The agreement was signed in the offices of the Croatian Sea and Tourism Ministry in Zagreb, and the institute is expected to prepare the study in the coming 180 days.
An initiative for writing this document was launched during the preparation of a study on sustainable development of nautical tourism, which is near its completion, according to Assistant Tourism Minister Branko Bacic.
The study about cruising tourism is due to give a survey of the current state of affairs in the Croatian ports and their potential for this kind of tourism regarding the ports' geographical, cultural, economic and tourist resources.
Cruising tourism in Croatia has been on a rise. Last year, 849 cruisers with 675,500 passengers aboard visited Croatian ports. This year is likely to see a 15-percent rise. In two years' time, about a million passengers can be expected to visit Croatia travelling on cruiser type boats.
Most of such boats dock in Dubrovnik. Split is the second-ranked port, and it is followed by Zadar, Sibenik, Korcula, Rovinj and Rijeka.