Belen Lozoya Caňas is the millionth passenger in Dubrovnik Airport this year. A Spanish coming from near Madrid landed to Dubrovnik on EasyJet flight from Madrid on Thursday at about 10 am.
The surprised passenger was greeted by the hosts, the Dubrovnik Airport Board and its manager Roko Tolić as well as the representatives from tourist boards from the area.
– I am happy and really surprised. At first I thought it was a joke. This is my first visit to Croatia where I came with some friends for a short tour, said completely excited Belen who lives in Segovia and works in a bank in Madrid.
She heard about Croatia from her friends who are already staying here and she came to visit. Dubrovnik Airport is more than pleased. The millionth passenger arrived 10 days earlier than in 2011, and there is hope of breaking the 1987 record of all times.
– As you can see it gets harder to meet the millionth passenger wearing a suit. When we remember the first arrival, it was in the end of September, and now it is still blazing hot in Dubrovnik. We are very happy because it shows the traffic is going up and that the preseason and main season are at the expected level, perhaps exceeding it.
Obviously, the markets from where we expected the highest increase, British, French and German, reacted in the manner it was estimated in the forecasts of flights for the season. All major airlines are happy with their load factors, which encourages us in our efforts to prolong the season into a very busy September and October, said Roko Tolić.
He also added that Dubrovnik Airport had the busiest June and July, and if August remains busier than last year, the Airport will come close to the all time record from 1987 when it reached the number of 1,470,000 passengers.
– I strongly hope and believe we may break it this year, concluded Tolić.