Like most major tourism markets, Croatia’s internal and inbound travel market recovered during the last quarter of 2021, suffered a blip at the start of the year in response to omicron before recovering strongly as concerns about the latest variant subsided.
In January 2022, the volume of tickets sold dropped by 32% compared with December 2021, but has been climbing month-on-month ever since. Tickets sold in April were 139% ahead of March, which in turn was 45% up on February.
Elsewhere, site traffic analysis also reveals triple-digit increases in interest in Croatia, particularly from major tourism markets including Germany. The group’s GetByBus brand is the market leader in the Balkans and also has a presence outside the region. Searches by users located in Germany across the site increased by 135% between March and April.
The most popular cities for travel in the region are currently Hvar, Split, and Dubrovnik, with the most popular routes being Hvar to Split, Dubrovnik to Hvar, and Dubrovnik to Split. Buses and ferries dominated as the chosen modes of transport, with buses accounting for 66% of bookings and ferries for 23.5%.
Where are these visitors coming from? In addition to Germany leading travel in Croatia, strong month-on-month increases in visitors to GetByBus over the same period were noted from the US (+37%), the UK (+ 65%) and France (+ 300%). Several bookings were also made from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Austria, and Switzerland.
Noam Toister, CEO Bookaway Group said: “Croatia is back on track and preparing to reassert its position as one of the world’s leading tourism destinations. The positive data we have released from across the group confirms that the recovery is well under way, in terms of both actual bookings as well as interest in future trips, suggesting a bumper summer season.”
Tags: Bookaway Group
