Croatia recorded 2.2mn tourist arrivals and 14.7mn tourist nights in commercial accommodation in July, which were year-on-year decreases of 48.1% and 42.5% respectively, according to a first release from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS). 

The figures are better than forecast by the Croatian authorities earlier this year, when it looked like the summer season would be a washout due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

Zagreb took a punt on opening up to international tourists, attracting millions of people in particular from Germany and other Central European countries who could get to Croatia by road or rail. Towards the end of August, however, Croatia reported an increase in new coronavirus cases, with several outbreaks linked to nightclubs, and has since been put on several countries’ red lists for travel. 

Of the total tourist activity, foreign tourists accounted for 2.0mn arrivals and 13.3mn overnights, down by 51.2% y/y and 44.6% y/y respectively. 

There were much smaller dips for local tourists. Domestic tourists accounted for 277,000 arrivals and 1.3mn overnights, down by just 5.1% and 8.6% respectively. 

Germany was the top source country in July. Tourists from Germany spent 4.2mn nights in Croatia, 31.3% of the total foreign tourist nights. Germans were followed by tourists from Slovenia (16.2%), Poland (11.7%), the Czech Republic (10.0%), Austria (6.6%) and Hungary (3.4%). For all major source countries, the number of overnights was down compared to July 2019.