In the first five months of this year, 40 foreign cruise ships visited the Croatian Adriatic, eight fewer than last year, bringing 162,500 visitors, an increase of 68%, according to the the Croatian state statistics bureau (DZS).

The foreign cruise ships made 126 trips, which is nine trips or 6.7 percent less than in the first five months of last year, but they stayed longer, spending a total of 299 days, up 7.6%.

Of the total number of cruise trips, 71 were made in May, two fewer than in May 2022, but they brought 83 percent more passengers, or 103,000.

Most of the cruise ships flew the flag of the Bahamas, followed by those sailing under the flags of eight other countries, including Malta, Panama and Norway.

Of the total of 126 cruise trips, 50.8 per cent were made to Dubrovnik-Neretva County, 26.2 percent to Split-Dalmatia County and the remaining 23 percent to Zadar, Sibenik-Knin, Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Istria Counties.

Among the cities, Dubrovnik attracted the largest number of cruise ships (95), followed by Split (63), Zadar (33), Sibenik (24), Korcula (20), Hvar (15) and Rovinj (10).