WE TALKED TO RENTAL PROPERTIES, CATERERS, AGENCY OWNERS, SOUVENIR SHOP OWNERS...
What's the season like for you? Is there anything wrong with you? The people of Trogir ask each other as they watch the columns of guests taking pictures of the beautiful UNESCO town, sliding down the streets in flip-flops and looking for a cheaper place to rest and have a coffee. What is the tourist season like, we wondered and checked both the Trogir Tourist Office with data for June, and through rental platforms. In talking to the people of Trogir, we did not get the impression that the season is better than last year's.
The Tourist Board of the City of Trogir has published statistics for June. In the period from 1 to 30 June, a total of 23.722 arrivals and 84.433 overnight stays were recorded in Trogir. Poles, Germans, English, French and Americans are leading in terms of the number of arrivals. For 2024, in the same period, Trogir was visited by 21.385 guests who recorded 77.461 overnight stays. The increase in the number of arrivals, as well as overnight stays for June, is around 9 percent.
But what about tourism workers and landlords who wouldn't necessarily agree with these figures?
Statistics may say one thing, but the satisfaction of tourism workers is something else, so we spoke to tour bookers, souvenir shop owners, caterers, and accommodation owners.
Guests come just to sleep, and the Poles have been saving us in recent years
- Last year was better, but it's not a big fluctuation, we're talking about only 5 to 7 percent, and from conversations with others, hardly anyone is satisfied with the season. Greece will happen to us, we'll inflate prices so everyone will bypass us for the next few years, so when we become aware that others in the Mediterranean also have blue and clear seas, and that they are even cheaper, then maybe we'll remember to be less greedy. You know, everything has become a luxury, when they pay for accommodation, food, and probably cook in the apartment, they don't have much to spend with us, one trip to a restaurant, one trip to the city, and they're in the red, 20 euros for a drink, 100 for dinner, they'll buy one magnet and that's their only material souvenir - she told us souvenir shop owner in the city center.
Day trip bookers They lined the Riva waterfront with their colorful houses, attracting guests with posters featuring Vela Rina, Krknjaši, Modra Špilja and other eye-catching destinations. A long-time employee in the tourism sector works at one of the stands and gave us a detailed insight into the season.
The biggest problem is general greed
- The drastic drop in visits and the increasingly poor structure of guests are a consequence of prices, but not the price of excursions, but the price of surrounding services. People have to pay for an apartment, they have to eat, and they don't have to go on excursions, and that's what takes away the most income from us. About 80 percent of our clientele are Poles, so I can say that if it weren't for Poles, we wouldn't have survived the last 4-5 years. However, they still don't have a standard of living that a family could afford to pay for all of that without any problems. I think this season is, in my estimation, about 25 percent worse than last year. When we compare it to 2019, the situation is catastrophic. Unfortunately, 2019 will never happen again, and that's why I have reason to believe that the biggest problem is general greed in Croatian tourism. When they see a scoop of ice cream for 2-3 euros, a portion of pasta for 22, and a pizza for 15 and more, then people don't understand anything. We add up all these prices and that's how we get to the situation we're in. The problems are structural; "We have no development strategy, we have nothing new to offer, and we are asking for more and more from our guests. People are not naive. Today, with the availability of information and travel, guests are becoming better informed and will increasingly avoid us, because once word gets out that we are expensive, it will be difficult for us to recover," he said.
Jewelry saleswoman from Riva she said that neither earnings nor purchases have improved significantly, maybe only 5 percent, and that varies, one day more, the next less, the third day it just poured out. The structure of buyers has changed a lot and now they are Scandinavians and Poles, French and sometimes Czechs and Americans.
Caterers from the beginning and end of Pašik share mostly the same opinions, the pre-season was very good, the sixth month was acceptable, and the seventh started very badly. They complain about the increase in the price of the štekat, which was raised by 10% this year, as well as other costs - labor costs, groceries, additional state taxes, which does not make their situation any easier. The fact that some tour guides tell tourists while taking them to that part of the city not to sit there, to drink plain water in restaurants and not to leave tips for the staff is truly devastating because tour guides are the people who have to bring the city closer to foreigners, and not belittle the catering offer of their place, and after all, Google reviews show everything in a few clicks to anyone who wants to sit somewhere. The conclusion is that every year it is somehow getting worse, but still sustainable, but the question is how long it will be possible to maintain all this.
Owner of another souvenir shop in the city center, he briefly stated that the pre-season was very good, they even worked quite well towards the end of March and the whole of April, better than in the summer during peak hours. He says that this June was the worst month since he has been working in the souvenir shop, and that there is some work in July, but only in the last 4-5 days. We commented in general on the connection – if the apartment is expensive, the guest will not come – so the guest will not come to the restaurant, and then not to the souvenir shop or to a scoop of ice cream, so it is all about the apartments and their prices and what they offer for that money.
Hotels and apartments for old and loyal guests
We continued walking through the city and came to the first reception. Hotel. The hotel has a long history, it's not some newly established converted floor of a house with 5 apartments, so guests often return, and we ourselves looked at their occupancy and we can say that it was over 90 percent. The receptionist pointed out to us that the season is the same as last year, only that both this year and last year there is a trend of guests who book for one night, while in the minority are guests of agencies who arrange a stay of several days, who go on trips to nearby places from Trogir. He describes these one-day tourists as the younger generation who book accommodation in a few clicks through applications, arrive today, and are already in another place tomorrow.
Not far from this hotel are small family apartments We asked the manager what she thought about the season. Although it is located in a slightly more remote corner of the city center, tourists pass by because Google Maps lists them as such, but she says that there are noticeably fewer of them and the street is only full one or two days a week, it is no longer like before when the line would pass each other in the old streets. It is held for the arrivals of regular guests, although she has also noticed the arrivals of overnight guests. She is bitter about the large number of landlords who rarely invest their earnings at the end of the season in their accommodations, so they charge who knows how many euros more for the same accommodation the next year, and are unable to buy new sheets. Today, guests also expect certain small household appliances such as a coffee machine, iron, microwave for the price of accommodation, it is nice when the host leaves or gives away a bottle of water, some go further and leave guests a bottle of wine. These are all small details that attract guests because they are more of a sign of attention than an idea of how to charge more.
One ball and two teaspoons
In the famous Trogir pastry shops You can feel that there are fewer people who sit there with the intention of enjoying desserts, it's not like it used to be when the workers would spend their entire shift behind the counter making ice cream scoops and nodding their heads to "half this, half that". People spend less and consider whether they will have coffee and ice cream or just one of the two, and the structure of the guests has also changed, unfortunately we often see the order "one scoop in a cup and two spoons".
Waiter At a nearby café, he also comments that at least a few times during his shift he serves couples where one person orders a drink while the other just asks for a glass of water or nothing at all. The tip is noticeably lower than in previous years.
While we were talking to a passerby about the season, we could see a tourist standing on a bakery counter and eating the product he had just bought. Around him, within a radius of 100 meters, there are probably five catering facilities, but he had lunch for a couple of euros, he will buy juice in a store or a convenience store, and he is full until evening. Fast food establishments have perhaps the most visible crowds in front of their branches, and the fact that the difference between their burger and the one in the restaurant is only a few euros shows again that tourists look to us for every euro they spend.
And what do Booking and Airbnb say?
We also took a look at the two most famous websites for booking accommodation.
We typed in the following parameters: Trogir, one accommodation unit for two people, because it's statistically the most popular.
Booking.com says that today (July 16) there are 131 properties available for booking and also only for sleeping and checking out tomorrow (July 17). If we still wanted to stay longer and in the middle of the season, we chose Monday July 28th to Friday August 1st, we could choose 200 available properties. Towards the end of August we were surprised by the low occupancy, in the last week of August (25th – 29th) there are over 1000 available accommodations. September has about the same number of available capacities.
Na Airbnb-u could book 91 accommodations just to sleep tonight and leave tomorrow. Here we also took the same dates of the heart of the season (July 28 - August 1) and Airbnb says that 261 accommodations are available. For the last week of August, it shows the same as on Booking, over 1000 properties, and September is also more empty than full.
Trogir and the number of tourist facilities through the years
We did not go into detail about when Trogir became a tourist destination, but only the last four years and compared the growth of tourist facilities. We took into account everything that falls under Trogir, including the settlements: Arbanija, Divulje, Drvenik Mali, Drvenik Veliki, Mastrinka, Plano and Žedno.
In the mentioned places in the golden year 2019, we had 1361 facilities, and the last 4 years look like this: 2022 - 1334 facilities, 2023 - 1490 facilities, 2024 - 1624 facilities, and this year we have 1674 facilities.
Compared to 2019, their number has increased by 23 percent today, and we have 50 more facilities since last season.
The sea and the sun can no longer save us
Trogir is still charming, it is one of the best preserved medieval towns, it has a wonderful history, it is geographically in an excellent position, but the fact is - tourists come, but also pass by - often quickly and without much spending. Maybe it is time to ask ourselves not how many of them have come, but why some no longer come. And what can we do to make those who come - want to stay, and return. Unfortunately, some accommodations and caterers have remained at the level of the 2010s in terms of quality, and the prices as if it were already 2030. Guests see this, calculate and - choose others. The sea and the sun can no longer save us - because others have the same, but with prices that make sense. 
Photo: Tea Miše
