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In the July 2008 Issue of Property Investor News
Croatia: Zagreb
Twenty years ago, Croatia was attracting almost half a million British tourists annually but the country was crippled by a civil war in the 1990s and has been undergoing a slow but steady recovery ever since the war ended ten years ago. There are now over 250,000 British tourists visiting the countrys mainland and 1,185 islands every year, according to the Croatian National Tourist Board.
Croatia is almost horseshoe shaped with Slovenia and Hungary to the north and Italy to the west. To the east and south are Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro, both independent countries of the former Yugoslavia. Located on the Adriatic coast, Croatia is once again a growing tourism destination. Apart from having over 1,000 islands along its coast, the national parks take up almost 10% of the countrys area and there are six UNESCO heritage sites.
In 2007, Croatia had 11.2m visitors, 56.2m overnight stays and tourism revenues in excess of €6.9bn. There is expected to be a 3% growth in tourism this year, with revenues reaching €7.3bn in 2008. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) listed Croatia as the fifth best country in the world for potential tourism growth between now and 2016 and it expects the countrys tourism industry to grow by 7.6% a year until then.
The government is keen to encourage foreign investment, to strengthen trade and commercial relations between western countries and Croatia and is drawing closer to its goal of EU membership.
When will Croatia join the EU?
When Croatia was last featured in PIN, in March 2007, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader had just announced that he was convinced the country would complete its EU membership negotiations by the end of 2008. He added that a referendum on the countrys EU entry would then follow.
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