A total of 25.3 billion kuna (€3.3bn) worth of receipts were registered by Croatia's hospitality industry in 2021, or 61 percent up from 2020, and 11 percent down from the record high in 2019, state agency Hina said on Tuesday, carrying a press release from the Tourism and Sports Ministry, which cited data released by tax authorities.

“We are very satisfied with these results. The impact of tourism on the national economy will be known in the first quarter of this year, when the Croatian central bank publish their data on total revenues in 2021,” Tourism Minister, Nikolina Brnjac, said.

Brnjac said that Croatia can offer “quality, indigenous, products and product diversity to its visitors” year-round, and that in 2022 the focus will be on “sustainability and environmental and social awareness.”

The unsigned press release from the ministry cited most recent data released by the central bank which showed that revenue from foreign visitors amounted to €8.2 billion in the first nine months of 2021, or 90 percent up from the same period of 2020 and 12 percent down from the same period in 2019.

In Q3 2021 alone, revenue from foreign visitors amounted to €6.7 billion, around 3.3 billion or almost 100 percent up from the same period in 2020.

(€1 = 7.52 kuna)