According to the latest statistics from the Croatian Tourism Board (HTZ), there were 130,000 tourist arrivals and 326,000 overnights stays in February, and 238,000 arrivals and 640,000 overnight stays in January and February.
Both domestic and foreign arrivals and overnight stays increased.
Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin and HTZ Main Office director Ratomir Ivicic described the results as excellent, with Lorencin saying that they were in line with reports from leading world travel agencies about demand and the state of bookings for Croatia.
Lorencin said the increase in arrivals in the first two months was proof that tourists were beginning to realise that Croatia was an attractive and interesting destination all year round.
He said that tourist workers would continue with activities aimed at reducing the seasonal character of the national tourism.
Foreign tourists accounted for 81,000 of the 130,000 arrivals in February, an increase of 21%, and they generated 197,000 overnight stays, up 20%.
The number of domestic arrivals and overnight stays increased as well, by 9% and 8% respectively, with increases having been reported both in Zagreb and in coastal counties.
Zagreb reported the highest increase in arrivals and overnight stays (10% and 8% respectively), followed by the northern Adriatic peninsula of Istria (15% and 10%) and the northern Adriatic region of Kvarner, which saw an increase of close to 30% in both arrivals and overnight stays compared to February 2014.
Split County follows with a 22% increase in arrivals and a 25% rise in overnight stays, followed by Dubrovnik County with an 8% increase in arrivals and a 3% increase in overnight stays, Zadar County with a 0.5% rise in arrivals and a 15% increase in overnight stays. Sibenik County saw an increase of 61% in arrivals and a 15% rise in overnight stays and Lika-Senj County reported a 90% increase in arrivals and a 96% increase in overnight stays.
There was also a significant number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays in the first two months of this year, both in Zagreb and on the coast and the increases ranged from 4% to more than 70%.
The increase in foreign overnight stays was mostly owing to tourists from Italy (21% more overnight stays), Slovenia (21%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (6%), Austria (22%) and Germany (33%).