Croatian tourism industry boomed in 2017: minister

ZAGREB, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Croatia's tourism industry achieved a historical growth in 2017, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli announced here on Monday.

For the first time, Croatia had more than 100 million overnight stays in a year. There were 102 million overnight stays in 2017, an increase of 12 percent compared to 2016. The 100-million record was expected to be broken in 2020, according to Croatian tourism strategy.

From January to the end of December 2017, there were 18.6 million arrivals, 13 percent more than that of 2016. 16.6 million of them were foreign tourists, whose arrival counts increased by 14 percent than previous year. Domestic tourists made 12 million overnight stays, which is 14 percent more than 2016.

The minister said in a televised press conference that Croatia could accommodate even more tourists during pre-season and post-season. He expected a further five to seven percent rise of tourism traffic in 2018, noting that an increase from far-off markets can be expected.

The top destination in Croatia is Dubrovnik, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the region. It is followed by Rovinj, Porec, Medulin and Umag, all parts of Istria, the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea.

According to Croatian National Bank, the central bank of Croatia, in the first nine months of 2017, tourism revenues amounted to 9.8 billion U.S. dollars, which was ten percent more than the same period in 2016 and accounted for 24 percent of the southeastern European country's GDP. Enditem