CROATIA: Dubrovnik Tourism Growing Rapidly

With a lot of sunshine, stunning islands and beaches, Croatia has no problem in attracting large number of tourists over the summer months. But is its most recognisable destination – Dubrovnik – turning into an all year round destination?

According to the latest statistics it could well be. November saw a record number of tourists visit the famous stone-walled city in southern Dalmatia.

According to E-visitor 21,632 tourists visited Dubrovnik in November 2016, which is 32% more tourists than in the same month in 2015. Overnight stays, a key measure in tourism, were also up 27% with 50,842 recorded.

In November it was tourists from Croatia, Albania, USA, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Korea, Japan Taiwan, United Kingdom, Germany and Slovenia who made up the majority of 21,632 arrivals.

Dubrovnik is becoming an attractive destination outside the summer months, confirmed by the fact that all year direct flight connections from Frankfurt, Istanbul and London have been established and strengthened.

From 1 January to 30 November 2016 Dubrovnik recorded 1,017,756 arrivals (including nautical tourism numbers), which was 12% more than in the same period last year. Overnight stays (3.6 million) were up 13% from 2015.

The most tourists in 2016 in Dubrovnik came from the UK, followed by Germany, USA, France, Croatia, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Australia and Italy.

THAILAND: 29,881,091 Tourist Arrivals In Thailand In 2015

Thailand managed to attract just under 30 million international visitors last year, according to final figures released by the Tourism Department.

The total of 29,881,091 foreign arrivals represented an increase of 20.4% from the 24.81 million who visited in 2014, statistics posted late Friday on the department's website showed.

Tourism authorities had been forecasting 30 million arrivals for 2015 but the target appeared to be in jeopardy after the Erawan shrine bombings in August, when 20 people including seven foreigners were killed in the heart of Bangkok. Year-on-year growth in arrivals slowed to 8% in September and stalled at 1% in October before resuming a brisk double-digit pace.

Arrivals from China soared 71% last year to 7.93 million, representing 26.5% of all international tourists. Growth from East Asia overall was 36%, helped by a strong performance from Malaysia, up 31% to 3.42 million and accounting for 11% of all visitors. Japan and Korea each accounted for 4.6% of the total with arrivals from the former up 9% and the latter up 22.3%.

European arrivals declined 8.6% overall to 5.63 million, including a 45% plunge from economically troubled Russia to 884,085. Among other large European markets, German arrivals were up 6.3% to 760,604 and UK tourists totalled 946,919, an increase of 4.3%.

Arrivals from the Americas grew 12.3% to 1.23 million, led by a strong gain of 13.6% from the United States, to 867,520 visitors.

South Asia has also become a more promising market with 13.3% growth last year. Visitor numbers from India edged above 1 million for the first time, up 14.6% from a year earlier.

However, arrivals from Oceania fell 2.3%, led by a 3.1% decline in Australian visitor numbers to 805,946. Visitor numbers from Africa declined 1.7% to 161,640, while Middle East arrivals expanded 10% to 658,129.