Croatia has been officially crowned the number one place to visit by millions of voters worldwide via the European Best Destinations portal. That’s the same website that put Zagreb on the city break map after the fabulous Advent in Zagreb event won the title of “Best Christmas Market” for three consecutive years.
It’s safe to say that Croatian tourism has been a roaring success, but with success comes responsibility, and Croatia is infamous for trying to dodge it. The ancient infrastructure of this country has already become a victim of its obsession with counting eVisitor numbers each summer season. Blocked roads full of dubious rent-a-car drivers, hordes of polluting cruise ships and slews of cheap Chinese souvenirs have been drowning out Croatia’s authenticity for years now. And that has been done against the backdrop of bragging rights for tourist boards, hotels and airports.
The country’s continued success will only further these issues unless something is done.
Dubrovnik was the first to employ the “Respect the City” initiative. It was a move which saw the poster child for overtourism transform into a city which gained a 70 percent excellence score in a Global Sustainable Tourism Council report. Split also followed with a version of their own, issuing fines for everything from the public consumption of alcohol to being underdressed when in the historic core.
Has this been enough, however?
The celebration of success is a good thing, but heeding the lessons of failure is more important
The latest declaration of Croatia as “the best country to visit in 2025” will likely result in newcomers to the country arriving en masse, and if what they see isn’t worth the hype, those people will simply not return. Their word of mouth to other would-have-been visitors to Croatia will also spread, and the “avoid Croatia” domino effect – which has done the rounds in the not so distant past – will gain momentum again.
Croatia has become infamous for going from a breathtaking yet favourably priced country compared to its Mediterranean competition to one of the most costly destinations to visit in Europe. That change happened in the span of just a few years.
That isn’t to say that you can’t still find cheap(er) food, pure Croatian authenticity and a glimpse into the country’s soul, but it has become much more difficult than it once was.
Croatia also has the highest inflation rate in the entire Eurozone, with multiple Croatian products inexplicably being sold more cheaply abroad than in their country of origin. These issues go far deeper than just expensive sunbeds on Hvar and ice cream wars in Split. They have resulted in boycotts, and they represent a country that is losing control of its most prized economic branch – tourism.
If that control isn’t taken back through sustainable tourism, the extension of the tourist season to spread the number of arrivals throughout the entire year, and price control, being crowned this year’s “best place to visit” may turn from a huge win into quite a bitter pill indeed.
Tone down the greed
With nearby Albania being spotlighted by the world as the upcoming Mediterranean tourism gem, Croatia can’t simply lie on its laurels and be content with beating Europe’s tourism king, Spain, on a prestigious list or ten. Croatian tourism’s former slogan was “The Mediterranean as it once was”, it conjured up hazy, sun-drenched images of the Greece of 20 years ago, of fantastic local food sold at reasonable prices in old tavernas, of a currency not booted out, replaced and inflated beyond the norm by euro adoption, and of authenticity.
Now a fully fledged European Union, Schengen Zone and Eurozone member state with an obsolete sovereign currency, Croatia is experiencing the slew of problems that come with unnaturally rapid success. And so are the countless tourists who visit these shores and lament about how quickly it has changed for the worse.
Countries such as Albania are only “next door but one,” and may be waiting to take Croatia’s sparkling crown if these levels of greed aren’t toned down – and fast.
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Lauren Simmonds
Lauren Simmonds is the editor of Total Croatia News, the largest English language portal in Croatia. She lives in Zagreb, Croatia, and is a translator, content writer, interpreter and the co-author of "Croatia - A Survival Kit for Foreigners," which was published in 2022.
