According to the Croatian Tourism Board (HTZ), Croatia recorded 20.6 million tourist arrivals and 108 million overnight stays in 2023. This marks a return to the pre-crisis year 2019, with a 9% increase in arrivals and a 3% increase in overnight stays compared to 2022.
With 23.6 million visitors, German tourists had the most overnight stays in the nation, and Slovenian tourists had 10.6 million. Austrian holidaymakers took the third spot with 8.4 million overnight stays. Local guests were responsible for 13 million overnight stays.
Croatia's most popular holiday region last year was Istria, with 30 million overnight stays, followed by Split-Dalmatia with 20.2 million and the Kvarner Bay with 18.5 million.
Croatia's Minister of Tourism, Nikolina Brnjac, has expressed her satisfaction with the tourism volume and financial results from the previous year. In a statement, she shared that they had the best pre-season in history and a successful post-season, proving that the country is making significant strides in achieving year-round tourism, one of their most critical strategic goals.
According to HTZ CEO Kristjan Staničić, Croatia has strengthened its position as one of the most popular destinations in Europe over the past year. He noted that this is evident in the tourism traffic and revenues, which are expected to reach record levels.
The Croatian Central Bank (HNB) reported that revenues from foreign guests in the first nine months of 2023 amounted to just under EUR 13 billion, representing an 11.4% increase from the same period in 2022.