Dubrovnik, one of the city and the tourism destination in Southern part of Croatia on the Adriatic Coastal part is popular for the historical monuments and the museums, now covering itself from the cruise tourism.
The new mayor of Dubrovnik said he is in favor of halving the number of cruise passengers arriving daily at the Adriatic port city in Croatia. Mayor Mato Frankovic, elected in June, told that the current soft ceiling of 8,000 passengers a day should be reduced to 4,000.
He also called for limits on tour operators running day trips to the walled medieval city, which has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1979. He is taking the measures because, according to the UNESCO mission in the year 2015, it is recommended that a cap on the cruise tourism should not exceed 8000 passengers per day.
The Dubrovnik Port Authority said that the cap was exceeded 18 times in 2016 out of the 243 days when cruise ships called. It also said it refused 40 cruise call requests for this year.
Dubrovnik has become one of the most popular stops on an itinerary from Venice to the Eastern Mediterranean, or the reverse route.
It was the last year Dubrovnik had 639 ship calls and handled 831,730 passengers, up 0.1% from the year before.
Of those, 763,561 were transit passengers, ranking the spot behind only six other ports of call in the Mediterranean region.
Mayor Mato Frankovic said he would like to reset the tourism and its opportunities for a fresh new start.
The UNESCO report said 90% of cruise calls to Dubrovnik come between May and October.
And although the cruise visitors accounted for only 2.5 percent of all visitors in 2013, they have a disproportionate impact on the World Heritage property due to their concentration in time and space.
