Croatia Property Investment News

Boost to cross-border tourism in Istria, Croatia

Tourism in the Istria region of Croatia received a significant boost with the news that the area’s borders saw 140,000 tourists arrive over the first weekend of August alone. The Istrian police administration reports that approximately 140,000 tourists arrived into the Istrian county through three border crossings – Plovanija, Kastel and Plovan – on the weekend of Saturday 5th August. It is reported that 130,000 of these cross-border tourists were foreign, most of them originating from Italy, Slovenia, Germany and Austria.

Istria is considered to be the second most important region of Croatia economically, after the capital city Zagreb. This importance shows how vital tourism is to the country’s economy. Istria is fast becoming the most popular area of Croatia for British property purchasers, in part due to the fact that it is the easiest region to reach from overseas. Low-cost flights arrive nearby and it is possible to get to Istria by using public transport from Venice, Trieste and Treviso in Italy, part of the reason that Italians made up a large part of August’s cross-border tourist arrivals.

This news follows a positive start to the year for Croatia’s tourism in general. Data released by Croatia’s Central Bureau of Statistics show that in the first four months of 2007 the country registered a considerable increase in the number of tourists as compared with the same period last year. Between January and April of this year a total of 1.1 million tourists visited Croatia, 14% more people than did so during those months of 2006.