Zupa, a region just south of Dubrovnik, is still today, 25 years after the Homeland War ended, still feeling the effects of the war. The largest hotel resort in Zupa, Kupari, is still destroyed from the war, Hotel Zupa remains a shell and the Hotel Plat resort is waiting for development.

However, in spite of the fact that the region has less hotel rooms that in the late 1980’s there are some green shots of recovery. The Orlando Hotel which was burnt out in the war has been redeveloped as a Sheraton and Hotel Mlini has been fully rebuilt. But one of the main reasons for the increase in guests to the region over the past few years has been through private incentive.

Airbnb, booking.com and other online accommodation agencies have given the apartment owners the chance to open up to a much larger market. This is clearly seen from the early tourist figures for Zupa for the first part of this year. Just over 18,000 foreign tourists visited Zupa in the first three months of this year and achieved 54,905 overnight stays. In comparison with last year this is a huge 25 percent increase in the number of overnight stays, and much of this is due to private renters.

In April, according to figures from the Zupa Tourist Board, there were 9,437 registered guests in Zupa, or a 15 percent increase, with the majority of tourists coming from Germany, the United Kingdom, Croatia and Spain.