“Last year, more than 1.08 million Poles went there (to Croatia),” Fijoł said during a conference in Split, Croatia, at the inauguration of the national carrier’s summer flights to the country.

The LOT CEO further pointed out that the Balkan state will have an “important place” in the carrier’s offered connections this year.

He noted that these flights can also benefit passengers from Croatia, who can transition at Warsaw Chopin Airport and can fly further to Western Europe, as well as to the U.S. or Canada.

“According to data from the eVisitor system, from January 1 to December 31, 2023, a total of 1,084,127 guests from Poland arrived in Croatia, and accumulated a total of 6,666,213 overnight stays,” the director of the Croatian Tourist Community Representation in Poland, Małgorzata Kowalska said.

She added that the overall Croatian tourism industry recorded 20.6 million arrivals and 108 million overnight stays in the previous year.

LOT will connect Warsaw to Zagreb 12 times a week during the summer 2024 season. The flight to Zagreb takes 1 hour 40 minutes, while the flight to Warsaw takes 1 hour 30 minutes.

Furthermore, the Polish airline carrier can transfer customers directly to airports in the United States, Canada, China, Japan, and South Korea in addition to most European capitals.

According to LOT, the first-ever connection to Croatia in LOT’s history took place oin April 7, 1965 (Warsaw-Zagreb).

The main shareholder of LOT Polish Airlines is the State Treasury, which holds 69.30% of the company’s shares. The other shareholder (30.7%) is the Polish Aviation Group (PGL), which is 100% owned by the State Treasury.

Most popular tourist destinations – May

Italy, Spain, and Greece are the most popular destinations for Polish tourists for this year’s May holidays, according to data from low-cost carrier Ryanair.

According to data released by Ryanair on Wednesday, 40% of travelers from Poland booking flights for vacations next month are choosing to travel to Italy.

The second most booked destination is Spain (23%), while Greece comes in third (9%).

“We are seeing unabated interest from Polish travelers in destinations such as Italy and Spain,” Ryanair said, “especially during long weekends such as the May holidays.... We are also seeing growing interest in island destinations,” the carrier added.