Some 25 new or completely refurbished hotels are due to open this summer on the Croatian Adriatic coast as a result of a sustained period of investment in the sector.

Around 25 new or completely redesigned hotels will open for the upcoming summer season along the Croatian Adriatic coast.

Croatian and foreign tourism companies have invested billions of Croatian kuna in hotels lately, far more than was invested in the last decade.

When it comes to the total number of tourists they accommodate, Croatian hotels still currently accommodate only 32.7 per cent of tourists to the country.

In other developed European tourist destinations, the figures are much higher. In France, it is 49.9 per cent, in Spain, 73.5 per cent, in Italy, 67.6 per cent, and in Greece, 76.3 per cent.

Tourism minister Darko Lorencin said sustained investment in the Croatian hotel industry was starting to bear fruit.

“The large number of new hotels opening this summer is partly a result of two years of investment in the sector… which started in 2013 with a total of 230 million euro to last year’s figure of almost 410 million euro,” Lorencin said.

“It all shows that Croatia is on the rise in terms of tourism, and there is no stagnation in terms of investment,” he added.

The minister said the authorities were aim to attract new investors into real estate on the coast, which has been in decay for decades since Yugoslavia dissolved in the 1990s.

The second biggest company in hotel industry, Valamar Riviera, will be opening its Isabella Island Resort on a small isle next to the town of Porec on the western Istrian peninsula, in which it has invested around 33 million euro.

HUP Zagreb, also amongst biggest hotel companies in Croatia, has invested around 40 million euro in hotels, opening two new ones in the region of Dubrovnik on the south of the Adriatic coast.

According to the tourism ministry, there are 620 registered hotels in Croatia with 104,000 beds and 20 apartment hotels with an additional 1,400 beds.

Croatia earned 7.4 billion euro in 2014 from tourism, which accounted for 17.2 per cent of its annual GDP. Although figures for 2014 grew by 2.8 per cent when compared with 2013, the figures are still down from their pre-recession high in 2008.

 

Sven Milekic BIRN Zagreb

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