ZAGREB, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Croatia has had another "extraordinary tourism year" despite a range of challenges, Tourism and Sports Minister Tonci Glavina said Thursday, citing growth in both visitor arrivals and overnight stays over the first eight months of 2026.
Speaking at a press conference, Glavina said Croatia recorded 17.5 million arrivals and 90.5 million overnight stays in the January-August period, both up 1 percent from the same period last year.
Fiscalized revenue over the same period reached 7.41 billion euros (about 8.6 billion U.S. dollars), up 17.6 percent year-on-year.
He said the figures show Croatia's tourism sector has proven competitive, resilient, and able to adapt to market shifts despite mounting pressures, adding that the industry's performance is now measured not only by arrivals and overnight stays but also by value, spending, and its overall contribution to the economy.
Croatian National Tourist Board Director Kristjan Stanicic said Thursday that good results are also expected for the rest of the year.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Stanicic welcomed the growing number of Chinese tourists, saying they are important to Croatia as they tend to travel not just during the peak season of July and August, but throughout the year. ■