Soaring rent, drunken behaviour and peeing in public: Split locals have had enough of party tourists

02.11.2024 - 23:45 / euronews.com / Indrabati Lahiri

Split has long had a reputation as a party destination. But locals have had enough of the drunk tourists who descend on the coastal Croatian city for music festivals like Ultra Europe.

“Lots of younger people come for that, they’re not buyers, they’re only here for partying and alcohol, not islands or tours,” says Vana, a cruise company employee.

That’s not the only way they hit the local economy. Short-term visitors who stay for just a few months have sharply driven up rents in Split, which now average between €700 to €800. Given that the average monthly salary is around €1,000, this has put a strain on those who live there.

“It’s becoming harder for younger people to find a flat, start their lives, or have a family,” says Vana. While short-term letting in the winter provides extra income, it backfires in summer when “it can get very expensive”, she adds.

The city has also had to ramp up security and police presence to “watch for antisocial behaviours like public drinking, peeing or people with their shirts off”.

Split’s hedonistic image isn’t just an economic strain: it’s eroding the city’s identity.

“There used to be more restaurants, bars and cafes serving local food, but now they mostly have tourist food,” says Veronica, a recent graduate who now works at a day trip company.

“Split has changed a lot in the last 10 years,” agrees Luce, another tour operator. “The promenade had a lot more local cafes and restaurants. Now, it’s all Italian, burgers, etc, even though Croatians are best at Croatian food.

“The [Diocletian's] Palace [area] had small independent shops, now it’s mostly apartments which are given out to tourists on rent, or for short stays,” she adds.

But tourism workers recognise the good that comes with the bad.

“Tourism in Split is, from one point of view, very good, especially in the Old Town and Diocletian’s Palace, which has been 95 per cent renovated, so it is now quite new,” says Ivana, a guesthouse receptionist.

“However, the bad thing is that the people who lived in the Old Town, in old flats, are now not living there.”

Veronica links this shift to the influx of “younger tourists, who all come for music festivals” - driving locals out and prices up.

“Locals don’t like to hang out in the city centre much, because it’s so full and expensive. We are mainly spread out all over Split, outside the city centre,” she says.

It hasn’t always been this way, she recalls. “There used to be a lot nicer, polite tourists before, with families - we like them, we have no problem with tourists like this.” 

But this summer, they were nowhere to be seen. While apartments, hostels and motels were full, “hotels were a bit emptier, as high class tourists were less”, says Veronica.

Regardless of how tourists behave,