According to all the Croatian newspapers I occasionally come across, the tourist season has been the best on record thus far. Even this late in the season, the number of tourists entering the country still exceeds the number leaving it. Given that this is practically the only branch of the Croatian economy that is still in existence, this is great news. And it bodes well for the future, for the weather has been atrocious this year. In particular, July and August, traditionally the best two months of the tourist season, were the wettest on meteorological record. It rained and rained and rained. If tourists are coming in such numbers regardless of the weather, the country’s future is indeed brighter than anyone could have expected. Lucky Croatia! In spite of its horrendous government, which has done everything in its power to bring the country to its knees ever since independence, the outlook is cheerful. Tourism is Croatia’s savior. Amazingly, not even the Croatian government could destroy it. If there is no patron saint of tourism, such a saint should be invented. As well as celebrated across Croatia with utmost fervour.

Addendum (August 27, 2016)

Two years hence, the number of tourists visiting Croatia is still growing at a clip. Year after year, records are broken. How much longer, though? Tourism is the country’s savior, all right, but even saviors have their limits. It is hard to believe that the trend started several years ago could continue unabated. On top of that, Croatia has been bereft of a proper government for a couple of years already. The next elections are just behind the corner, but it is unlikely that they will produce a government worth mentioning, let alone bragging about. The country is up shit creek. And the only exception is good old tourism, which keeps filling the government’s coffers in spite of its mind-boggling incompetence and piling blunders. But what if the tourist throngs unexpectedly head elsewhere? Just a handful of terrorist attacks in key tourist attractions along the Adriatic coast would be enough to disrupt the current trend. One way or another, Croatia would be in dire straits in no time. With drooping tourism, not even a government from heaven could do much to prop up the moribund economy, which has been brought to its knees by many a government since the country’s independence. Alas, a patron saint of tourism must be sought without any delay!