Croatia expects record tourist season after becoming Schengen area

Croatian tourism officials are anticipating a record year for the sector after the country joined Europe’s free-movement Schengen zone in January, which has boosted the number of visitors to its picturesque Adriatic coast.

EU member Croatia joined the Schengen area as well as the euro zone on 1 January, enabling visitors from the bloc to travel faster and make payments easier.

Tourism accounts for 20% of Croatia’s economy and following a slump during the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector recovered in 2022 and based on results in the pre-summer season, officials expect the positive trend to continue this year.

“So far, we have recorded nearly 5 million arrivals and over 17.5 million overnight stays, which is a 20% rise from the last year,” said Kristijan Stanicic, the director of the Croatian Tourist Association, adding that overnight stays were up 11% compared with 2019, which was a record year for visitors.

“Based on these results, we can expect a positive continuation of the main tourist season and … even of the whole year,” Stanicic told Reuters in an interview.

The sector raked in record revenue of over €13 billion in 2022, and Stanicic said he expected even higher revenue this year.