Croatia Planning to Develop Cruising Tourism

An agreement on compiling a study on the development of cruising tourism on the Adriatic Sea was signed today by the association of Croatian port authorities that commissioned the study and the Institute for Tourism that was selected as the author of the future study.

The agreement was signed in the offices of the Croatian Sea and Tourism Ministry in Zagreb. The institute is expected to prepare the study in the upcoming 180 days.

An initiative for writing this document was launched during the preparation of a study on sustainable development of nautical tourism, which is near its completion, according to the State Secretary for Sea
Branko Bačić.

The study about cruising tourism is due to give a survey of the current state of affairs in the Croatian ports and their potential for this kind of tourism regarding the ports' geographical, cultural, economic and tourist resources.

Cruising tourism in Croatia has been on a rise. Last year, 849 cruisers with 675,500 passengers aboard visited Croatian ports. This year is likely to see a 15-percent rise. In two years' time, about a million passengers can be expected to visit Croatia traveling on cruiser type boats.

Most of such boats dock in Dubrovnik. Split is the second-ranked port, and it is followed by Zadar, Šibenik, Korčula, Rovinj and Rijeka.