Revenues from foreign tourists who visited Croatia in the first half of 2018 reached EUR 3 billion, an increase of 276 million or 10 percent over the same period of 2017, the Tourism Ministry said on Sunday, citing central bank data.

In the second quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year, revenues from foreign tourists increased by EUR 222 million or 9 percent to EUR 2.558 billion.

The share of tourism revenues in GDP was 19.7 percent, up 1.6 percentage points.

Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said that at this point the number of overnight stays had exceeded 100 million, a month earlier than last year.

“Tourism revenue growth is the basis for further development, investment and increasing competitiveness, which is why in our activities, programmes and legislative changes we put the focus on increasing the efficiency of the tourism sector, improving the quality and diversifying services,” the minister said.

Cappelli said that the results achieved so far were a confirmation of the great progress made towards year-round tourism. “I am confident that we will be even more successful in the future,” he concluded.

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