The Split-Dalmatia County is recording an excellent booking for the peak season

We are at the end of May, after an extended weekend. All tourist indicators show that from the beginning of the year to the end of May we are at some 80% of traffic, in terms of overnight stays, from 2019.

– If we look at 2021, we have three times more nights than last year. It is an excellent booking for the peak season, said Joško Stella, director of the Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board, in the central daily of HTV.

In Istria, the pre-season is traditionally good, Denis Ivošević, director of the Tourist Board of the Istrian County, emphasized that the winter months did a very good job.

– Looking from the beginning of the year until yesterday, Istria realized 2.8 million overnight stays, which is 5% better compared to the same period in 2019 – he said.

When asked how much the reservations were influenced by some foreign media publications that jellyfish flooded Istria, Ivošević said that every now and then some information appears that tries to discredit the entire Adriatic coast. He says that they contacted experts from the Faculty who refuted the thesis that the entire Adriatic, especially the northern one, is full of jellyfish. He points out that this bothered the fishermen during the winter, someone misunderstood it and placed it falsely, but they sent a denial and believe that there will be a lot of Czechs and Slovaks.

As for guests, in Split-Dalmatia County, there is about 10% of domestic guests, and the increase in prices will affect this.

– We hope that prices will not rise too much, he said.

When asked how much the war in Ukraine affected the clientele in Istria, Ivošević said that tourism is a heterogeneous activity that changes from year to year.

– What we had in the previous 2 years definitely had an even more significant impact. Some new trends and criteria for choosing a destination have changed. We, as the northernmost region, did very well during that pandemic period, he said.

According to Ivošević, it is up to tourism workers to follow all major happenings in the world and new trends to which they need to adapt as quickly as possible.

– It is obvious that we are adapting very well because the situation is very good and promising, he added.

Stella said that they have made a master plan for tourism development, and their main goal is sustainable tourism with the help of the local population. They have already taken some actions, and they know how much they can burden their tourism during July and August.

Ivošević emphasized that Istria already has 2 million more overnight stays, which is an excellent announcement of the continuation of the tourist year. Stella expects to get very close to the 2019 results, but it is more important for them to take care of the sustainability of tourism.

source: morski.hr