Photo: Reuters
The picturesque Croatian resort town of Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is overflowing with tourists arriving daily on cruise ships, according to Reuters.
From January to June, nearly 280,000 tourists from 188 cruise ships visited An 800-year-old city. Last year, a whopping 749,000 people disembarked from 539 ships docked at Dubrovnik Port.
Shopkeepers, restaurateurs and the 1,500 residents of the old town – the area inside the coastal fort where Game of Thrones was filmed – struggled to cope with the crowds.
Last year, UNESCO warned that the city's World Heritage status was at risk due to overcrowding. To combat this, in 2017, authorities introduced the "Respect The City" program, which aims to limit the number of cruise ship guests to 4,000.
According to representatives of the Dubrovnik Tourism Association, the project has begun to bear fruit. The quality of service for cruise ship tourists has improved, and crowds in the Old Town have diminished.
At the same time, the number of visitors specifically visiting Dubrovnik and staying for several days is also growing. According to official data, approximately 4.2 million people spent at least one night in the city. This is 141,033,000 more than last year.
According to a specialized portal on cruise travel, Dubrovnik is recognized as the best eastern Mediterranean destination, along with Montenegro's Kotor, Italy's Venice, and the Greek islands of Santorini and Rhodes.
Source: news.turizm.ru