Minister reveals non-seasonal boom in Croatia holidays

Croatia holidays in the pre and post-seasonal periods have seen a notable boost in numbers, according to the country's minister of tourism Damir Bajs.

The comments came during a presentation on the tourism statistics in the Balkan region.

Last week, the Croatian tourist board signed an agreement with Rooster PR in a bid to boost the visibility of the various music festivals and sailing holidays in Croatia each year.

However, these latest figures have suggested that Croatia holidays are proving equally popular outside of the summertime peak months.

According to a report in the Croatian Times, Mr Bajs revealed that there had been 10.4 million arrivals from January to September of 2011 with 62.7 million overnight stays.

Yet, he also noted that the surprising factor came in the breakdown of thosevisits over the period.

"This means that Croatia had 750,000 more guests than last year in the first nine months, but 500,000 of them came during the pre and post-season," he said.

The tourism minister also confirmed that these non-seasonal visits had been instrumental in driving Croatia's holiday tourism to new levels.

Compared with figures for 2010, arrivals increased by 7.6 per cent.