Major hotel companies have prepared about 200 hotels to be open during this year's Christmas and New Year's holidays, or 20 percent up from the same time last year.

The Croatian Tourism Association (HUT) says in its latest monthly magazine that hoteliers expect higher revenues during this year’s holiday season.

The HUT’s publication also includes figures showing that this year’s off-season was better than last year’s.

In October and November this year, 950,400 tourists generated 3.3 million overnight stays in Croatia, and 78.2% of them were foreign visitors. In the first 12 days of December, 76,200 people visited Croatia and made 209,500 overnight stays, with as many as 57.6% of them being foreign visitors.

In the first eleven months, fiscalised receipts in hotels and similar business facilities reached HRK 8.9 billion (€1.19 billion), which is 124% more than in the same period in 2020, and 0.3% more than in the same period in 2019.

HUT director Veljko Ostojic was quoted as saying that Croatia’s admission to the Schengen area would additionally strengthen the country’s image as a tourist destination.