November the 13th, 2025 – The number of cruise passengers in Croatia has grown by 4.1% in 2025 so far despite the number of vessels themselves dropping.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Zrinka Gabelica Toplek writes, foreign cruise ships made 111 trips to the Croatian Adriatic in September 2025, which is 6.7% less than in the same month last year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Although the number of trips and days of stay decreased by 19.5 percent, the number of passengers on the cruise ships themselves in Croatia increased by a somewhat significant 9.5%.
In the first nine months of this year, 81 foreign cruise ships sailed into the Croatian part of the Adriatic, representing a 9.5% increase compared to the first nine months of 2024, with 7.3% more days of ship stay and 6% more cruises, reaching total of 616. The number of cruise passengers in Croatia also increased by 4.1%, to just over 858,000.
The most cruise ship trips took place under the flags of Malta, the Bahamas and Panama, and the highest traffic was rather unsurprisingly realised down in the Dubrovnik-Neretva and Split-Dalmatia counties, with the Port of Dubrovnik being the most visited port, which is usually (if not always) the case.
This data indicates a clear market shift towards higher passenger numbers per vessel, despite a decrease in the total number of voyages and days spent, which may indicate capacity expansion or the better utilisation of ships in the Croatian cruise segment.
Croatia and this entire region of the Adriatic remains a leading cruise destination, with a deep reliance placed on major ports and popular destinations such as Split and of course Dubrovnik. Naturally, Dubrovnik has remained the most popular cruise port in the country, confirming its status as a key destination for international cruise tourism in Croatia.
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