Croatia, a scenic European country located along the Adriatic Sea, has emerged as a hot tourism destination among Chinese tourists, with an increasing number of Chinese travelers flocking to visit the country since the summer.
Chinese holidaymakers are showing a growing appetite for long-haul tourism. During the just-concluded seven-day National Day holiday, dubbed the "Golden Week" by the Chinese, China's international flight bookings doubled compared to the same period of last year, with Europe seeing the strongest growth, according to a report by Bloomberg, citing two of China's largest online travel agencies, Qunar and Trip.com. Additionally, online travel platform Fliggy noted that Croatia was among the destinations with the steepest rise in travel bookings.
In Croatia's capital, a group of Chinese tourists from Beijing were posing for a group photo. It was their first visit to this part of Europe.
"It is beautiful. So, we have seen the whole about Croatia. I wish I can come again," said one of the tourists Shen Guixiang.
Jiang Xiaoliang is a local guide for Chinese groups arriving in Croatia. He has lived here for 18 years.
According to the Croatian National Tourist Board, Chinese tourist numbers to the islands of Croatia are up more than 90 percent compared to last year. But Jiang believes more can be done to attract Chinese money.
"A group of around 30 people said that everyone had around 3.000 euros in cash, and they wanted to buy some local souvenirs. But at the end they spent almost nothing because there wasn’t anything they wanted to buy. They complained that something has to be done so they could spend more money in Croatia," said the tour guide.
One of the major local tourist agencies agreed that Croatia has to do more in this regard.
"That means to offer more unique local products in a way that Chinese clients can see more of our traditions, more of some local culture, special thing that we only offer in Europe," said Ivan Rukavina, sales director of Uniline.
Tourism is a key driver of Croatia's economy. The country's tourism revenues reached a record high of 4.13 billion euros in the first half of 2024, marking a 7.5 percent increase compared to the same period of last year, according to the Croatian National Bank.
"When we look at the level of satisfaction with their visit and experience of Croatia, security is the top aspect that they appreciate the most, followed by overall satisfaction with stay and beauty of nature and landscape," said Sasa Popovac, head of Market Research and Analytics at Croatian National Tourist Board.
Most of Croatia's attractions are located along the beautiful Adriatic coastline. Although the high tourist season at the coast is finished in Zagreb, a city known for many historic landmarks, tourist numbers are still quite above the average. This also applies to the Chinese visitors. The Croatian National Tourist Board expects this upward trend to continue as Chinese tourists travel year-round.
Croatia emerges as hot tourism destination for Chinese tourists
Croatia emerges as hot tourism destination for Chinese tourists
