Easter holidays traditionally represent the time when first larger groups of tourists arrive to Croatia. The shoulder season, which kicked off somewhat earlier than usual this year, delights hotel managers, travel agencies and tourists themselves, N1 reported on Sunday (March 25).

On the Split waterfront tourists can be spotted this year as early as late March, with many more swarming the city’s historic streets and squares. Last year some 13,000 tourists visited the Split-Dalmatia County during Easter holidays, where they spent 49,000 overnight stays.

This year, the numbers are expected to increase.

“Early signs are really good, one can tell that the shoulder season is really kicking off… During the Easter holidays we get a lot of visitors from Scandinavian countries, and also from France and other western countries like Germany,” head of the county tourist board, Joško Stella, told N1.

Workers in tourism were also helped by the fact that most foreign airline companies had introduced their seasonal scheduled flights earlier than ever before, on March 21.

“Copenhagen-Split, Nice and Venice–Split, and especially the fourth Ljubljana–Brač flight, there are other flights serving Brač, but the Ljubljana-Brač is especially important because Slovenians like visiting in the shoulder season,” Stella added.

Although the city has almost 20,000 beds in private accommodation, there’s a shortage of hotel beds, so numerous restorations and upgrades and works on new facilities have turned the city into a construction site.

“Bookings have exceeded our expectations. We are very pleased, the (occupancy) percentage is pretty high, we are hoping we will soon fill up the hotel entirely,” said hotel worker Goran Poljak.

All signs point to another successful tourist season in the Split-Dalmatia County, which might set new records in visitor numbers and revenue.