After joining the Euro and Schengen at the beginning of the year, the country is experiencing a real rush of holidaymakers. But the growing popularity also has negative consequences.
Croatia is in demand as a travel destination: This year, the tourism industry in the southeastern European country is expected to exceed the figures from the previous record year, the last pre-Corona year in 2019. The Ministry of Tourism will announce this upon request.
The main reason for the boom: Croatia has been part of the Schengen area since the beginning of the year, so border controls are no longer necessary for most tourists. The euro also replaced the previous currency, the kuna. This also makes traveling easier.
“Compared to previous years and the period before the pandemic, there was an increase in tourism traffic in the first half of 2023,” said a ministry spokesman.
This is thanks, among other things, to city trips and weekend tourism, which are encouraged by the easier arrival from other Schengen countries. In recent years, tourism has already contributed up to 20 percent to Croatia’s gross domestic product and has become a decisive economic factor, especially in the coastal regions.
The euro makes traveling easier
Joining the Eurozone has, in turn, increased market transparency by making the price-performance ratio for holidaymakers clearer, said a ministry spokesman. In addition, the uncertainties associated with exchange rate fluctuations have disappeared. This makes it easier for tourists to plan their trip and their budget.
“Joining the Schengen and Euro zones will bring significant benefits to Croatian tourism,” says the ministry. “Especially when you consider that around 80 percent of overnight holidaymakers in Croatia come from the Schengen area and almost 60 percent from the Eurozone.”
Zagreb also admits that the new situation also brings with it new problems. Recently there have been increasing complaints about sharply increased prices. “We are aware of this,” said a ministry spokesman. But this is less due to the currency change than to global inflation.
Analyzes have shown that prices have also risen in other Mediterranean destinations that have been part of the euro zone for much longer. “Unfortunately, there were also cases in which the introduction of the euro was used as a pretext for price increases.” Such “unfair practices” would be monitored by the responsible authorities. In Croatia, for example, you can still find the lowest petrol prices in the EU.
Environmentalists criticize
However, one thing is clear: the growing popularity of the country with its 1,880 kilometers of coastline, more than 600 islands and tourist hotspots such as Dubrovnik also has a downside. The negative consequences of mass tourism are inevitable.
Like in Istria, in the north of the country, the region with by far the highest number of holidaymakers. Environmentalists from Zelena Istra (Green Istria), for example, are criticizing the development.
The problems ranged from inadequate infrastructure, such as waste disposal, to illegal construction projects and the construction of entire settlements that are used for vacation rentals in the summer and then remain empty for months, to the privatization of beaches: in such cases, the local population loses freedom Access to the coast, says Dunja Mickov from Zelena Istra.
The artificial “beautification” of beaches is also unacceptable. Rocky areas are often filled with sand to make tourist use easier.
The loss of biological diversity, pollution of the air, the sea and groundwater resources are just some of the consequences of mass tourism for the environment.
“But who is monitoring this? Who cares about it? Everything happens far too quickly. There is no reaction from the supervisory authorities and there are no penalties for those who do not comply with the law,” said Mickov.
Sustainable accommodation certificate
The environmental protection organization Sunce is also thinking about how the holiday industry can develop sustainably in the future. “Croatia has experienced significant growth in tourism in recent years,” said a spokesman for the group.
It is a challenge to reconcile the large crowds with the preservation of natural resources and cultural heritage. Most recently, Sunce set up the Dalmatia Green certification project, in which particularly sustainable tourist accommodations in the region are recognized. The government in Zagreb supports the project.
In fact, people in the capital also seem to have recognized that this cannot be achieved without greater intervention. The government is now planning a comprehensive tourism law that will control developments on the basis of objective data, according to the ministry. In addition to other measures, a holiday tax is also planned. The income from this should benefit the environment. However, the tax will only be introduced in areas that are suffering from the negative effects of the holiday boom. The introduction is not expected before 2025.
“Mass tourism is definitely not what we want,” they say. However, people in Zagreb are still happy about the currently increasing number of visitors.
Author: Jonas Martiny