Nearly half of all Croatians are planning a trip abroad for their winter holidays, an online survey conducted by Mastercard found.

The survey, conducted on a sample of around 1,000 users of Mastercard banking services aged 18-55, found that 46 percent said they planned to go on trips abroad this winter.

A quarter of the respondents, or 27 percent, said they would not be travelling abroad this winter, while 28 percent said they were undecided yet.

Of those planning a trip abroad, as many as 60 percent said they want to visit one of the major European cities during the pre-Christmas period, while 23 percent said they had plans to ring in the New Year in one of European destinations in countries neighbouring Croatia.

Others said they planned a different kind of trip (18 percent) or a skiing vacation (16 percent).

Most of the respondents said their trip would last up to a week, with nearly two thirds of skiers saying they would stay abroad for five to seven days, while 53 percent of those planning Advent trips would spend only one or two days abroad.

The survey revealed that Croatians most often travel to the nearest European cities. In 2017, the most visited destinations were Ljubljana (29 percent), Sarajevo (19 percent), Budapest (19 percent), Vienna (18 percent), Munich (15 percent) and Belgrade (14 percent).

Croatians most often travel around the country, either on business or on holiday. In 2017 as many as 63 percent of business and holiday trips were made within Croatia, while a quarter were made to euro zone countries. Only about ten percent of trips were made outside the euro zone.

Most of the respondents, or 82 percent, said they would book their accommodation online, 13 percent said they would do so via a travel agency, while 16 percent said they would travel without booking.

The survey also revealed that most of the respondents would pay for their trip with some form of non-cash payment, while only 28 percent said they would pay cash.

Only seven percent said they only used credit cards for payments abroad, while 19 percent said they mostly used credit cards, which is an increase of six percent from last year.

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