Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli on Saturday saw off at the Rijeka Port six cruise ships with around 100 passengers, the first cruise ships to leave the port this year.
Cappelli said the guests were Austrians and Germans, their journey would last a week and they would visit islands in the Kvarner archipelago.
The minister said that the situation with the boating tourism in Croatia this year was very good compared to the situation in rival countries.
To illustrate this, he said that there were 20 top vessels in the world and that this summer as many as 10 would visit Croatia.
Arrivals by ships and mega yachts with more than 20 metres in length will drop this year by 20-30% while in the rival countries such as Spain, France or Greece, the drop will be 80-90%, said Cappelli.
Small cruise ships and mega yachts are evidently moving to Croatia, he said, adding that this had been made possible by a number of decisions, including a recent 20% reduction of the tourist tax, as well as by Croatia's safety as a tourist destination.
He said that currently more than 160,000 tourists were staying in the country and that 30,000 were arriving on a daily basis.
(Hina/FaH)
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