The city reports 313,001 overnight stays in September, a small year-on-year decline. The fall is sharper in the first half of October. The figures describe the city of Zadar, not the entire county.
September largely kept pace on overnight stays
On 21 October, Zadar's city administration published the municipal tourist board's eVisitor analysis. September recorded 81,582 arrivals and 313,001 overnight stays. Compared with September 2025, that means 4.5 per cent fewer arrivals but only 0.9 per cent fewer overnight stays.
The different declines are not a contradiction. Arrivals count stays; overnight stays measure their length. A five-night stay contributes once to the first measure and five times to the second. Dividing the two published totals gives approximately 3.84 nights per arrival. That does not tell us how long each individual guest stayed.
Source markets developed differently
Croatian guests accounted for 8,996 arrivals and 29,227 nights, up 12.4 and 5 per cent respectively on the same month last year. Germany led with 66,226 nights and an increase of 2.4 per cent. For Austria, the city reports 4.9 per cent more nights.
It would be a stretch to turn this into a shared success story for the whole German-speaking market. Switzerland is not quantified in this breakdown. Nor do gains in individual source markets cancel out the small decline in the overall total.
The interim October figures are weaker
From 1 to 15 October, 27,463 arrivals and 77,459 nights were recorded. Compared with the same days in 2025, these figures fell by 9 and 8.5 per cent respectively. September and the first half of October together total 109,045 arrivals and 390,460 nights.
The comparison explicitly covers half of October. Reading it as a final monthly result would ignore the days still missing. Nor should the smaller absolute total be compared with the whole of September to calculate an additional slump: the periods are of different lengths.
What this report leaves unanswered
The publication does not contain a full account of revenue, room rates or business profits. A lower number of nights therefore does not automatically mean the same percentage fall in income. That would require additional data with comparable coverage.
For personal travel planning, the message remains limited. Monthly figures do not say whether a particular hotel is fully booked on your chosen weekend or a restaurant is open. The report mainly helps put sweeping judgements about the season back into context: which place, period and measure are actually being discussed? Here, it is the city of Zadar and a dated interim snapshot of the late season.
Evidence
Sources & date
Sources support the facts. Planning notes and recommendations are Golden Beach editorial assessments.
Time-sensitive information may change. Please check the linked primary source before travelling.
