June 8 (SeeNews) - Foreign tourist arrivals to Croatia soared 49.9% year-on-year to 769,657 in April, with overnights up 59.5% to 2,210,473, according to data released by the country's statistical office on Thursday.
International visitors accounted for 86.7% of all overnight stays in April, the data indicated.
Tourism is a key industry for Croatia, generating around a fifth of the country's gross domestic product.
The number of domestic tourists increased 10.3% on the year to 146,113 in April, taking the total number of tourists to 915,770, up 41.8% on the year.
The number of overnights spent by domestic tourists rose 19.9% on the year to 339,955 in April. The total number of tourist overnights surged to 2,550,428, an increase of 52.8% year-on-year.
Croatia's biggest feeder markets in April were Germany with a share of 19.0%, Slovenia with 14% and Austria with 13%.
In April, hotels attracted the highest number of overnights - 1,472,000, or 58% of the total.
In 2016, tourist arrivals to Croatia increased by 8.7%, while the number of overnights rose by 9.0%, reaching 78.05 million.