September 6 (SeeNews) - The number of tourists who visited Croatia in the eight months through August rose by 5% on the year, in line with expectations, tourism minister Gari Cappelli said on Friday.
"After the end of the key summer months of this tourism year, I can say with satisfaction that the indicators for arrivals and overnights, along with the financial indicators for tourism spending, are at the level of our expectations and projections, and for the first eight months [...] they show a 5.0% increase in arrivals and a 2.0% rise in overnight stays," Cappelli said, as quoted in a statement by the tourism ministry.
He did not provide any further details.
Last month, Cappelli said that the number of tourists to Croatia is expected to rise by 3% this year, whereas overnight stays are seen increasing by up to 2%.
Tourism revenue from the start of 2019 until mid-August has increased by some 1.4 billion kuna ($208 million/189 million euro), he said back then without providing a figure for the total amount. Full-year revenue is projected to grow by 2-3%, he added.
Tourism is a key driver for the economy of the Adriatic state, contributing some 20% of Croatia's GDP.
According to latest data from the statistical office, a total of 6.5 million foreign and domestic tourists visited Croatia in the January-June period, up by 7.0% on the year. They spent an overall 22.9 million overnights in the Adriatic state, which is an annual increase of 3.4%.
The revenue from foreign tourists who visited Croatia in the first three months of 2019 amounted to 475 million euro ($536 million), up by 5.4% year-on-year, the tourism ministry said in July, citing central bank data.
In 2018, revenue from international visitors rose by 6.4% to 10.1 billion euro, while total tourism revenue amounted to 12 billion euro, the ministry has said.
(1 euro = 7.40303 kuna)