Croatia hopes to establish nonstop connectivity to China as the number of visitors from the country continues to grow. The Head of the Croatian National Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, held talks with both Air China and Hainan Airlines in Beijing this week over the potential introduction of flights to Croatia. “Discussions centred on the considerable potential of the Chinese market, the growing interest of Chinese tourists in Croatia, and the importance of establishing direct air links to further boost travel between the two countries”, the Tourist Board said. It comes ahead of the Routes World summit in Hong Kong, the largest annual gathering of airlines and airports to negotiate new services, where Zagreb Airport will be represented by its CEO, Route Development Manager and Ground Operations Manager.
Shanghai is Zagreb’s busiest unserved destination in China, followed by Beijing. In 2017, Beijing Capital Airlines, a subsidiary of Hainan Airlines, intended on introducing services between the Chinese and Croatian capitals, however, the planned operations were later shelved. Initially, the carrier filed for a permit for a two weekly service with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Prior to the pandemic, Croatia’s Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, noted, “We are attempting to reach an agreement over nonstop flights between Zagreb, Beijing and Shanghai. Croatia has been recognised by Chinese tourists as an interesting new destination in Europe”. Despite growing demand, Croatia Airlines currently has no codeshare agreement in place with any Chinese carrier, nor does it have a codeshare partnership with other airlines on flights to China.
In 2024, 250.475 Chinese tourists visited Croatia, representing a strong increase of 41.3% on the previous year, or an additional 73.042 people. Chinese visitors surpassed those from South Korea, with which Zagreb boasts seasonal summer flights through T’Way Air. The number of arrivals from China is still below pre-pandemic 2019 levels, which amounted to 492.381 visitors. Last year, the largest portion of Chinese tourists in Croatia visited Dubrovnik. It was followed by Split, Zadar and then Zagreb. So far this year, between January and August, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Croatia declined slightly, by 1.8%, however, the number of overnight stays increased by 1.6%.
