September 8 (SeeNews) - A total of 11 foreign cruise ships arrived at Croatian seaports on 49 journeys in the first seven months of 2021, up from seven vessels that made 16 journeys to the Adriatic country in the same period last year but far below the pre-pandemic numbers of 2019, the country's statistical office said.
There were 35,000 passengers on board the cruise ships that visited Croatia in January-July 2021, the statistical office said in a monthly report on Tuesday.
“The number of passengers on board foreign vessels on cruise in the first seven months of 2021 increased by 31,000 compared to the same period of 2020, when, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stricter epidemiological measures were introduced to limit the number of passengers on these vessels,” it explained.
Compared to the first seven months of 2019, the number of journeys of foreign vessels on cruise trips decreased by 86.7%, and the number of passengers on board these vessels fell by 93.8%.
In the first seven months of 2021, foreign cruise vessels visited the port of Dubrovnik 40 times, Split followed with 25 visits, Korcula with 17, Hvar with 15, and Sibenik with 13 visits.
Tourism is a key industry for the Croatian economy, contributing a fifth of the country's GDP.