March 25 (SeeNews) - Croatia's tourism and travel industry contributed 35.07 billion kuna ($6.33 billion/4.58 billion euro) directly to the country's economy in 2013, equivalent to 12.1% 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 6.0% in 2014, the WTTC said in its Travel&Tourism Economic Impact 2014 report on Croatia.
Travel and tourism investment in Croatia in 2013 was 6.61 billion kuna and the WTTC expects it should rise by 1.7% in 2014.
Leisure travel spending - inbound and domestic - in Croatia totaled 69.2 billion kuna last year and is expected to grow by 6.0% in 2014. Business travel spending in the Adriatic country totalled 5.8 billion kuna in 2013 and is seen up by 4.6% in 2014.
Croatia's travel and tourism sector generated 138,000 jobs directly in 2013 and this is forecast to rise by 4.8% in 2014.
The WTTC expects the country to attract 11.9 million international tourist arrivals in 2014.
(1 euro=7.6617 Croatian kuna)