Tourism drives Croatia’s flight recovery as EX-YU markets struggle


The number of arriving and departing flights in countries of the former Yugoslavia are down an average of 60.2% compared to last year as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, with Croatia being the exception.

At the end of last week, flights were down 41.2% in Croatia according to European air navigation provider Euroctronol. The softer decline in air traffic in the country, the third lowest in Europe overall after Albania and Luxembourg, is primarily down to coastal airports, with Zagreb itself seeing a weekly average decline of 51.1%. The Croatian tourism sector has seen promising signs of recovery with 2.44 million arrivals registered in July, around 60% of last year’s result. "With the increase in the number of airlines, tourist traffic in the southern parts of Dalmatia, including Dubrovnik, has intensified", Kristijan Staničić, the head of the Croatian Tourist Board, said. Over one million arrivals were processed during the first nine days of August, which is at 70% of last year’s figures.

Traffic in Slovenia declined 56.7%, positioning it behind Bulgaria but ahead of the United Kingdom, albeit at different starting bases. Slovenia’s softer decline is down to the majority of airlines resuming traffic to Ljubljana, while figures were well down last year as well as Adria Airways entered its penultimate month of operations, cancelling numerous flights at the time. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s decline in traffic stood 60.2%, with Sarajevo particularly affected. The capital city’s traffic fell 69.7%, however, a slow recovery in Tuzla and Banja Luka have lowered the country’s overall rate of decline in the number of arriving and departing flights.

Serbia and Montenegro, which are jointly grouped by Eurocontrol, saw a 60.3% decline in the number of flights, positioning them behind Bosnia and Herzegovina but ahead of the likes of Denmark, the Czech Republic and Ireland. The decline in Montenegro was more pronounced, with Podgorica seeing its traffic down 68.3%, while Belgrade’s weekly average figures decreased 57.5%. Macedonia recorded the biggest decline in traffic among the EX-YU markets, with average weekly figures down 64.7%, behind most countries but still ahead of Sweden, Moldova and Georgia. Skopje’s traffic itself declined 59.9%. Separate data for Kosovo is not available as it is not a formal member of Eurocontrol.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:02

    These arrivals might help a bit but it's too late in the summer for any meaningful economic impact.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:47

      Istria is actually doing quite fine. Many people come there by car. I expect Croatia overall to be at least at 50% of last year in terms of visitors which is good overall.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:02

    Not surprised

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:02

    Bravo Hrvatska!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:02

    The question is how many passengers are on the flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:07

      We'll know at the end of the month.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:09

      @9.02 +1

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:39

      61% load factor on flights to/from SPU.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:53

      Every single flight?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous14:42

      Not every flight. Its just aprox. LF for July.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:05

    So it seems flights are down 60% overall. Quite sad. Would have been a record for all markets, except maybe for Slovenia.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:06

    The coast saves the day,

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:06

    Interesting that Albania is seeing the smallest decline in traffic. Well done. Congratulations to Croatia too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:08

      Not surprising since Wizz opened a base there with three A320.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:33

      Albania is becoming an emerging, tourist destination with not only Tirana but it's coast becoming popular. Tirana has developed quite a lot.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:38

      they had -91% in June despite TIA opened on June 15th

      Delete
    4. It would be great if Wizz is allowed to open Tirana-Belgrade at least seasonally.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:14

      Considering Albanians citizens can’t fly to EU countries Albania doing really good.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:15

      New airlines entered the market post lockdown aswell so they boost numbers and many airlines have are flying there with decent frequency

      Delete
  8. Anonymous09:10

    How many weekly flights does SM have between BEG and HRG?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:13

      HRG demand is booming, 2 flights today, four tomorrow. JU will have two departures tomorrow at 18.00.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:14

      3 weekly

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:17

      According to the airline's website they operate 5 weekly flights between Belgrade and Hurgada.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:18

      It's booming because there is nowhere else to go. There or Turkey.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous09:19

      @9.17 They are currently operating 3 weekly flights - Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday )departing Hurghada) which you can see if you try to make a booking. They are not operating 5 weekly flights, which you can also check by going on BEG's website.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:20

      Which only goes to prove people are not afraid to fly and that travel patterns won't change because of Corona as many claim.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:22

      If that was true, traffic would not be down 60%.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:27

      Check their booking system, from the 20th flights are being increased to five weekly. Anon 09.22 People can't travel not because they can't but rather because of various, artificial government imposed restrictions. In the Wizz article you can see that they said ticket sales performed well until additional restrictions were imposed on Serbian travellers.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous09:29

      I wish I shared your optimism and had the pink glasses you have while looking at these disastrous results.If restrictions were the only reason people were not traveling Belgrade/Serbia would be full of tourists as there are no restrictions. But that's not the case. The situation is dire. Ask any hotelier in Belgrade.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous09:35

      Aeroflot cancelled mostly all international flights until October 25th. This is how bad this crisis is!

      Delete
    11. Anonymous09:41

      Sir Tim Clark seems to be also wearing pink glasses. Wizz LF rose by 10% in July and so on. I guess all that is from pink glasses.

      Delete
    12. Anonymous09:49

      yes it rose 10 from a terrible levels in June. stil far from normal

      Delete
    13. Anonymous09:57

      It's still an increase of 10% from 50% to 60%. Also Turkish tourists started returning to Serbia in June once flights were resumed, at least that's what official statistics say. Then in August JU increased IST from 3 to 5 weekly and TK is boosting BEG to double daily. Remember, there are no travel restrictions between the two countries.

      Delete
    14. Anonymous10:05

      Introduce mandatory fast testing at airports for all passengers and problem solved.

      Delete
    15. Anonymous11:12

      well it would be nice, but unfortunately those rapid tests are not most reliable

      Delete
    16. Anonymous14:33

      no not the quick tests where u get a result within 5 mins. the pcr tests where you can get a result after 2-4 hours.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous09:14

    as somebody above said nr of pax is more important: for example ZAG has -79% pax but "only" - 51% flights. dont know about the coast

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:22

      Number of operated flights is the first indication of a return in demand.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:36

      almost true. its rather what airlines think it can work .

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:15

    These are not bad when you take into consideration that LHR numbers are down by 88%.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:16

      Numbers of passangers or flights?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:25

      Passengers

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:38

      hefty

      Delete
  11. Anonymous09:34

    Croatia is thriving in recovery!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:35

      Ok...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:38

      Croatia is doing better than the other ExYu countries.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:11

      Croatia handled the pandemic very efficiently and professionally. No wonder why it's figures are way much better given the fact it has a large number of airports.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:41

      Still some "profesionals" were saying how recovery in Croatia would be the worst because of tourism.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous15:38

      Well so far recovery is only in terms of flights offered, looking at passenger numbers at coastal airports we can see a very different situation.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous16:21

      Well SPU was the bussiest in the region in July.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous09:38

    I can imagine the load factors on all these flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:12

      LF's are low everywhre.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous09:44

    Split had 171k pax in July which makes it -74% compared to last year (723k).

    i cannot share the optimism of the anonymous fanboys once u look deeper into the numbers

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous09:47

    Dubrovnik July: 59.133 thats even less then Zagreb

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:56

    It's good for the coast but what about Zagreb? Norwegian, Emirates, Korean Air, Air Canada Rouge, Aegean and Air Transat have cancelled their flights to ZAG for the rest of the year. Flydubai is uncertain for winter as is Lufthansa's Frankfurt flights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:01

      Zagreb is stil doing better then the coast or you want only to provoke?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:03

      What am I provoking? Is anything I wrote wrong?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:03

      Aeroflot's future is also uncertain, they suspended most international flights until winter. SSJ are supposed to be moved to Rossiya and those operated to ZAG. Let's see if ZAG maintains Aeroflot mainline or if they get the subsidiary.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:06

      Also Czech Airlines and Swiss

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:08

      OU also suspended several destinations this year due to the crisis.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:12

      VY is resuming flights to ZAG this month and the coast, too.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:18

      @ 10.12
      They have already resumed them I believe
      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/07/vueling-to-resume-zagreb-suspend.html

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:56

    Good for Croatia

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:59

    Let's hope passengers are also there.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:01

    Surprised about Slovenia to be honest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:02

      In what way?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:06

      I thought the decline would be much bigger.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:29

      It didn't have too many flights to begin with.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous10:01

    41.2% decline isn't a lot in today's day and age unfortunately.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:02

      but 70% decline in passengers is

      Delete
  20. Anonymous10:06

    With relatively open borders between Croatia and Western Europe, it's not surprising.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:09

      But LF is obviously terrible

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:11

      You don't know the load factors and you can't draw a conclusions from the passenger numbers because most airlines have reduced capacity. Last year you had Austrian send B767s to Dubrovniik, now its E190s.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:32

      ok. the amount of passengers then if thats more ok with you
      low LF or tiny aircraft isti .....

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:36

      Actually it isn't at all because the economics on the route are affected differently. You obviously have no clue.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:37

      we are talking about numbers of passengers

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:45

      Austrian sent 767 to DBV once 2 years ago in April. But LF is not so bad for current situation. At Split for July was about 61 % .

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:57

      as if DBV and SPU depend on legacy airlines and especially Austrian.

      Delete
    8. There are numbers for Croatia top 3 for first 7 months.
      ZG -67%
      ST -84%
      DU -90%
      Others more than 90%

      Delete
    9. Anonymous14:35

      The 767 was sent because of A321 shortage, the seat difference is not that big between the two.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous10:28

    How come the decline is above average in Macedonia?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:36

      OHD

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:38

      Yep, if you look at the data in the text it is down to OHD, which is understandable in these circumstances.

      Delete
  22. Anonymous10:40

    Recovery will be quicker than most people think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:08

      I really hope so but doesn't look like it.

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:49

    Zadar: July number of flights -39,51% but nr of passengers -76,83% (33 684)

    I guess thats the real picture

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:10

      it's unfortunate. ZAD would have had a million passengers this year.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:11

      i mean under normal circumstances.

      Delete
  24. There is one and only truth, passengers numbers. And there is disaster especially in Croatia top 3 for first 7 months.
    ZG -67%
    ST -84%
    DU -90%
    LF is a big problem!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:02

      ST should be a 7 i think

      Delete
    2. Sorry i did not understand you, there are numbers for first 7 months
      2019 1.824.446 vs 280.189 2020

      Delete
  25. Anonymous11:58

    Honestly, what did you expect after all? A fast recovery? Istria is doing quite well because of the proximity of its markets. The rest is doing bad, but no surprise here.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous14:09

    True recovery can't begin until this is all over. I think it's possible in Q4 2021 when most people will probably be vaccinated and countries lift entry bans.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous14:34

    Various restrictions are having an impact on travel. EU is closed for Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia.

    Croatian citizens now also have entry restrictions:
    - Cyprus – Testing required
    - Finland – Only business travels
    - Iceland – 2 tests required
    - Ireland – 14 days quarantine
    - Latvia – 14 days quarantine
    - Lithuania – 14 days quarantine
    - The Netherlands – 14 days self-isolation
    - Norway – 10 days quarantine
    - Slovenia – 14 days quarantine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Slovenia? Are you sure?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:40

      Many countries are introducing additional measures, just today Romania will introduce mandatory quarantine for anyone coming from Spain. Now that will have a serious impact on air travel.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous20:04

      Ha, you do believe any Croat would go into self isolation ?!
      They never even would touch a mask .
      So what do you think they would do if ordered in quarantine ...?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous21:58

      Kacin said today Croatia won't go on the red list "because numbers are stabilizing" so no quarantine

      Delete
    5. Anonymous22:39

      Croatia is on Slovenian yellow list, so no quarantine for Slovenian citizens coming from Croatia (and those who have residence in Slovenia or are transiting the country and some other exceptions), but there is quarantine in place for Croats or other arrivals from Croatia to Slovenia.

      Delete
  28. Anonymous01:47

    In the end its all politics not science .
    Why Croatia has green light but Bosnia not - they treat the corona epidemy the same .
    Thats why EU Membership is of such importance , because of the privileges and the lookaways ...

    ReplyDelete

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