ZAGREB (Croatia), December 14 (SeeNews) – The Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) said on Friday it expects some 5% rise in the country’s tourism revenue for 2008 to 7.27 billion euro ($10.5 billion).
HTZ's target for 2008 is to see total arrivals in Croatia grow by 3.0% as overnights increase 2.0%, it said in a statement sent to SeeNews.
HTZ expects some 10% rise in the country’s tourism revenue this year to 6.92 billion euro.
The number of tourists in Croatia is expected to increase by 7.54%, while overnights will be up by 5.7% in 2007.
The number of tourists in Croatia through October rose by 7.0% on the year to some 10.8 million, as overnights increased by 6.0% to 55.1 million, the Croatian Statistics Bureau said earlier this month.
In terms of overnights spent in Croatia, German tourists led with 22% of the total in the first 10 months of the year, followed by Slovenians with 11.5% and Italians with 10.9%, HTZ added.
Tourism is a key industry for Croatia. Last year the Adriatic country reported a record high 10.4 million tourists, up by 4.0%, and 53 million overnights, or 3.0% more than in 2005. Tourism revenue grew by 5.0% to 6.3 billion euro in 2006, generating 18.4% of Croatia's gross domestic product.