Such data was announced in Moscow at the press conference “Croatia, full of life”, which was dedicated to the beginning of the new tourist season. It presented Croatia’s plans for increasing of the number of Russian tourists.
In general, the increase in Russian tourist traffic in 2018 was very small, said Rajko Ruzicka, the head of the Croatian tourism office in Russia. By the end of 2018, the number of Russian tourists visiting Croatia increased by no more than 2% in annual terms and amounted 135 316 people (instead of 133 thousand in 2017). Thus, Croatia’s hopes to host 150,000 Russian tourists were not realized.
According to Mr. Ruzicki, it is due the World Cup in Russia in the summer of 2018, when the majority of Russians stayed at home during the summer period. In addition, the sharp devaluation of the ruble also affected demand. However, according to him, decrease of the demand concerns only independent tourists, while the organized flow of tourists through tour operators to Croatia in the same period grew by almost 40%.
The main volumes of Russian tourist flow, as before, fell on Istria, which hosted up to 75% of all holidaymakers in Croatia. The second most popular destination among Russians is Dalmatia, where the famous Dubrovnik and Split are located.
At the moment, according to Rajko Ruzicka, serious changes in the flight program of Russian tour operators in Croatia were not happened. These programs largely repeat the previous year’s ones.
From Moscow regular flights will be operated by Aeroflot airline: airplanes will fly to Zagreb daily and year-round, and to Split – in daily mode from June 1 to September 30.
The season flights from Moscow will be operated by S7 (Siberia Airlines): to Pula - 5 times a week (Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) from April 27 to October 19, and Dubrovnik - 2 times a week (Mon, Fri.) from May 31 to September 27.
Charter flights from Moscow to Pula will be performed by Red Wings airline 2 times a week (Wed, Sat) from June 1 to September 21.
From St. Petersburg, S7 (Siberia Airlines) will continue to carry out a direct flight to Pula once a week from May 26 to October 13. Croatia Airlines will fly to Zagreb 3 times a week from May to October.
