Greece and Croatia have both tripled their annual numbers of arrivals from China in the past few years, welcoming approximately 203,000 and 160,000 Chinese visitors respectively in 2017.

Despite terror attacks in many parts of Europe in recent years, both countries have been able to position themselves as destinations that are both safe and, crucially, also offer a wide range of activities and sites seen as attractive by the Chinese market.

Greece has become particularly trendy destination for higher-end Chinese modular travellers seeking out slower-paced, in-depth experiences, ancient historical attractions and an idealised notion of “Greek blue”. This has manifested itself in Mykonos becoming the current go-to site for Chinese honeymooners and newlyweds to have photos taken in wedding attire, while Santorini’s cliff-side hotels are highly-sought after on Ctrip’s Customized Travel platform.

Croatia has benefited greatly from a high-level of media exposure and political interest among Chinese audiences in recent years. At the governmental level, this has been realised within the context of the CEEC-China 16+1 cooperation framework (of which Greece is not a member) as well as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Furthermore, on a consumer level, Croatia has seen a huge growth in interest from Chinese travellers on account of the country being host to numerous filming locations for hit television series Game of Thrones. This includes not only tourism hotspot Dubrovnik, but also other coastal cities such as Split and Trogir.

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