In 2019 Croatia was visited by close to 21 million tourists, a 5 percent increase from 2018, and they made 108.6 million overnight stays, 2.4 percent up year-on-year, according to data released by the national tourist board HTZ.

HTZ said that foreign tourists accounted for 18.2 million arrivals (4.4 percent up year-on-year) and close to 95 million overnight stays (1.7 percent more).

Last year also saw an increase in the numbers of domestic visitors and overnight stays, as HTZ recorded 2.4 million domestic tourists, 9 percent up from 2018, who generated close to 14 million overnight stays, an increase of 7.6 percent.

More than 39 million bed nights were recorded in private bed and breakfasts, an increase of 3 percent compared to 2018, with the number of beds having increased more in that sector than in other types of commercial accommodation, proving that Croatians are increasingly turning to renting out apartments and homes.

They were followed by hotels, which recorded close to 25 million overnight stays, 1.7 percent up from 201, and camping sites with 19 million bed nights, 0.4 percent down from 2018. Large increase in bed nights were at family-run farms, 18.4 percent up year-on-year to 107,000, and at marinas, with 3.5 million bed nights, or 11.1 percent up from 2018.

Broken down by counties, as in previous years, the county with the most bed nights, close to 29 million, was Istria County, followed by Split-Dalmatia County (20.4 million), the Kvarner bay area of northern Adriatic, with 19.2 million overnight stays, and Zadar County (15.1 million).

The destinations with the largest number of overnight stays were coastal cities of Dubrovnik (4.3 million) and Rovinj (4 million). Porec was third with 3.5 million bed nights. In the top ten cities and towns were also Split, Medulin, Umag, Zagreb, Vir, Mali Losinj, and Crikvenica.