Tourists coming to Croatia often wonder why are they being asked by their accomodation provider to provide passports either at check-in or before hand.
All hosts in Croatia are obligated to register their guests with the government. This is a common procedure in many European countries. Since 2016, Croatian hosts have been registering their guests via an online platform called eVisitor. Only registered hosts are able to check-in their guests through the website and the guests cannot do it themselves.
Unbeknownst to most guests, your stay in the country is a subject of a fee called Tourist Fee. In 2024, the Tourist Fee for guests staying in Split was 2,00 EUR per night per person. Even guests on commercial charters and boat cruises are subject to it.
Most guests never have to pay this fee and many are often unaware of it because it is typically included in their booking price, that is, it is usually covered by their hosts who typically pay a yearly flat fee that covers all their guests. The flat rate fee is unavailable to those whose yearly gross income exceeds 40.000 EUR, which means you will often have to pay this fee at hotels or larger apartment-running businesses. The fee, however, has to be disclosed beforehand.
The information that your hosts need to complete the registration with the eVisitor platform includes:
First and Last Name
Gender
Date of Birth
City of Residence
Country of Residence
Country of Birth
Nationality
Document Type (Passport, ID or Driving Licence)
Document Number
They have to insert this data on eVisitor not only for the person booking, but for the entire party staying at the apartment, children included.
Typically, hosts will ask you to provide the images of your party’s passports during your check-in, or, if you are planning a self check-in, before your arrival.
But passports are not the only document you can provide, since eVisitor allows also for official IDs an Driving Licences under the eligible documents section. But since those are not internationally standardized, hosts can be wary of using them because if some of the aforementioned information is missing, the registration cannot be added to the eVisitor system.
If you are unwilling to provide your host with your passport (physical or photocopy), you can typically offer to send them the above-mentioned required information in writing or let them copy it from the passport in front of you. Most hosts should be fine with the former, but many may not like the latter option.
Be mindful that the eVisitor data is automatized and once your host registers you the information is available for use to the Croatian Police and Border Authorities. Providing your host with wrong data might cause you problems when departing from the country.