In 2024, a total of 1,492,994 visitors from approximately 163 countries around the world visited the Plitvice Lakes National Park. When looking at the change in the number of visitors within the year, July and August stand out as the months with the highest number of visitors, while the winter and autumn months recorded fewer visitors. Last year, May and September stood out in particular with just under 200,000 visitors, which indicates a positive trend for the pre-season and post-season, when there are also more group visits.

Visitors can also enter the visiting system according to selected tour programs at the two main entrances to the National Park – Entrance 1 and Entrance 2. In 2024, the share of visitors who started their tour from Entrance 1 was 61%, while Entrance 2 was chosen by 39% of visitors for the start of their tour of the Park.

When looking at visitor demographics, 79% of visitors were adults, 13.7% were children between the ages of 7 and 18, and 7.3% were students.

The Plitvice Lakes National Park is also visited by people with disabilities (adults and children). In 2024, the total number of visitors with some form of long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment was 4,451. Although not all parts of the visitor system are adapted to persons with disabilities, the vision of our protected area is to enable better accessibility of certain trails and invest in the accessibility of information for people with visual impairments. As one of the partners of the Croatian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the implementation of the project Nature for All in Sign Language, we will strive to adapt the interpretation in the visitor system to the deaf and hard of hearing.

The Plitvice Lakes National Park is visited by people from all over the world, with visitors from European countries (77.7%) and Asian countries (12.8%) accounting for the largest share in 2024. The share of visitors from the United States and Canada was 6%, South America 1.3%, and Central America and Africa 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively. The share of visitors from Australia and Oceania was 1%. If we look at European countries, the largest number of visitors was from Croatia, followed by Germany, Poland, France and Italy. The number of visitors from Croatia does not only refer to the number of people from the territory of Croatia, but also to those visitors who live abroad but use a national mobile phone number to purchase tickets. The share of visitors from Croatia in the total share of visitors was 15%, which means that the Plitvice Lakes National Park is still mostly visited by foreign tourists (85%).

Statistical indicators of tourist traffic

During 2024, 149,156 overnight stays were recorded in accommodation facilities managed by the Public Institution.

The number of overnight stays of foreign tourists amounted to 139,050, or 93% of the total number of overnight stays, while domestic tourists accounted for 10,106, or 7% of the total number of overnight stays.

Of the total number of overnight stays at the Hotel Jezero, 13% were domestic tourists, while 87% were foreign tourists.

At the Korana and Borje campsites, of the total number of overnight stays in 2024, foreign guests accounted for as much as 99%.

During 2024, the German market accounted for the largest share of total overnight stays in accommodation facilities in the Plitvice Lakes National Park, followed by the Taiwanese, Italian and the US markets.

At the Hotel Jezero, the Taiwan market accounted for the largest share of total overnight stays, followed by the US, Croatian and Japanese markets.

At the Korana and Borje campsites, the German market accounted for the largest share of total overnight stays, followed by the Dutch, Italian and French markets at the Korana campsite, and the Dutch, French and Italian markets at the Borje campsite.

Objava Analysis of year-round tourism in 2024 pojavila se prvi puta na Nacionalni park "Plitvička jezera".

On 16 October 2024, representatives of the Plitvice Lakes National Park participated in the workshop “Strengthening the Resilience of Tourism to Climate Change” held at the Hotel Gacka in Ličko Lešće, organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. This workshop is the 12^th workshop on the aforementioned topic, which has been held since 2022. The workshops are conducted based on the obligations of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy in the Republic of Croatia for the period until 2040 with a view to 2070 (OG 46/20), and with the aim of raising awareness among experts involved in the tourism sector about the impact, risks and opportunities for climate change adaptation and strengthening the resilience of local communities in the tourism sector. The workshop was attended by representatives of municipal and county tourist boards, representatives of the protected areas of the Plitvice Lakes National Park and the Northern Velebit National Park, a representative of the Lika Destination Cluster, and other interested parties. Online presentations were given by Željko Šimek from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition on the topic of the strategic and legislative framework in the field of climate change adaptation, and Natalija Šimunović from the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds on the topic of presenting national guidelines for climate proofing. Jelena Šobat presented on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports on tourism reform and ecological certification. Vedran Katalinić gave a presentation on behalf of the Northern Velebit National Park on sustainable development in the function of tourism, and Željka Nikšić on behalf of the Lika Destination Cluster, i.e. the Lika Coop agricultural cooperative, on the topic of local products in the function of strengthening the resilience of destinations to climate change.

As the winner of the Green Destinations Silver Award, which we received as the Plitvice Lakes National Park in 2023, we were invited to present our own experiences and the process of going through the criteria (standards). The aim was to inform the participants about our path to sustainability, the activities we have initiated or the sustainable practises that are still under development and with which we are trying to achieve better compliance with certain criteria that need improvement. The topic of the development of the Plitvice Lakes National Park Management Plan 2019 – 2028 was also interesting for the participants, as it provided an overview of the participatory approach to the development of the plan, in which a significant contribution was made through workshops with stakeholders. At the workshop, Maja Vurnek, PhD, gave a presentation on behalf of Plitvice Lakes National Park.

Tourism communities are facing new challenges in the development of destination management plans and we hereby encourage all tourism stakeholders to achieve sustainable practises and implement sustainable policies in the industry to strengthen the resilience of tourism in challenging times where climate change has a significant impact and for which it is necessary to develop an adaptation and mitigation system.

Under the link https://youtu.be/uuhitMypss4?si=GCK9BPuOJ96BRl9O you can watch the recording of the 12^th workshop with presentations, while all previous workshops with presentations are available at https://mint.gov.hr/odrziviturizam/upravljanje-i-edukacija/23013.

More information on sustainable tourism can be found on the website of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

Objava Workshop “Strengthening the Resilience of Tourism to Climate Change” pojavila se prvi puta na Nacionalni park "Plitvička jezera".