Experimental Statistics - Short-Stay Accommodation in Croatia Offered Via Online Platforms
Online platforms for booking short-stay accommodation are now an important part of the tourism offer, not only on a global but also on a national level. Although online platforms have been influencing the accommodation market for more than a decade, data on tourism activity generated by bookings through these platforms in the European Union and in Croatia have been available since 2018. Since then, and up until the first half of 2025, there has been a visible increase in the number of tourist nights in accommodation booked in this way, which indicates an increasing influence of online platforms on overall tourist activity.
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics continuously monitors and publishes official statistics on tourist activity in Croatia in commercial accommodation, which are based on the eVisitor system as the administrative source. The official tourism statistics include all tourist arrivals and nights realised in commercial accommodation in the Republic of Croatia, regardless of the method of booking (directly, through travel agencies or via online platforms), classified into four groups: Hotels and similar accommodation, Holiday and other short-stay accommodation, Camping grounds and recreational vehicle parks, and Other accommodation. All four groups also include tourist nights realised in accommodation booked via national and international online platforms for booking short-stay accommodation, which allows for a complete overview of tourist activity in commercial accommodation.
In order to show the increasing influence of online platforms on the short-stay accommodation market in more detail, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics has introduced new indicators as part of experimental statistics. These indicators include data on tourist nights and the number of bookings made via online platforms such as Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor, in group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation. These experimental statistics are based on Eurostat data, which provide additional insights into tourist activity realised in accommodation booked via online platforms and contribute to a better understanding of the structure and dynamics of the short-stay accommodation market. The collected indicators are part of the broader concept of the collaborative economy, which includes online intermediation between users and service providers, and serve as a basis for the development of more effective tourism policies adapted to modern online trends.
Data on tourist nights realised in groups 55.1 Hotels and similar accommodation, 55.3 Camping grounds and recreational vehicle parks and 55.9 Other accommodation according to NKD 2025, although they also advertise via online platforms, are not included in these experimental statistics. Therefore, it is important to note that the current scope of these experimental statistics covers only the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation.
The following section provides an overview of occupancy indicators for short-term accommodation in Croatia booked via online platforms since 2018, and a description of their importance for the short-term accommodation market in Croatia. Detailed data are available on the website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, in the PC-Axis database section.
In 2024, a total of 37.7 million nights realised in short-stay accommodation in Croatia booked via online platforms
In 2024, tourists in Croatia realised 2.7 million accommodation bookings via four major online platforms for booking accommodation - Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor - in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation. Based on these bookings, a total of 37.7 million tourist nights were realised in Croatia. This amounted to an average of 7 263 bookings and 103 254 tourist nights per day, or 14.2 tourist nights per booking.
In 2024, as compared to 2023, the number of bookings made via these platforms increased by 8.6%, and the number of tourist nights by 9.2%. In comparison to the record-breaking 2019, the number of bookings in Croatia made via online platforms increased by 35.0%, and the number of tourist nights by 47.0%.
Table 1 Occupancy indicators of short-stay accommodation in Croatia booked via online platforms
| 2023 | 2024 | Indices 2024/2023 |
|
| Bookings (stays) | 2 440 482 | 2 651 121 | 108.6 |
| Number of nights rented out | 10 647 087 | 11 369 285 | 106.8 |
| Tourist nights | 34 499 004 | 37 687 805 | 109.2 |
According to the official national accommodation statistics data, which already include tourist nights realised in accommodation booked via online platforms, tourists in Croatia realised a total of 46.6 million nights in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation in 2024. Of that, 80.8% of nights were realised in accommodation booked via online platforms.
Chart 1
A significant increase in the number of bookings and domestic tourist nights in accommodation booked via online platforms in 2024
In 2024, domestic tourists realised 324 thousand accommodation bookings in Croatia in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation via four major online platforms: Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor. Based on these bookings, 2.1 million domestic tourist nights were realised in 2024, which accounts for 5.6% of total nights realised via the mentioned platforms. On average, domestic tourists realised 888 bookings and 5 755 nights per day, or an average of 6.5 domestic tourist nights per booking.
In 2024, as compared to 2023, an increase of 20.8% was realised in the number bookings made via online platforms, as well as an increase of 17.7% in the number of domestic tourist nights realised via online platforms. In 2024, as compared to 2019, an increase of 85.0% was realised in the number of bookings, as well as an increase of 77.9% in the number of domestic tourist nights. These occupancy indicators of short-stay accommodation confirm there is a continued growth of interest among domestic tourists in booking accommodation via online platforms.
Table 2 Occupancy indicators of short-stay accommodation in Croatia booked via online platforms by domestic tourists
| 2023 | 2024 | Indices 2024/2023 |
|
| Bookings (stays) | 268 283 | 324 157 | 120.8 |
| Number of nights rented out | 695 873 | 820 157 | 117.9 |
| Domestic tourist nights | 1 784 801 | 2 100 425 | 117.7 |
Chart 2
An increase in the number of bookings made via online platforms and of foreign tourist nights in accommodation booked via these platforms in Croatia in 2024
In 2024, foreign tourists in Croatia realised 2.3 million accommodation bookings in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation via four major online platforms: Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor. Based on these bookings, 35.6 million foreign tourist nights were realised, which accounts for 94.4% of total nights realised in the accommodation booked via these platforms in 2024. On average, foreign tourists realised 6 375 bookings and 97 500 nights per day, or an average of 15.3 tourist nights per booking.
In 2024, as compared to 2023, the number of bookings made by foreign tourists increased by 7.1%, and the number of tourist nights by 8.8%. Compared to 2019, there was an increase of 30.1% in the number of bookings made by foreign tourists, and the number of their nights increased by 45.6%. The data for 2024 show a continued increase in the number of bookings of short-stay accommodation realised via online platforms among foreign tourists compared to the previous years.
Table 3 Occupancy indicators of short-stay accommodation in Croatia booked via online platforms by foreign tourists
| 2023 | 2024 | Indices 2024/2023 |
|
| Bookings (stays) | 2 172 199 | 2 326 964 | 107,1 |
| Number of nights rented out | 9 951 214 | 10 549 128 | 106,0 |
| Foreign tourist nights | 32 714 203 | 35 587 380 | 108,8 |
Chart 3
Tourists from Germany realised the most nights in Croatia in accommodation booked via online platforms
Tourists from Germany realised the most foreign tourist nights in Croatia in short-stay accommodation in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation booked via online platforms in 2024, a total of 7.8 million nights, which accounts for 21.8% of all foreign tourist nights in accommodation booked via online platforms. Tourists from Poland followed, realising 4.4 million nights (12.2%), and so did tourists from Austria, with 2.2 million nights (6.2%), Hungary, with 2.1 million nights (5.8%), the Czech Republic, with 1.9 million nights (5.4%), and Italy, with 1.8 million nights (4.9%). Tourists from these countries realised a total of 56.4% of all foreign tourist nights in Croatia booked via online platforms in 2024.
Chart 4
In July and August of 2024, a total of 58.2% of all tourist nights realised in accommodation booked via online platforms
In 2024, the highest number of bookings made via online platforms in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation was realised in July and August. In that period, 1.2 million of such bookings were realised, which accounts for 46.7% of total bookings realised in 2024 in the aforementioned group. Compared to the same period of 2023, it was an increase of 3.8%.
In the same months, July and August of 2024, a total of 21.9 million tourist nights were realised, which accounts for 58.2% of total nights in accommodation booked via online platforms in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation. Compared to the same period of 2023, the number of nights increased by 6.0%.
Chart 5
The most tourist nights in accommodation booked via online platforms realised in Adriatic Croatia
In 2024, at the level of statistical regions, Adriatic Croatia realised the most tourist nights in accommodation in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation, booked via online platforms, a total of 35.4 million nights, which accounts for 94.0% of all such nights realised in Croatia. The number of tourist nights in Adriatic Croatia increased by 8.8% compared to 2023.
The City of Zagreb holds second place, with 1.5 million nights realised, which accounts for 3.9% of total nights in accommodation booked via online platforms. Compared to 2023, an increase of 14.1% in the number of tourist nights was realised in the City of Zagreb.
Table 4 Tourist nights in short-stay accommodation in Croatia booked via online platforms at the level of HR_NUTS 2021 - HR NUTS 2 classification
| 2023 | 2024 | Indices 2024/2023 |
|
| Total | 34 499 004 | 37 687 805 | 109.2 |
|
Adriatic Croatia
|
32 566 249 | 35 424 332 | 108.8 |
|
City of Zagreb
|
1 304 292 | 1 488 112 | 114.1 |
|
Pannonian Croatia
|
397 595 | 472 383 | 118.8 |
|
North Croatia
|
230 868 | 302 978 | 131.2 |
At the level of counties, the most tourist nights in accommodation booked via online platforms in 2024 were realised in the County of Split-Dalmatia, with a total of 10.5 million nights, which accounts for 28.0% of all nights realised in Croatia in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation booked via four major online platforms. This was followed by the County of Istria, with 7.2 million nights (19.0%), the County of Primorje-Gorski Kotar and the County of Zadar, both with 5.2 million nights (13.8% each), and the County of Dubrovnik-Neretva, with 3.9 million nights (10.2%).
Chart 6
Split - the city with the most tourist nights realised in accommodation booked via online platforms
In 2024, in four large Croatian cities - Zagreb, Split, Pula - Pola and Zadar - a total of 7.3 million tourist nights were realised in short-stay accommodation booked via online platforms, which accounts for 19.4% of total nights in Croatia booked via those channels.3)
Out of the aforementioned cities, the most tourist nights were realised in Split, a total of 2.8 million, which was 37.8% of nights realised in the four largest cities. This was followed by Zadar, with 1.9 million, Zagreb, with 1.5 million, and Pula - Pola, with 1.1 million nights.
Chart 7
In the first half of 2025, the number of tourist bookings and nights in short-stay accommodation booked via online platforms increased
In the first six months of 2025, tourists in Croatia realised 925 thousand accommodation bookings in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation made via online platforms Airbnb, Booking and Expedia (see Notes on Methodology). Based on these bookings, a total of 11.0 million tourist nights were realised. This amounted to an average of 5 112 bookings and 60 583 tourist nights per day, or 11.9 tourist nights per booking in Croatia.
Compared to the first six months of 2024, the number of bookings via these platforms increased by 11.2%, and the number of nights by 13.4%, which indicates that the trend of growth in tourist activity in Croatia achieved through bookings via online platforms continues.
Chart 8
Notes on Methodology
Purpose of the statistical survey
The purpose of publishing data for experimental tourism statistics is to show the collaborative economy in the area of short-stay accommodation booked via online platforms in group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation according to the NKD 2025. The activity of booking accommodation via online platforms is most prevalent in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation.
The data have the status of experimental because Eurostat obtained privately owned data directly from online platforms for the purposes of this analysis for the first time. The methodology for processing these data is still under development and does not meet all the standards of official statistics, which is why the data are considered experimental.
The data source for these experimental statistics are four online platforms: Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor, which cover the largest part of the short-term accommodation market. Data on accommodation booked via these platforms are currently not included in the official statistics on tourist accommodation occupancy, which are compiled in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism. Users will be informed in a timely manner about the possible inclusion of these data in official tourism statistics.
Legal basis
The survey is conducted according to the Annual Implementation Plan of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia for 2026 (NN, No. 145/25) and Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism.
Observation units
The observation unit is an establishment that provides short-stay accommodation services and is classified according to the NKD 2025 in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation, as well as advertised on one or more online platforms for booking tourist accommodation: Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor.
Sources and methods of data collection
The data on short-stay accommodation for tourists are collected from four online platforms: Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor, which act as intermediaries between accommodation providers (hosts) and users (tourists). These platforms collect data on accommodation bookings and realised nights on a daily basis.
Eurostat, on behalf of the European national statistical offices, has concluded a data-sharing agreement with the aforementioned platforms, and aggregate data on occupancy of short-stay accommodation for tourists are taken over. The first data were taken over for 2018 and 2019.
Eurostat takes over partially aggregate data on occupancy of short-stay accommodation for tourists in the EU Member States and EFTA countries offered by accommodation service providers via online platforms. The aggregate data are forwarded to the national statistical offices, in accordance with bilateral agreements, in strict compliance with the rules of statistical confidentiality.
The data in these experimental statistics were not collected from administrative sources, but exclusively from the databases of online platforms that enable the booking of short-stay accommodation, and collect the data on bookings of accommodation establishments and the number of tourist nights in their databases on a daily basis.
Coverage
The survey covers establishments providing short-stay accommodation services in the Republic of Croatia, classified according to the NKD 2025 in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation, and the accommodation is booked via one or more online platforms used for booking tourist accommodation that are the data source for these experimental statistics: Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor. Tripadvisor, which has been contributing to this data set since 2018, announced its exit from this activity at the end of 2024 and will no longer provide data in the future. The data from 2025 cover three online platforms: Airbnb, Booking and Expedia.
The rental of short-stay accommodation for tourists booked via online platforms, as part of the collaborative economy, is predominantly carried out in the group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation. Therefore, data on bookings and nights in hotels (group 55.1 Hotels and similar accommodation) and campsites (group 55.3 Camping grounds and recreational vehicle parks), which are also advertised on the same online platforms, are excluded from the data coverage.
The activity of renting out tourist accommodation, which is part of the collaborative economy and is carried out via online platforms, is most represented in short-stay accommodation, which is classified in group 55.2 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation according to the NKD 2025. This group includes the provision of accommodation, typically on a daily or weekly basis, principally for short stays by tourists/visitors, in a self-contained space consisting of complete furnished rooms or areas for living/dining and sleeping, with cooking facilities or fully equipped kitchens. This may take the form of apartments or flats in small free-standing multi-storey buildings or clusters of buildings, or single-storey bungalows, chalets, cottages and cabins. This accommodation offers very few, if any, complementary services.
According to the Ordinance on Classification and Categorisation of Accommodation Establishments in the group Other accommodation establishments (NN, Nos 54/16 and 69/17), the types of accommodation establishments are the following: rooms, apartments, studio-type suites, summer houses, overnight accommodations, vacation establishments for children, hostels, mountain lodges, hunting lodges, pupils’ homes or students’ homes or akademis and Robinson-type accommodation establishments.
In Croatia, all legal and natural persons providing overnight accommodation services in accommodation establishments, as well as natural persons who provide accommodation services in a household or on a family farm, according to the Ordinance on the eVisitor System (NN, No. 43/20), check in and check out tourists via the eVisitor system, the central electronic system for checking in and checking out tourists in the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, tourist nights realised within the collaborative economy are already included in the national accommodation statistics dealing with tourist arrivals and nights.
Confidentiality
Due to data confidentiality rules, only aggregate data for all four online platforms from which these data were taken are published.
Definitions
The term collaborative economy refers to business models in which activities are carried out through collaborative platforms that create an open market for the temporary use of goods or services, often provided by natural persons or individuals. The collaborative economy includes three categories of participants, which are defined as follows.
- Service providers are natural or legal persons who offer services and goods on online platforms or make assets, resources, time and/or skills available, and may operate occasionally (non-professionally) or as part of a registered activity (professionally).
- Users are natural persons or legal entities who find and contract services or goods offered by service providers on online platforms and use them. A user is considered to be a person who, in the reference period, used an online platform to organise accommodation, transport or other services offered on the platform.
- Intermediaries connect service providers and users via an online platform and enable their interaction (collaborative platforms). Platforms establish a digital market, facilitate communication and contracting of services, and often provide additional features such as payment processing, a rating system and management of usage rules. As a rule, they do not provide the core service, but act as intermediaries in its implementation.
Online platforms for booking short-stay accommodation are platforms that enable a direct connection between service/goods providers and users (tourists). The most well-known such online platforms in EU Member States and EFTA countries are Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor.
Short-stay accommodation occupancy indicators
Bookings (stays) indicate the number of rentals of an accommodation unit made via online platforms in the reporting period, regardless of the number of tourists or the length of stay.
Example:
If a room/apartment is rented out three times in a month → number of bookings = 3.
Number of nights rented out indicates the number of nights in which the accommodation unit was occupied (rented out) in the reporting period, regardless of the number of tourists.
Example:
If a room/apartment is rented out three times in a month, each time for two nights → number of nights rented out = 3 × 2 = 6 nights.
Tourist nights indicate the total number of nights spent by all tourists in the accommodation unit in the reporting period.
Example:
If a room/apartment is rented out three times in a month, and four tourists stay for two nights each time → 3 bookings × 4 tourists × 2 nights = 24 tourist nights.
Bookings (stays), the number of nights rented out and tourist nights are three interrelated but methodologically different indicators.
- Bookings (stays) are an indicator that measures the frequency of rentals (how many times a unit has been rented).
- The number of nights rented out is an indicator that measures the duration of rental (how many nights a unit has been occupied).
- Tourist nights are an indicator that measures the volume of overnight stays (how many nights all tourists have realised in total).
Example of occupancy indicators:
If a family of four stays in an apartment for three nights, this comprises of:
- one booking
- three nights rented out
- 12 tourist nights.
Tourism means the activity of visitors taking a trip to or staying in a main destination outside their usual environment for less than a year, for the purposes of leisure, business or other personal purposes other than to be employed by a resident entity in the place visited.
Tourist is any person who, outside his/her place of usual residence, spends at least one night in a hotel or some other accommodation establishment for reasons of rest, recreation, health, study, sport, religion, family, business, public missions or meetings. Excluded are persons residing at a place for longer than 12 consecutive months, persons whose main reason for visiting is an activity that is financed from the place of visit, persons who travel to their work place or an education institution on a daily or weekly basis, persons coming into or going out of the country as migrants, frontier workers, diplomats, consular representatives and military force members on their regular duties, displaced persons, nomads and persons in transit.
Domestic tourist is any person permanently residing in the Republic of Croatia who spends at least one night in a hotel or some other accommodation establishment outside his/ her place of permanent residence.
Foreign tourist is any person permanently residing outside the Republic of Croatia who temporarily resides in the Republic of Croatia and who spends at least one night in a hotel or some other accommodation establishment.
Territorial constitution
The National Classification of Statistical Regions 2021 (hereinafter: HR_NUTS 2021) is a statistical standard used for collecting, processing, analysing and disseminating regional statistics data by levels of spatial division of the Republic of Croatia. HR_NUTS 2021 is the statistical basis for an efficient conduct of regional development policy, for making socio-economic analyses and for achieving the goals of social and economic cohesion. It is a hierarchical classification establishing statistical regions of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd levels, according to which the territory of the Republic of Croatia is broken down for the purposes of regional statistics, as follows.
- The statistical region of the 1st level (hereinafter: HR NUTS 1) is the Republic of Croatia as an administrative unit.
- The statistical regions of the 2nd level (hereinafter: HR NUTS 2) consist of four non-administrative units created by grouping counties as lower-level administrative units.
- The statistical regions of the 3rd level (hereinafter: HR NUTS 3) consist of 21 administrative units (20 counties and the City of Zagreb).
The data on bookings and tourist nights realised in short-stay accommodation via online platforms are presented according to the HR_NUTS 2021 classification at all three levels: HR NUTS 1, HR NUTS 2 and HR NUTS 3 (NN, No. 125/19) and at the level of large cities.
Definition of cities in tourism statistics
Cities are that local administrative unit (LAU) level in which at least 50% of the population lives in urban centres. An urban centre is defined as a cluster of connected grid cells of 1 km² with a density of at least 1 500 inhabitants per km² and a total population of at least 50 000. A city may include several local administrative units.
For the purposes of these statistics, only selected cities are considered, i.e. cities that meet at least one of the following criteria:
a) capital cities
b) cities with at least 200 000 inhabitants
c) other cities in the country that together account for 90% of the total annual tourist nights in that country.
Based on these criteria, for the purposes of tourism statistics, Zagreb, Pula - Pola, Split and Zadar are included in the coverage of cities.
All other information about the methodology is available on the Eurostat website - links:
EU European Union
Eurostat Statistical Office of the European Union
EFTA European Free Trade Association
km2 square kilometre
NKD 2025 National Classification of Activities, 2025 version
NN Narodne novine, official gazette of the Republic of Croatia
LAU local administrative unit
mln million