With over 1,100 islands, stunning coves and bays, sheltered natural harbours and some of the cleanest seas in the world it is hardly surprising that one of the success stories of Croatia’s tourism industry in nautical tourism. And according to figures just released by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics back up this fact with an increase across the board, from revenue to the number of berths along the Adriatic coastline.
Croatia’s nautical business brought in around 100 million Euros in revenue last year, a growth of over 5 percent compared to 2014. There are a total of 121 ports along the Croatia coastline, which is again an increase over 2014, this time by nine. The statistics clearly show that the vast majority of the revenue was generated through berth rentals. The cost of renting a berth varies drastically from port to marina; there are 17,350 berths in the marinas and ports of Croatia. This number could, and should be increased, as the interest grows for nautical holidays in the Croatian Adriatic the number of berths has for some time been hopelessly inadequate. Dubrovnik will have two new marinas this year, with the construction of the ACI marina in Slano and the reconstruction of the marina in the Port of Dubrovnik.
In 2015 there were around 13,000 vessels permanently berthed in Croatia, the majority from Croatia followed by Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and the UK. Considering that over 43 percent of the vessels permanently moored in the country’s marinas come from Croatia it is clear that there is room for improvement in attracting foreign registered vessels to berth all year round. When you take into account that 193,450 vessels passed through Croatian waters in 2015, almost 7 percent more than in 2014, and that the country only has 17,350 berths it goes to show that much, much work is needed to make the most of nautical tourism.