During past three years the number of Japanese tourists visiting Croatia has been rapidly growing. Around 144,000 arrivals of guests from Japan was marked in 2008, which is 66% more than previous year and almost 5 times more compared to 2005. According to data released by Croatian Bureau of Statistics, comparing by countries and regions, Japan was the outbound market that marked the biggest growth in 2008. Recent popularity of Croatia in Japan is apparent in the words of Mr. Sadakazu Tanigaki, member of Parliamentary Friendship League Croatia-Japan, former Minister of Finance and Prime ministerial candidate, who in the interview for The Daily Yomiuri on the occasion of Croatian National Day in 2008 has said that “Japan is currently experiencing Croatia boom”.
During past three years the number of Japanese tourists visiting Croatia has been rapidly growing. Around 144,000 arrivals of guests from Japan was marked in 2008, which is 66% more than previous year and almost 5 times more compared to 2005. According to data released by Croatian Bureau of Statistics, comparing by countries and regions, Japan was the outbound market that marked the biggest growth in 2008. Recent popularity of Croatia in Japan is apparent in the words of Mr. Sadakazu Tanigaki, member of Parliamentary Friendship League Croatia-Japan, former Minister of Finance and Prime ministerial candidate, who in the interview for The Daily Yomiuri on the occasion of Croatian National Day in 2008 has said that “Japan is currently experiencing Croatia boom”. The Embassy of Croatia to Japan has been making every effort to strengthen the popularity of Croatia, while a year ago the Croatian National Tourism Board opened its Representative Office in Tokyo.
First charter flights from Japan to Croatia were introduced in 2007, when 4 charter flights were operated by Japanese flag-carrier Japan Airlines (JAL). In 2008. the number of charter flights was more than doubled to 10 flights also operated by JAL. It is worth mentioning that in 2007 all package tours to Croatia by charter flights were organized by JTB; last year Hankyu Express, Cloub Tourism, Kinki Tourist and Nippon Tourist also took part in organizing package tours with charter flights. Also, besides flights from Tokyo, last year three flights from Osaka have also been organized.
Sluggish world economy is heavily weighting upon Japanese companies and Japanese economy itself, but reduction of fuel surcharges and as well as appreciation of Japanese Yen against USD and Euro represent the favourable wind for traveling overseas. According to data from Japanese leading travel agencies, the number of reservations for overseas package tours in April 2009 rouse up to 50% compared to the same month of previous year. Also, in spite of the fact that Japanese economy is facing a hard time, in 2009 JAL will operate 9 charter flights to Croatia, which proves the continuous interest of Japanese for travel to Croatia.
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