tourists

[yeslehc]

I was wondering what the tourist figures for the whole of croatia was like this year, where they up or down,by the mark one eyeball where I live, august was normal, but the rest of the summer was well down. obviously I dont beleive any of the government figures

[Ribaric]

I took a few jaunts to the coast this summer and got told, almost unanimously, that numbers were down significantly. Mrs Rib's son is at uni in Dubrovnik and his digs are normally given over to tourists during the summer break. This year, almost nobody came. It doesn't look good. Doubtless the minister will claim the numbers fell by about 10% but each tourist spent twice as much than in previous years.

Of course they did

[Carol]

That's disappointing.

Official figures because they are only a count of those who registered. Originally, almost no one registered but there is a push every year to stop people staying without registration, so apparently, tourist numbers have been steadily increasing every year.

A better measure would be how long it takes to find a space big enough to lay 2 towels down on Baska Voda beach at 11am any day in August! Last time I tried it (2007 or 8), it was completely impossible so the answer would have been about five hours. If you can do it in half an hour, then numbers will be falling. If you can do it in 1 minute, then croatia is in big trouble!!!

[Ribaric]

Just outside Varazdin, on the main highway between Budapest and Zagreb, there is a huge rest area. It has little or no facilities but is free for overnight parking. Normally, in July and August, Friday nights (going south) and Saturday nights (returning north), it has been difficult to find a parking spot to get some sleep. This year, it was half full at best. Unless something else has changed, it is a guide as to the numbers of people heading into HR.

[keepsmiling]

I understood that the Russians hadn't been able to come. They didn't have groups of Russians at the hotel in our village last year. A local friend didn't have any Russians this year. We know that a few EU people visiting hadn't bothered to register because they said they are now in the EU!

[airtrails]

I was this season on croatian coast more than 30 times, and must say I didn´t look to good. Very bad weather that was over the summer, scared away most of the guest. Only the biggest names in tourist industry like Dubrovnik,Rovinj and Opatija, had more or less usual season.

[fidobsa]

Yes, the people who had not booked well in advance probably heard about all the flooding.