Private accommodation Croatia

Tourism in Croatia is one of the most important industries (accounting for close to 20% of GDP), and private accommodation is one of the carriers of Croatian tourism. There are several reasons why private accommodation is not only one of the special features of Croatian tourism but also in the world of tourism in general. In addition to making the largest part of accommodation capacity, private accommodation is the most popular and most desirable for guests and tourists who come on vacation to Croatia.

A brief history of tourism and private accommodation

Primošten (1960.)

Primošten (2020.)

Croatia has a very long tradition in tourism since the middle of the 19th century, more precisely since 1844, when the first hotel in Croatia was built - Villa Angiolina in Opatija. At the end of the 19th century, numerous other hotels were opened in towns Crikvenica, Opatija, Dubrovnik, Hvar...

Significant development of tourism was recorded after World War II, especially after the 1960s. Primarily hotels were built, but private accommodation also developed in parallel, especially after the 1980s, when locals saw an opportunity to improve their household budgets and began to host tourists in their homes.

Tourism, and especially private accommodation, experienced a strong rise after the Homeland War (early 2000s), when numerous private apartment houses and holiday homes were built. With the new accommodation objects, the quality of private accommodation is growing, which is less and less lagging behind hotel accommodation.

Rise of tourism and private accommodation in Croatia

Today, private accommodation forms the backbone of Croatian tourism and participates with 41% of total overnight stays in 2019 . It is followed by hotel accommodation with 35%, camps with 14% and other types of accommodation with 10% of total overnight stays.

In the graphs shown below, we can best see the growing popularity of Croatia as a tourist destination in terms of the number of arrivals and overnight stays, as well as the great importance of private accommodation in Croatian tourism.

Number of tourists from 2010. to 2019. in millions of arrivals (guests)

* In 2010, 10.6 million tourists visited Croatia, and in 2019 as many as 19.5 million tourists.

Number of tourist overnights by types of tourist accommodation facilities in 2019.

* 41% of overnight stays in 2019 were realized in private accommodation (rooms, apartments, studio apartments, holiday homes).

It is no wonder that Croatia is one of the world's most desirable tourist destinations, when the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea, according to research by the European Environment Agency, is the second cleanest sea in Europe.

Lonely Planet named Croatia the best tourist destination in 2005, while National Geographic Adventure named Croatia the best destination for 2006. According to the analysis of Google data, Croatia was the most desirable country for vacation in the world during 2015 and 2016.

All this is more than enough for an invitation to visit Croatia and spend your vacation in private accommodation!