August the 8th, 2025 – If you were to go solely off the headlines, you might be led to believe that Croatia is the only Mediterranean country burdened by prices. That’s far from the case, with big players like Greece also struggling.
As Ana Roksandic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the (apparently eternal) debate about whether prices are inflated in the season is not at all unique to Croatia. It also troubles the country’s competitors across the Med. The season in neighbouring Montenegro has all but completely collapsed, with the occupancy rate in the popular coastal town of Budva not even managing to exceed 50 percent. A little further south in nearby Greece, famous destinations like Santorini, an island that has recorded a significant 11.5 percent drop in arrivals, are in trouble. Greek hoteliers have attributed this to high operating costs such as rising energy prices, as well as the introduction of digital work cards.
Are Mediterranean countries too expensive and what can Croatia actually try to learn from the examples of others? “Guests no longer know what to expect, a price that represents excellent value for money, or something very expensive, but in fact without real value? Croatia is currently testing the limits of the patience of the tourism market. I don’t think we’ve exceeded them yet, but… If we don’t come to our senses, I think we’re well on our way to that happening,” warned Damir Krešić, director of the Institute of Tourism.
The Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) stated the following about the topic of Croatia and prices in comparison to other Mediterranean countries: “Price competitiveness is extremely important for achieving positive tourism results. Since the beginning of the year, the Croatian Government and the Ministry of Tourism and Sport have been appealing to all stakeholders in tourism and related industries to take this into account. It’s important to emphasise that prices have also increased among Croatia’s competitors, and comparable destinations such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Montenegro have also been recording similar or higher price adjustments. In many cases however, this has happened without them actually investing in quality.”
In Greece, they claim that due to the huge rising costs, there’s almost no room for further price reductions, which has probably deterred certain people from even bothering visiting Santorini. Regarding the articles about the bad situation in neighbouring Montenegro, Krešić said: “For years now, Montenegro has ‘pretended’ to be an elite tourism destination, while in fact it was a mass tourism destination with several world-class projects such as Porto Montenegro and Sveti Stefan. They had an amateur approach and actually just developed mass tourism. Not to mention the construction chaos along the entire coast. They did a lot of things wrong, and I believe that in Croatia, there’s a relatively high level of public awareness that this shouldn’t be the case here. There’s no need to gloat over the alleged failure of the Montenegrin season, quite on the contrary. Many foreign visitors don’t even know this area’s borders, many of them visit Croatia and countries in the region on round trips,” Krešić pointed out, adding that a good number of guests visit Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro on the same trip.
Budva, Montengro
“If something goes wrong in Montenegro, it will be worse for all of us. However, I believe that through the activities of the ministry and the warning of the Croatian National Tourist Board not to play around with prices, we’ve been sufficiently informed that prices shouldn’t be raised any more,” Krešić concluded.
The director of the Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB), Kristjan Staničić, noted that through operational and marketing plans, efforts are currently being made to ensure that Croatia is recognised as a sustainable, high-value destination, which, in order to improve the quality of life of the local population, offers a wide range of authentic and high-quality tourist experiences to different segments of tourist demand. When asked whether Croatia should seriously consider adjusting its prices, Staničić stated: “The prices themselves are mostly influenced by the market, or the supply and demand ratio. In these circumstances, but also in any other case, the most important thing is to offer appropriate quality, or value for money, for the given price.”
The Croatian National Tourist Board also emphasised that in terms of image, Croatia’s tourism needs to be repositioned towards a premium destination, that is, not a luxury destination, but a destination with high added value. That also all needs to be done while simultaneously raising awareness of Croatia’s offer that contains a wider tourism offer than mere sunshine and sea in summer.
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