Croatia in top 3 European destinations, say Guardian readers

After a lull in visits due to regional conflict in the 1990s, it would seem that British tourist interest in Croatia is back, with the results of the Guardian and Observer Readers Travel Awards 2013 - published online on November 11, 2013 - the latest confirmation of the increased travel from the UK.

Prior to the war in former Yugoslavia, British tourists came to the Yugoslav - primarily Croatian - coast in their droves, some 440,000 of them annually, making it the second most popular destination after Spain.

War in the region, coupled with the emergence of other affordable sun destinations, such as Egypt, Turkey and Greece, made it harder for Croatia to regain its market share, but the progress the country's tourism chiefs has made in recent years has been commendable, with the latest endorsement from Guardian readers yesterday.

In the awards, Croatia was named third favourite country behind Austria and Sweden, and ahead of Turkey and Switzerland.

The vote is mirrored by a marked increase in British visitors to the Adriatic coast. As Digital Journal has previously reported, there was a 24% increase in British visitors in the first 8 months of the year, compared to the corresponding period in 2012.

More than 500,000 British visitors are expected in 2014, up from the peak numbers in the 1980s.