The ruthless, haughty Cersei Lannister was forced to walk naked down a majestic staircase in the finale of the fifth season of Game of Thrones. That scene, which was filmed in 2014, established Dubrovnik — a city of just 41,500 inhabitants that is known as the gem of the Adriatic Sea — into an eternal vacation destination. Today, traversing its Jesuit Stairs and surrounding streets in mid-August can be a desperate endeavor. Crowds fill every nook, and prices are exorbitant. Tourism sustains Croatia, representing 20% of the country’s GDP — twice as much as Italy and far above Spain’s 13%. But the harmful effects of the industry’s excesses loom over this small nation. That is why the government has decided to tackle the issue head-on with a package of measures focused specifically on controlling short-term rentals and managing visitor flows.
The proliferation of tourist apartments, with the corresponding rise in rent and housing prices, is in some way similar to what is happening in other tourist magnets like Spain. But Croatia, a country with a population of just 3.8 million, is experiencing the sector’s benefits and drawbacks with much more intensity.
Hrvoje Kresic, a reporter from channel N1 — the largest news source in southeast Europe and a regional CNN affiliate — was born in Dubrovnik, though he now lives in Zagreb. In a conversation that took place by videocall, he lamented how the city of his childhood has been transformed into an “open-air museum.”
“There are stores and restaurants, but it has lost that Mediterranean identity in its everyday life: the open windows, the people leaning out of them, gossiping, arguing about silly things,” he says. “Now, on every corner you have Game of Thrones, and no one talks about the true historical importance of the city, its poets, its engineers, how skilled its diplomats were.”
That emptiness is echoed by inflation and rising housing prices. Croatia has one of the highest rates of inflation in the European Union, registering 4.3% in November on the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices, compared to 2.2% in the greater Eurozone. “A young doctor, professor or firefighter will have a hard time buying an apartment in Dubrovnik, Split or Zadar,” warns Kresic. “Prices have become prohibitive.”
Kresic explains that many cities, including Dubrovnik, are planning to build new housing for young families in the suburbs. “But how will that process be controlled to make sure that no one will later use that housing for tourism?,” he asks.
In response to that challenge, Dubrovnik officials have limited the number of short-term rentals in the city center this year. They have also set up restrictions that allow only two cruise ships to dock each day simultaneously. The ships must remain in the port for at least eight hours. For vessels with more than 4,000 passengers, that minimum goes up to 12 hours. In addition, a cap at 4,000 simultaneous visitors from cruise ships within the walls of the old city has been established. Access to the city’s biggest tourist attraction, the city walls themselves, may only be booked online. Such are the measures being enforced against “flash tourism,” which collapses visits to the city into three or four hours that are of little benefit to its economy. Local officials have proposed prioritizing quality over quantity.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism says via email that, although Dubrovnik might be the most visible example of the dangers of uncontrolled tourism, “similar pressures in many coastal cities and islands during the high months of summer” have been documented. That’s what led the country to adopt certain measures on a national scale.
The same source says that one of the most effective tactics took effect in January 2025 through a modification of hotel regulations, in which family properties are clearly distinguished from short-term commercial tourist rentals. Last year, the country began to see this measure’s first results. “In the 2025 high season, on August 15, Croatia saw for the first time a net reduction of more than 2,000 beds in private housing, compared with the previous year.”
Croatia would like its summertime avalanche of visitors to be more evenly spread throughout the seasons. Every year, the country receives more than 21 million tourists, more than five times the country’s population. Industry officials said that in the first six months of last year, earnings from foreign visitors grew nearly 6% compared to the previous season. And since 2016, in just 10 years, earnings in the first half of the year have doubled.
The government is trying to avoid excessive construction in areas under housing pressure and, at the same time, support access to affordable housing for young families.
The same official source says that they’re already seeing results, not just in the tourism industry, but also in housing: “The number of new long-term rental contracts grew by 11% last year, while 3,350 taxpayers switched partially or completely from short-term tourist rentals to long-term rentals.”
The Ministry of Tourism says it will be a challenge to supervise the expansion of tourism. “We are fully aware that effective application requires solid coordination, reliable data and ongoing oversight,” it states.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union has warned on several occasions of the danger of raising prices on foreign tourists. “Any attempt to get fast money in the short term through unjustifiable prices will hurt our strategic reputation. Once a tourist feels like they’ve been scammed, they do not come back, and today, opinions can spread around the world in seconds,” he said in 2024.
The government says that it will continue to prioritize quality over quantity. “We are convinced that without clear regulations and rigorous supervision, there can be no sustainable tourism,” concludes the tourism spokesperson.
The success of these measures will determine whether cities like Dubrovnik recover their Mediterranean identity of open windows, or wind up turning into impeccable, but lifeless, vacation backdrops.
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