In the first eight months of this year, there were 377.257 overnight stays and 165.961 tourist arrivals in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNC), i.e. 7.9 percent more overnight stays and 13 percent more arrivals compared to the same period last year.
“The number of tourist arrivals this year is 13 percent higher compared to the same period in 2022, when there were 146.564 arrivals, while the number of foreign guest arrivals (109.806) is 29 percent higher compared to last year,” confirmed the senior expert associate of the Tourist Board of HNC Ramiz Basic.
According to data from the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), tourists spend an average of three nights in Neum, 2.5 in Medjugorje, while they stay the least in Mostar, where they spend 1.5 nights.
Senior expert associate of the HNC Tourist Board notes that a large number of tourists come to Mostar from the Adriatic coast and from Medjugorje on one-day trips and that they are not recorded, because they do not stay overnight.
When it comes to tourist indicators for Mostar, Neum, and Medjugorje, the largest increase in the number of arrivals was achieved by Mostar, by 17 percent.
In the same period, 23.797 tourists visited Medjugorje, i.e. 14 percent more than last year, while the number of overnight stays was 56.416, which is 13 percent more than in the first eight months of last year when there were only 50.536 overnight stays.
The number of arrivals in Neum in the period January-August 2023 is 72.507, i.e. 12 percent more compared to the same period last year when there were 64.543 arrivals, while the number of overnight stays increased by 3 percent.
“The HNC Tourist Board does not have data on the income from tourism, but we can be very satisfied with this year’s tourist season due to the increase in arrivals and overnight stays, especially the increase in the number of arrivals and overnight stays of foreign tourists, which is, of course, very important for the tourism sector,” said Basic and added that this season was great, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
