March 24 (SeeNews) - Croatia's tourism and travel industry contributed 35.88 billion kuna ($5.12 billion/4.69 billion euro) directly to the country's economy in 2014, equivalent to 12.5% of its gross domestic product (GDP), the World Travel&Tourism Council (WTTC) said on Tuesday.
The direct GDP contribution of the country's tourism and travel industry is forecast to rise 3.7% in 2015, the WTTC said in its Travel&Tourism Economic Impact 2015 report on Croatia.
Travel and tourism investment in Croatia in 2014 was 6.2 billion kuna and the WTTC expects it should rise by 0.3% in 2015.
Leisure travel spending - inbound and domestic - in Croatia totaled 71.1 billion kuna last year and is expected to grow by 6.7% in 2015. Business travel spending in the Adriatic country totalled 5.64 billion kuna in 2014 and is seen up by 2.9% in 2015.
Croatia's travel and tourism sector generated 139,500 jobs directly in 2014 and this is forecast to rise by 4% in 2015.
The WTTC expects the country to attract 12.4 million international tourist arrivals in 2015, up 7.6% on the year.
(1 euro=7.6482 Croatian kuna)