The 85 foreign cruise ships (three more than in 2022) that visited the Croatian Adriatic last year stayed 1,474 days longer in Croatia, an increase of 11.3%.
The largest number of visits by foreign cruise ships was reported in August and June, 107 and 102, followed by October, with 95 visits, and July and September with 86 and 88 visits respectively.
The cruise ships that visited Croatia sailed under the flags of 14 countries, with those sailing under the Maltese flag being the most numerous, 191, and bringing 227,400 visitors.
The largest number of passengers, 247,600, was brought by cruise ships sailing under the flag of the Bahamas, which made 167 cruises, followed by ships sailing under the flag of Panama, which made 68 cruises in the Adriatic.
Compared to the record-breaking pre-pandemic year 2019, the number of visiting cruise ships was 11% smaller in 2023, and they brought 22.2% fewer visitors than in 2019.
Foreign cruise ships mostly stayed in Dubrovnik-Neretva County (48% of the 646 cruises), with Dubrovnik being the most visited port, with 475 visits. It was followed by Split-Dalmatia County, with 27% of all cruise trips, and Zadar, Istria, Šibenik-Knin and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties, with the remaining 25% of the cruise trips.
The port of Split reported 300 visits by cruise ships, followed by Zadar (160), Hvar (110), Korčula (101), Šibenik (89) and Rovinj (63).