With a ratio of ten nights in hotels to two on boats, Croatia has the most developed nautical market in the world and it will continue to grow, claims Zizoo, the biggest nautical startup in the world, the Croatian daily Jutarnji List reports.

That is especially interesting given that this year the government predicts a 1.6% drop in services export, i.e. tourism, the daily said.

The boat booking platform Zizoo was founded by two Croatians, Sinan Masovic and Ivan Miletic, with partners from Austria and Spain, and they account for 28% of bookings for spending summer in Croatia.

Zizoo has 110 employees, its investments exceed €30 million and its turnover is close to 100 million.

Jutarnji List quotes Masovic as saying that Croatia is ahead of Greece, Spain, Italy as well as the Caribbean and Pacific countries in terms of nautical market development.

When you see that nights on boats are at 20% of the nights generated in hotels, Croatia is already absolutely the strongest nautical destination on the planet, he says.

The pandemic has changed tourists’ habits, resulting in increases in non-mass tourism such as boating, camping, and house and apartment rentals, Masovic says, adding that the increases in those sectors are such that in 2021 chartering vessels surpassed the cruise industry for the first time.

Globally, the nautical market was worth $25 billion in 2021, cruising dropped to $9 billion, while boat rentals jumped to $16 billion, Masovic is quoted as saying.

In the long term, digitalisation is the main incentive for the growth of nautical tourism, and the acceleration of this process was triggered by the pandemic, Masovic says, adding that as a Google partner, Zizoo sees that from both internet and its own statistics.