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Vuk Tvrtko Opačić Tourism Valorisation of Croatian Intangible Cultural Heritage

Figure 4 The Number of Tourist Nights in the Administrative Area of the Town of Sinj in 2019 and 2021 by Months
Source Croatian Tourist Board (2019; 2021)

increased from 33.67% in 2016 to 48.44% in 2021; this the days when the Sinjska Alka happens every year,
confirms the dispersion of tourism in the destination all accommodation capacities in Sinj and the Cetinska
and the beginning of its maturing development phase. Krajina region are entirely booked. Domestic tourists
The structure of accommodation capacities is dom- exhibit a different concentration of tourist nights dur-
inated by complementary accommodation capacities ing summer. What is noticeable is that the share of
in private accommodation (apartments and rented tourist nights in the 2021 pandemic year during the
rooms, holiday houses), offering 295 beds, mostly two busiest summer months increased compared to
the four-star category, which accounts for 162 beds. the pre-pandemic year of 2019, which is due to the ex-
In comparison, a single three-star hotel in Sinj has 89 tended lockdown in Croatia and emissive European
beds available. In recent years, there has been an in- markets during the winter and spring of 2021, includ-
crease in the number of beds in private capacities of a ing restrictions on visiting Croatia which negatively
higher category (four and five stars), which indicates affected tourism. The vaccination program and intro-
an increasing quality of the destination tourist prod- duction of the European COVID-19 certificates led to
uct. more precise regulations of rules for visiting Croatia
Most tourist arrivals in Sinj occur during summer, and behaviour during the pandemic. Coinciding with
especially in July and August (Figure 4). increased tourism demand after the winter and spring
The peak season, in July and August, recorded lockdowns, this increased the number of tourist
41.88% of all tourist nights in 2019 and 51.43% in 2021, nights, which in August 2021 even exceeded the previ-
indicating significant seasonality in tourism. This dis- ous record in August 2019.
tribution of tourist nights by month is not surprising The number of tourist nights by foreign tourists
given that most foreign tourists visit Sinj in passing in the Town of Sinj exceeded the number of tourist
by while they stay on the Croatian coast, during an- nights achieved by Croatian tourists, hence the ratio
nual holidays and the bathing season. Moreover, on of 60:40 in favour of tourist nights by foreign tourists

40 | Proceedings of the 7th UNESCO UNITWIN Conference