In 2018, 1.7 million Croatian citizens or 46.5% of the population aged 15 and over went on at least one private trip with overnight stays spending a total of HRK 8.7 billion, 3.8 billion of which was spent in Croatia and HRK 4.8 billion abroad the latest data released by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) indicate.

The DZS conducted a telephone survey on a sample of 22,000 citizens regarding their tourist activities.

About 1.9 million or 53.5% of Croatian citizens did not go on a private trip with overnight stays in 2018 with the most common reason being lack of finances (51%), health reasons (28.4%), and lack of free time (17.7%).

A total of 4.3 million private trips with overnight stays were realised, of which 2.8 million (64.0%) were realised in Croatia and 1.6 million (36.0%) were realised abroad. The most common international destinations were Bosnia and Herzegovina (21.7%), Germany (13.3%), Slovenia (9.6%), Italy (9.2%) and Austria (7.9%).

The most common reasons for going on a private trip with overnight stays were seaside vacation (1.4 million trips or 31.2%) and visiting relatives and friends (1.3 million trips or 30.6%).

“Average travel expenditure per private trip with overnight stays in Croatia amounted to 1,395 kuna, while for trips abroad, it amounted to 3 076 kuna,” the DZS says.