April 4 (SeeNews) - Croatia's tourism and travel industry contributed 39.78 billion kuna ($6.6 billion/5.4 billion euro) directly to the country's economy in 2017, equivalent to 10.9% of its gross domestic product (GDP), the World Travel&Tourism Council (WTTC) said.
The direct GDP contribution of the country's tourism and travel industry is forecast to rise by 3.4% in 2018, and by 4.4% per annum from 2018-2028, to 63.23 billion kuna or 14.2% of total GDP in 2028, the WTTC said in its Travel&Tourism Economic Impact 2018 report.
The total contribution of the tourism and travel industry to Croatia's GDP was 91.03 billion kuna, 25.0% of GDP in 2017, and is forecast to rise by 3.3% in 2018.
In 2017, the tourism and travel industry directly supported 138,000 jobs, 10.1% of total employment. This is expected to fall by 0.3% in 2018 and rise by 1.4% per annum to 158,000 jobs, or 11.8% of total employment, in 2028.
The tourism and travel industry attracted 7.91 billion kuna of investments last year, or 10.9% of total investment. It is expected to rise by 2.6% in 2018, WTTC noted, and continue to grow by 2.0% annually over the next ten years to 9.93 billion kuna in 2028, or 11.2% of total.
Leisure travel spending - inbound and domestic - generated 80.46 billion kuna, compared with 5.80 billion kuna in business travel spending.
Leisure travel spending is expected to grow by 3.4% in 2018, while business travel is expected to rise 0.3%, WTTC said.
The Council projects that in 2018 Croatia will attract 16,523,000 international tourists. By 2028, this number is forecast to total 26,909,000.
(1 euro=7.43334 kuna)