March 30 (SeeNews) - The contribution of tourism to Croatia's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.7 percentage points year-on-year to 19.6% in 2017, the tourism ministry said on Friday.
Croatia reaped 9.49 billion kuna ($1.6 billion/1.3 billion euro) in revenue from foreign tourists last year, up 10% over 2016, the ministry said in a statement.
In the fourth quarter alone, Croatia's revenue from international visitors increased 10% to 807 million kuna.
"Tourism, accompanied by a favourable external environment and the progress of structural reforms, is one of the main growth generators of the Croatian economy," tourism minister, Gari Cappelli, said in the statement.
Including revenue from domestic guests, Croatia's tourism revenue topped 11 billion euro in 2017, up 10% year-on-year.
"This is the best indicator of how much Croatian tourism has progressed," Cappelli added.
Croatia saw a record 18.5 million tourist arrivals in 2017, up 13% on the year. This year, the country expects 20 million arrivals.
(1 euro=7.43474 kuna)