Tourism 2025: less capacity, higher occupancy and a stronger role for domestic guests

Croatian tourism in 2025 will continue to see moderate growth in tourist traffic in commercial accommodation.

According to the latest data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), a total of 20,7 million arrivals and 94,8 million overnight stays were recorded in 2025, representing an increase of 2,2% in arrivals and 1,2% in overnight stays compared to 2024. Tourists spent an average of 4,6 overnight stays per arrival, confirming the stability of demand, but also the retention of the pattern of shorter stays compared to the pre-pandemic period.

The growth is particularly pronounced domestic market.

Domestic tourists achieved 3,1 million arrivals and 9,2 million overnight stays, which is 7,6% more arrivals and 5,6% more overnight stays than a year earlier. Although they account for 14,9% of arrivals and 9,7% of overnight stays in the overall structure, their contribution to the overall growth was extremely significant. Of the total increase of 1,1 million overnight stays at the Croatian level, as many as 489 thousand, or 43%, relate to domestic guests.

This is the fifth consecutive year of growth in domestic tourist overnight stays, and the year in which they achieved the largest absolute increase in overnight stays compared to other countries, which further confirms their growing importance and stabilizing role in the system.

Foreign tourists recorded 17,6 million arrivals and 85,6 million overnight stays, with an increase of 1,4% in arrivals and 0,8% in overnight stays. They accounted for 85,1% of arrivals and 90,3% of overnight stays in the total structure. They averaged 4,9 overnight stays per arrival, while domestic tourists averaged 3,0 overnight stays.

Germany remains the leading source market, despite a slight decline. German tourists accounted for 3,0 million arrivals and 21,0 million overnight stays, accounting for 17,3% of total arrivals and 24,6% of total overnight stays of foreign tourists.

Compared to 2024, the number of arrivals decreased by 1,0%, and overnight stays by 0,3%. They are followed by tourists from Slovenia, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia and the Netherlands. An increase in overnight stays was recorded among guests from Poland, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, while slight decreases were recorded in some other markets.

How We view domestic tourists as a separate source market. and compare them to leading foreign markets, they would rank among the top five markets in terms of overnight stays in 2025.

With 9,2 million overnight stays, the domestic market would be the second strongest, right behind Germany (21,0 million overnight stays), and ahead of individual foreign markets such as Slovenia, Austria or Poland. Although domestic guests account for 9,7% of total overnight stays, their absolute contribution to growth - 43% of the total increase in overnight stays in 2025, confirms that the domestic market is no longer a "patchwork" market outside the peak season, but one of the most strategically important markets for Croatian tourism.

/ / / If we continue to treat domestic guests as "incidental statistics", we are cutting the branch we are sitting on.

Regionally, Adriatic Croatia continues to dominate tourism with 89,4 million overnight stays, or 94,3% of total overnight stays, with a growth of 1,1%. However, continental regions are also recording a positive trend. The City of Zagreb achieved 2,7 million overnight stays, which is a growth of 2,8%, Pannonian Croatia 1,4 million overnight stays with a growth of 0,3%, while Northern Croatia with 1,3 million overnight stays achieved the most pronounced growth among the regions, of 4,1%.

At the county level, Istrian County It is again in first place with 5,0 million arrivals and 28,3 million overnight stays, which accounts for almost a third of total overnight stays in Croatia. Compared to 2024, it achieved a growth of 2,4% in arrivals and 1,5% in overnight stays. It is followed by Split-Dalmatia County with 18,4 million overnight stays and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County with 15,5 million overnight stays, both with moderate growth.

In Istria, the largest share of foreign overnight stays was recorded by tourists from Germany, and by type of accommodation, campsites dominate with 11,5 million overnight stays, or 40,4% of total turnover in the county. This is followed by short-term holiday facilities and hotels, with all three groups recording growth.

At the destination level, Rovinj and Dubrovnik share first place with 4,2 million overnight stays each.

Poreč, Split and Zagreb also recorded growth and remain among the leading cities in terms of tourist traffic. Zagreb leads the way for domestic guests with 548 thousand overnight stays, while Dubrovnik and Rovinj lead the way for foreign tourists with 4,0 million overnight stays each.

By type of accommodation at the national level, the highest number of overnight stays was recorded in short-term accommodation facilities - 46,7 million or 49,2% of total turnover. Hotels recorded 26,3 million overnight stays, up 2,7%, while campsites reached 21,9 million overnight stays, up 2,0%.

It is interesting to note that in 2025 The multi-year trend of growth in accommodation capacities has been interrupted.

There were 441 thousand accommodation units and 1,2 million permanent beds available to tourists, a decrease of 1,4% and 1,6% respectively compared to 2024. The exception is hotels, which were the only ones to record a slight increase in capacity. At the same time, the average occupancy rate of accommodation units increased to 59,9% and of permanent beds to 60,6%, indicating a more efficient use of existing capacities.

The overall results for 2025 confirm the stabilization of tourism traffic with mild growth, a stronger contribution from the domestic market, and the first signs of a slowdown in capacity expansion. Croatian tourism is thus entering a phase in which key issues will increasingly be related to the structure of growth, quality and efficiency, and not solely to volumes.