Minister of Tourism and Sports Nikolina Brnjac said on Thursday that currently there are more than one million tourists in Croatia and that in the season so far Croatia has been recognized as the safest destination on the Mediterranean, appealing for responsible behavior so that it remains that way.

“Today, we have more than a million tourists but that obliges us to be responsible because tourists have recognised Croatia as a safe destination,” Brnjac said after a cabinet meeting, adding that it is necessary to continue acting responsibly and to adhere to all epidemiological measures.

“That is a certain way to have a safe tourist season until the end,” she said.

Presenting tourist figures for this part of the year, she said that we have had about 6 million arrivals to date and about 34 million bed nights. Compared to the same period in the record 2019 year, that is about 60% of bed nights and about 81% of the numbers for July that year, she said.

Asked to comment on news from Austria that about 90 Austrian tourists were infected on Croatia’s Zrče beach and whether controls should be ramped up in places like that, Brnjac said that about half a million Austrians had visited Croatia so far, and that new epidemiological measures have been put in place because of occurrences like that.

Croatia continues to be considered as the safest destination even after the latest ECDC map was released.

According to the Covid map released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Thursday, Croatia’s Adriatic coast is marked orange while continental Croatia is in the green zone.