"Hostels in Croatia have done better business this year than in 2021 but the 462,000 bed nights to date are 50 percent down from the first nine months of 2019, although the number of hostels is the same," state news agency Hina said on Thursday, citing publicly available data from the digital visitor registry.

This year to date, hostels have accommodated 145,000 tourists, down 60 percent from the first nine months of 2019, and they offer 4 percent more beds than in 2019, a little over 19,200. Istria County accounts for the most nights this year to date (113,000), down 38.5 percent from the same time in 2019, followed by Primorje-Gorski Kotar County with 100,600 nights (-45 percent) and the City of Zagreb with 72,400 nights (-56 percent).

Only two counties recorded more nights when compared with the first nine months of 2019 – Varazdin with 11,200 (+18.3 percent) and Virovitica-Podravina with 78 nights (+145 percent).

“In 2021 and this year, hostels have not increased prices significantly and don’t expert any increase in revenue,” said Drazen Gecevic, executive director of the Croatian Youth Hostel Association. “Due to lower prices, the hostel business is more affected by higher operating costs and labor shortage, which also affects their revenues, plans and investments,” he said, adding that therefore hostels, too, “expect government aid.”