Source: Glas Istre, Author: Alenka Juričić Bukarica
Despite growing economic and geopolitical challenges, European tourism maintained strong momentum in early 2025, shows a new report from the European Travel Commission (ETC), the most important and oldest international tourism association in Europe. According to the ETC report for the first quarter of this year, international tourist arrivals in Europe increased by 4.9 percent year-on-year, and overnight stays increased by 2.2 percent, driven by increasingly popular off-peak travel and the fact that winter travel is significantly cheaper than summer.
Winter airlines
The report, which analyzed travel data in European countries from January to the end of March, highlights that demand for European travel continued to grow, with 27 out of 29 countries recording an increase compared to last year in at least one element of comparison. Iceland and Croatia were the only two exceptions and, according to ETC, both are clearly seeing reduced demand due to higher costs. Croatia had a 16 percent drop in overnight stays and arrivals, while Greece, for example, had 15 percent more arrivals in the winter months.
It is also interesting that Croatia is in fifth place among European countries that had the largest growth in the number of winter airlines compared to pre-pandemic 2019, after Serbia, Cyprus, Malta and Greece. The number of winter flights has also increased to, for example, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Turkey, which indicates a trend that these typically summer destinations are slowly becoming more popular in winter. Demand for warmer winter destinations from some northern and western European markets supported travel activity across the Mediterranean and southern Europe, particularly to Spain and Greece.
Some destinations that are not so interesting for winter travel, such as Cyprus and Malta, reported record tourist activity at the beginning of this year. Possible reasons for this include more tourists trying to avoid the crowded summer months, but it should also be said that travel volume is still relatively low compared to the summer months when demand is at its peak. ETC also states in the report that higher prices in some destinations, such as Croatia, have contributed to reduced tourism activity or slower growth compared to 2024, with an increased focus on value for money. They also took a bit of a stand, stating that winter is a period of low activity and therefore it will probably not be representative of the entire year.
Issuing markets
The commission also analyzed the trips of guests from individual broadcasting markets in the winter months. Particularly interesting for Croatia are the conclusions relating to Germany, which is our most important source market and accounts for about a third of tourist traffic.
Croatia experienced a decline in German arrivals and overnight stays of around 20 percent in the first three months. The ETC states that the large decline in German visits to Croatia could reflect these guests’ increased concerns about costs. They say that prices in Croatia are rising at a higher rate than in other comparable destinations in Europe, resulting in fewer stays and reduced spending in key outbound markets, including Germany.
Although, Austria, neighboring Germany, managed to attract fewer German tourists this winter than the year before. Let us also add that the data of the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) show that in the first three months there were forty percent fewer German overnight stays. The late Easter, however, made up for the minuses from the winter months, and in the first four months there were slightly fewer German arrivals, but also 10 percent more German overnight stays than last year.
Minister of Tourism: Plus and slight minus
According to information presented by Croatian Tourism Minister Tonči Glavina at the conference “Croatia and Slovenia Connected by Capital”, until the beginning of May, tourism was up a few percentage points compared to last year, while May still brought a slight decrease. He assessed that the pre-season is going well and that, if the weather is good, stronger tourist traffic is expected for the upcoming long weekend.
