ABSTRACT
The intensive, extensive and unpredictable conduct of the Croatia-Yugoslav war between 1991 and 1995 was to prove disastrous for the Croatian tourism industry. Croatia's five largest source markets-Italy, Germanyi Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Austria, representing 74 per cent of Croatia's inbound tourism-were all within easy driving distance of Croatia's most popular tourist resorts on the Adriatic. The post-1995 priority for Croatia's tourism recovery program was to improve infrastructure to a level enabling Croatia to attract a larger portion of upmarket tourism and an extended length of stay. The source market structure has also facilitated a rapid recovery, as awareness of Croatia's security and political situation would necessarily be far greater in neighbouring countries than in more distant source markets which rely on frequently inaccurate media reports. The proximity of Croatia's major source markets has enabled the Croatian National Tourist Board to organise media and travel industry familiarisation tours for representatives of key source markets at relatively low cost.
