Number of tourism accommodation facilities in Croatia rises 7% y/y at end-Aug

The number of households hosting tourists rose by 7% on the year to 112,000 at the end of August, while the volume of beds they had on offer jumped 5.2% to some 634,000, the ministry said in a statement on Friday, citing data by the country's eVisitor system.

It added that the household segment saw the highest increase this year.

Still, its share in total beds available to tourists rose only slightly, to 37.3% from 37% at the end of August 2018, the statement said.

At the end of August, there were a total of 1,199 hotels in Croatia, offering 177,400 beds, which was up by 3.2% and 4.0%, respectively, on the year.

Despite the increase, the share of hotel beds in all beds edged down to 10.4% from 10.5%.

On the other hand, the number of campsites rose by three to 502 this year, while the number of their beds saw an increase of 1% year-on-year to 247,400. Thus, their share in total beds declined to 14.5% from 15.1% at the end of August 2018.

Tourism is a key driver for the Croatian economy, contributing some 20% of the country's GDP.

The government hopes to see the number of tourists rising 3% this year and overnight stays increasing by up to 2%.