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New flights help boost UK tourist numbers to Croatia

New flights have helped push British tourist numbers to Croatia up to record highs in the first half of the year, official figures show.

June has so far seen arrivals rise by almost 29% year-on-year, with a 30% increase in overnight stays, according to the Croatian National Tourist Office.

Dubrovnik saw the most overnight stays by UK travellers in the January to June 15 period, followed by Split, Istria and Zadar.

Most overnight stays since January were made in hotels (565,827), private accommodation (178,842), other catering facilities (57,322) and camp sites (33,760).

Ivona Grgan, UK director of the Croatia National Tourist Office said: “A total of 20 new flights to Croatia from various major UK airports, including new British Airways flights from Heathrow to Pula and new Monarch fights connecting Gatwick and Manchester with Zagreb, will certainly make a positive impact on already record numbers of visitors from the UK.

“Having said that, there’s no doubt Croatia is becoming more attractive to the British visitors every year, and is reinventing itself as the all-year-round destination.

“Zagreb, recently winning the title of Lonely Planet’s best destination in Europe in 2017 proves we are no longer talking about the tourist season, but about the tourist year.

“This is topped with Croatia becoming the first world’s destination that offers [on demand private boat service] UberBoat for island-hoppers, which confirms the country is becoming a tourism game-changer and a growing favourite among the British tourists.”

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