Croatia is one of the most popular countries for German tourists on the Mediterranean – but prices there have risen rapidly in recent months. Now drastic consequences are feared.
Anyone who reads the headlines in Croatian newspapers and media this summer could well get a fright. “Look at the steep prices on the Adriatic!” This is the headline in the newspaper “Dnevnik”, for example. “Holidays in the Maldives are cheaper this year than in Croatia,” writes the “Slobodna Dalmacija”.
Examples of the extreme prices are also shown with pleasure: in the picturesque old town of Dubrovnik, one of the most popular destinations in Croatia, a scoop of ice cream costs a whopping five euros. In beautiful Rovinj, a tourist stronghold of Istria, a burger costs 22 euros. In Šibenik, Dalmatia, you pay eleven euros for a 0.1-liter glass of Aperol Spritz. So it’s no wonder that many Croatians, according to the “Večernji list”, are unable to vacation on the coast.
Croatia: Travel destination is becoming more and more expensive, locals are sounding the alarm
If you want to eat something amid the old facades of Croatian cities or have a drink in the wonderful bars by the blue sea, you have to dig deep into your pockets this year: the costs for lunch or dinner are sometimes up to 25 percent in comparison increased compared to the previous year. Prices have been rising in Croatia for a long time – and there is no end in sight for the time being.
But not only the restaurants are becoming more expensive. Many locals would raise the alarm that even everyday things such as groceries or many services are hardly affordable, explains the tour operator Kroati-Reisen. Many travelers spending their holidays in Croatia this year are sometimes surprised and upset at how prices in the country have developed. In the Croatian supermarkets, many foods are far more expensive than in Germany, for example.
Many take advantage of the introduction of the euro to raise prices
Milk, chicken and beer rose by around 17 percent on average, and some vegetables by as much as 188 percent. Food and services in the country are on average 15 to 20 percent more expensive than they were in 2022. But why?
As in other European countries, inflation and the aftermath of Corona are two important reasons: In Croatia, the inflation rate is currently just under eight percent – with an EU average of a good six percent.
However, many retailers and accommodation providers used the introduction of the euro at the beginning of 2023 to round up and increase prices – significantly. A hairdresser, for example, made headlines in the country because she now charged ten euros for a men’s haircut instead of 60 kuna (about 8 euros). In some cases, according to Croatian travel, up to 50 percent more was charged for accommodation than in the previous year.
Are more travelers staying away from Croatia next year?
The currency change has also led to isolated illegal and hidden price adjustments in restaurants: there are severe penalties for this, but monitoring is difficult.
However, analysts at the Croatian National Bank do not estimate the impact of the introduction of the euro to be particularly great. He drove the inflation rate up by less than one percentage point.
The situation is particularly tense in popular holiday regions because prices have risen the most here: in Dubrovnik, Split, Šibenik, Zadar and Rovinj, for example. “We exaggerated the prices,” said Marko Paliaga, Mayor of Rovinj, recently: Supermarkets in the coastal town are already up to 30 percent more expensive than in the interior.
According to Kroati-Reisen, both locals and travelers would first have to get used to the price situation – although Croatians are likely to have much greater problems with it. Many tourists, on the other hand, would no longer see Croatia as a cheap holiday destination. The fear now is that they will look to other cheaper alternatives.
By Martin Gätke (mg)