The latest statistics confirm the good results of this year's tourist season – the number of tourists within the first nine months in 2005 went up by 6%, and the number of night stays increased by 7.5%, as compared to the same period in 2004.
According to first data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, almost 9.3 million tourists visited Croatia in the first nine months, realising 49.3 million night stays. Comparing those numbers to the numbers from the same period in 2004, it shows that in 2005 Croatia registered 6.1% more arrivals. That makes 533 000 more tourists than for the same period last year. As far as night stays are concerned, an increase of 3.5 million nights (up by 7.5%) was registered. That kind of boost happened mostly thanks to foreign guests, who present 86.5% of all arrivals and over 90% of all night stays.
In the first nine months of this year, Croatia counted 8.01 million tourists (up by 6.8% over 2004), along with 44.5 million night stays (up by 8.1% over 2004).
As far as domestic tourists are concerned, numbers show 1.25 million arrivals (up by 1.5% over 2004) and 4.83 million night stays (up by 2.5% over 2004).
The first figures of the Central Bureau of Statistics confirm September results – which are above the average. This September registered 1.14 million tourist arrivals, which is an 11.8 % as compared to September 2004. At the same time the total number of night stays went over 5.6 million, an 11% increase over September 2004. (Hina)