner was realised in Opatija, as reported by the local portal RIportal.
Of the total number of overnight stays, 58 thousand or 30 percent were realised by domestic guests, who, according to this criteria, are in the first place. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, the number of overnight stays realised by domestic guests increased by 13 percent. Foreign guests realised a total of 132 thousand overnight stays, and the largest share in this number were visitors from Austria. Having realised 43,300 overnight stays, they “improved” their 2019 result by 6 percent.
After the Croats and Austrians, the neighbouring Slovenians came third in share with 19,000 overnight stays realised and growth of 16 percent when compared to the same period of the last “pre-pandemic” year (2019). A significant increase in the number of overnight stays for Opatija tourism figures was achieved by guests from the USA with growth of 33 percent, Switzerland with growth of 11 percent and neighbouring Hungary with growth of 10 percent.
When it comes to the choice of accommodation, Opatija’s guests mostly chose hotels, which hold an impressive 83% share in terms of total overnight stays realised, equal to a massive 158 thousand overnight stays. With 28,000 overnight stays realised, Opatija’s private accommodation “incorporated” a 15 percent share into the town’s total score, while the rest fell on non-commercial accommodation.
”We can be more than satisfied with the current part of the tourist year, which has shown that Opatija is a sought-after destination and one which operates throughout the year. The interest of guests, along with our natural beauty and rich cultural and historical heritage, we’ve managed achieved through targeted promotional campaigns, as well as already known programmes from Advent, Valentine’s Day, and then Easter. We’re optimistic about the summer season, because the announcements so far are good, and the abolition of epidemiological measures has allowed us to reorganise large and well-attended events such as RetrOpathy, which is set to return in late June,” said the director of the Opatija Tourist Board, Suzi Petricic.
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