Istria County prefect Boris Miletic on Thursday welcomed tighter COVID restrictions introduced along the coastline due to the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, saying it was in everyone's interest to maintain the current tourism figures as long as possible.

Speaking to the press in the Istrian city of Pula, he said arrivals and overnight stays in the first seven months of this year were at 60 percent of those in the corresponding period in 2019, a record year for tourism in Croatia.

“2020 can’t be a reference point of comparison as it would turn out that we were 200 percent better. In July alone, in the first 20 days, we recorded 90 percent of the arrivals and overnight stays recorded (at the same time) in 2019,” Miletic said.

More tourists than domestic population in Istria

More than 230,000 tourists are currently staying in Istria, which has a population of 209,000, Miletic said.

Some 38 percent are staying in private accommodations, 38 percent in campsites, and 24 percent in hotels.

“In any case, we have to be as responsible as possible because tourists don’t want big parties and big gatherings, but to spend their vacation normally,” he said, adding that he hoped responsibility would be evident at all levels so that this tourist year could be much more successful than the last.

Miletic said big gatherings were not necessary, except various festivals like the ongoing Pula Film Festival. He added that big outdoor gatherings were a problem because it was difficult to control that many people and impossible to ban someone from coming.