Some 18.7 million tourists stayed in commercial accommodation in Croatia in 2018, which is a 7.1 percent increase compared to 2017, the state statistics bureau reported on Friday.

Tourists generated 89.7 million overnight stays in the same period, which is 4.0 percent more compared to last year.

The bulk of overnight stays in commercial accommodation, some 83.2 million, came from foreign tourists, a 3.7 percent increase from 2017. The overall number of foreign tourist arrivals rose by 6.7 percent, to 16.6 million compared to last year.

Traditionally, the most foreign tourists in 2018 came from Germany, with 2.8 million arrivals (up 6.4 percent from last year), and 20 million overnight stays (up 2.3 percent from last year), accounting for almost a quarter of all overnight stays from foreign tourists.

They were followed by tourists from Slovenia, who accounted for 9.0 percent of all overnight stays, Austria (8.5 percent of all overnight stays), and Poland (7.3 percent).

Domestic tourists, on the other hand, generated a little more than 2 million arrivals, 10.0 percent more compared to 2017, and nearly 6.5 million overnight stays, an increase of 8.3 percent.

The largest number of overnight stays, 43.4 million, was generated in private accommodation. This type of accommodation accounted for the largest share, of 49 percent, of overnight stays in commercial accommodation.

It was followed by hotels (20.4 million overnight stays, up 4.0 percent compared to 2017) and campsites (18.3 million overnight stays, up 0.6 percent on the year).

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