Croatia is a safe tourist destination - study of foreign citizen mortality in Splitsko-dalmatinska and Primorsko-goranska County during the period 2001-2010.

In the period 2001-2010, the number of foreign citizens who visited Croatia rose from 6 544 217 to 10 604 116, twice the Croatian population every year. As it is impossible to distinguish tourists from visitors who come to Croatia for business-related reasons, the term “foreign citizens” was used through the article. In the 10-year period, the number of entries in Croatia was 84 595 522, and 35.9% (30 357 901) entered Splitsko-dalmatinska and Primorsko-goranska Counties (1). Tourism amounts to 13.6% of Croatian GDP (2010) (2), so health and safety of foreign citizens are an important issue. Croatia has been chosen for the top tourist destination in the world several times (by Lonely Planet for 2005, by National Geographic Adventure Magazine for 2006, by New York Times for 2012). The country has very high hygienic standards, good health care, excellent drinking tap water, virtually no dangerous infectious diseases, and a small number of dangerous species. Nearly 50% of travelers worldwide suffer from some kind of illness (3-6), and commonly these conditions are nothing more than gastrointestinal problems (like travelers’ diarrhea), which are not dangerous and are rarely reported as a cause of death (3,7). However, some foreign citizens arrive with more serious conditions, mostly cardiovascular in nature, and they are usually unaware of them. Cardiovascular diseases are the single most common cause of death among this population, while the majority of unintentional deaths are ascribed to traffic related deaths and drowning (4,8,9). The aim of this study was to investigate the mortality rate of foreign citizens in Splitsko-dalmatinska and Primorsko-goranska Counties.