(Bloomberg) -- Croatian central bank Governor Boris Vujcic warned that the country’s vital tourism sector could be harmed by the cumulative impact of price hikes over the last few years.
His warning came as many holidaymakers begin shopping around for destinations and accommodations for the upcoming summer travel season.
Vujcic said in a television interview on Sunday that tourism prices in Croatia had risen by about 50% over the past three to four years. That’s far more than the 20% increases experienced in competing Mediterranean destinations such as Italy, France, Greece, Spain, and Malta, he said.
Overall, consumer prices in Croatia rose 28% over the past four years, according to the national statistics office.
“This is an enormous difference,” Vujcic, who’s also a member of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, told N1 TV in Zagreb. “We already noticed that in the last two years, we started to lose a share of the market. We have to be careful if we want to be price-competitive, and offer services for a price that the guests are ready to accept.”
Tourism is Croatia’s largest economic sector, contributing about 20% to gross domestic product.
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