CRO GOVT ACCEPTS REPORT ON SUCCESSFUL TOURIST SEASON

ZAGREB, Sept 11 (Hina) - The Croatian government accepted at its Thursday session in Zagreb a report by Tourism Minister Niko Bulic on the success of this year's tourist season. About 25 million overnight stays were registered in the first eight months of this year, which is 16 percent more than the total achieved in 1996 and 57 percent of overnight stays registered in the pre-war year of 1990. A total of 30 million overnight stays, or 40 percent more than last year, is expected to be registered by this year's end. The total tourism revenues in 1997 will rise for at least 20 percent in relation to last year, reaching some 8.02 billion kunas (DM 2.3 billion). The total tourism spending could amount to 14 or 15 billion kunas (DM 4-4.3 billion). Minister Bulic said data of the State Bureau of Statistics showed 15.1 million overnight stays were registered in the first seven months of this year, which is 43 percent more than in the same period in 1996. Tourists making organized arrivals account for 6.6 million overnight stays, which is a 64 percent increase in relation to last year. This, Bulic + said, was the result of effective subsidy supports which brought the biggest, as well as minor, tourist agencies successfully back to Croatia. The tourism minister said Germans, Czechs, Slovenes, Austrians and Italians account for the highest number of overnight stays. The biggest tourist business in the first seven months of this year was realized in the Istra County with 6.2 million overnight stays, followed by the Primorsko-Goranska County with 4 million overnight stays. As expected, the four counties in the southern Croatian region of Dalmatia realized the highest increase in overnight stays, reaching in the first seven months of this year the total of last year's achievement. According to a Tourism Ministry poll, the successful increase in tourist business continued throughout August when some 10 million overnight stays are estimated to have been registered. The government today also accepted decisions on the publication in an official gazzette of an agreement on the revocation of visas between Croatia and Italy, as well as of an agreement between Croatia and Yugoslavia on the revocation of visas for holders of diplomatic and official passports. (hina) ha jn 111702 MET sep 97