Croatia has long been a favourite holiday destination for tourists wanting to enjoy the Mediterranean sunshine on a budget.
However, in the last three years, tourism prices in Croatia have surged by a whopping 50%.This often makes it more expensive than some of its biggest holiday rivals – Spain and Greece – which has seen a price increase of just 15-20% over the same period.
The main cause for the price spike lies in the rising operational costs within the hospitality industry. This has lead to tourists opting to go elsewhere, or not spending as much money when they do go to visit.
This has led to foreign tourism revenue falling by 0.7% last summer compared to the previous year – and several travel fans have taken to social media to express their frustrations about the rising costs.
On Reddit, one traveller asked if other people had also noticed the rising costs – as he was left shocked during his recent holiday.
“Is it just me finding Croatia crazily overpriced (compared to Italy, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia)?”, they asked in their post.
“Having been to Bosnia and Montenegro first, I was shocked to see the bill in Croatia is nearly double.
“For example a pizza would cost €17 to €24 in Hvar, or some fish dish could go up to €52!! Whilst the same dishes would cost around €10 in Bosnia, and around €8 in Italy.
“Not just for food, the accommodation is too overpriced, on average I paid 40% more than that of Italy.”
They also went on to note that city pass and attraction tickets had been ‘out of this world’, with the Dubrovnik wall climb costing €40.
“Yes you heard me right €40,” they said. “Is it just me finding Croatia overrated and overpriced?”
Several other travellers soon took to the comments section, with many agreeing on what the original poster had to say.
One wrote: “Personally I think it has been like this for years, but with the increases that came with the Euro it has gone insane. Hot spots like Dubrovnik are more pricey than Venice.”
Another said: “Croatia and Dubrovnik in particular was already overpriced when I visited in 2018. I almost hated Dubrovnik.”
A third wrote: “Spain and Portugal still have the best value for me. One of my biggest costs is eating out and grabbing coffee, drinks etc and I found both to still have relative value. Surprisingly, found eating out in Berlin to be affordable as well.”
However, not everyone agreed, as one person said: “Dubrownik certainly is crazily priced, wouldn’t say that for the rest of the country though.”
“The best idea is to find a cool place in the middle of nowhere on some island, where housing is cheap and scenery beautiful without many people nearby,” they advised.