ORGANISED TOURIST ARRIVALS INCREASE BY 17 PERCENT

ZAGREB, Dec 19 (Hina) - Between January and October this year, of the 7.6 million tourists who vacationed in Croatia 4.8 million arrived individually, a seven percent increase as against the same time in 2000, while 2.8 million arrived through travel agencies, an increase of 17 percent. The latter increase is the result of the cancellation of Value Added Tax on this year's organised tourist arrivals, which in the first ten months accounted for 2.3 million foreign tourists, 20 percent more than at the same time last year, the State Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. The foreign tourists who arrived through travel agencies also accounted for a 21-percent increase in overnights, namely 17 million of a total of 42.8 million recorded in the first ten months. The foreigners who arrived on their own, four million, or eight percent more, accounted for 21.2 million overnights, an increase of seven percent. Domestic tourists who went on holiday through travel agencies accounted for 402,000 arrivals, an increase of three percent, and 1.8 million overnights, a two-percent decline. As for Croatians who went on vacation individually, around 781,000, the same figure as last year, they accounted for three million overnights, a decline of three percent. (hina) ha