CroatiaTourism Close to pre-War level
ZAGREB - Croatia'svaluable tourism industry, hard hit by the 1990s wars on its own and neighboring territories,has almost recovered to pre-conflict activity in terms of tourist numbers andovernight stays, the tourism ministry says.
In 2002, Croatia hosted 8.3 million tourists compared with 7.8 million ayear before. In 1990, which preceded the country's 1991-95 war for independencefrom the former Yugoslavia, Croatia welcomed 8.4 million tourists.Thenumber of overnight stays reached 44.6 million in 2002, or 1.2 million more thanin 2001. In 1990, there were 52.3 million overnight stays.
Asin 1990, Germans were on the top of the last year's list of foreign tourists,followed by Italians, Slovenians, Czechs and Austrians. Thearea which welcomed most of tourists was the northern peninsula of Istria,followed by a northern seaside resort of Opatija.
Theregion of the famous southern Adriatic resort of Dubrovnik, badly affected bythe 1991-95 war, was on the fifth place only.
Croatiahas seen a gradual recovery of its tourist industry destroyed in the 1990s warssince 1998.
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