In the last three years consumption in Croatia on Valentine's Day has increased by 27 percent, mostly at restaurants (almost 80 %), whilst the most desired destinations for this day were Venice and Ljubljana, according to various surveys on the so-called ‘sentimental consumption’ on the eve of Valentine's Day.

The “MasterCard Valentine’s Day Index” on shopper behaviour in more than 200 countries around the world, including Croatia, showed that in the three-year period from 2014 to 2016 global consumption increased by almost 50 percent.

The fact that Croatia also follows such trends was confirmed by data that in the same period the consumption in Croatia rose by 27 percent, whilst the number of credit card transactions increased by 67 percent, particularly in the last minute like everywhere else in the world i.e. on the 13th of February.

On the other hand, there was a slight decline by 15 percent in the sale of flowers and cards in comparison to the same period three years ago, whilst restaurants recorded almost 80 percent bigger interest than in the previous years.

''Even though the way we say ''I love you'' has changed over the past years, to express love on the 14th of February has become more popular than ever before'', commented Sanja Zigic, the director of MasterCard Croatia, adding that despite the growing online shopping, almost 95 percent of shoppers made purchases in-person.

When it comes to romantic travel destinations on Valentine's Day this year, the latest data from the FlixBus company show that the number of romantic travels has increased by almost 30 percent compared to last year, mostly to Venice, Ljubljana, Budapest and Vienna.