Croatia short-term rental regulation and SDEP status

What this means

Croatia has a mature digital tourism reporting base through eVisitor.

Accommodation providers, household renters, family farms, holiday-home owners, and relevant vessel operators use eVisitor for tourist registration and deregistration.

There is currently no registration-number requirement for platform advertising; the Ministry says the future service will be digital and free.

The final draft Hospitality Act accepted by the Government on 21 October 2026 introduces a single registration number for accommodation units advertised on internet platforms and a single lessor registration system, and schedules the registration-number and data-exchange provisions from 1 May 2027.

The Tourism Committee of the Croatian Parliament discussed the final draft on 28 October 2026 and voted by six votes to two, with two abstentions, to recommend that Parliament adopt it, appointing its chair as rapporteur for the plenary session. The plenary vote had not been recorded at the time of this update.

Implementation status

Official guidance says providers of overnight accommodation must register guests in eVisitor within 24 hours of arrival and deregister them within 24 hours of departure.

The Croatian Government says the new Hospitality Act is intended to implement Regulation (EU) 2024/1028, suppress unregistered short-term accommodation rental, digitalise tourism procedures, and modernise categorisation.

The Croatian National Tourist Board describes eVisitor as containing key data on service providers and accommodation facilities, including type, category, location, and capacity.

eVisitor also supports tourist-fee calculation, control, statistics, and reporting.

The Ministry says owners advertising rooms, apartments, and holiday homes on STR platforms will need to obtain and display a registration number; the final draft accepted on 21 October 2026 schedules the registration-number and data-exchange provisions from 1 May 2027.

Technical interface

eVisitor is available online as a web application, and gov.hr notes electronic registration through a protocol for safe and correct electronic registration/deregistration or automatic data exchange.

No public Croatia-specific Regulation 2024/1028 SDEP OpenAPI documentation, source code, sandbox, or platform onboarding documentation is currently available.

Croatia is a likely candidate for SDEP integration through existing eVisitor accommodation and guest-reporting data flows.

Implementation timeline

eVisitor has operated as the central guest check-in/check-out system since 2016.

In April 2026, the Croatian Government announced a new Hospitality Act intended to implement Regulation (EU) 2024/1028.

In May 2026, the Ministry said the registration-number obligation was expected in early 2027, with the exact date to be announced after the new Hospitality Act is adopted.

On 21 October 2026, the Government accepted the final draft Hospitality Act and sent it to Parliament for second reading; the draft schedules the registration-number and data-exchange provisions from 1 May 2027.

On 28 October 2026, the parliamentary Tourism Committee recommended adoption of the final draft and appointed its chair as rapporteur for the plenary session.

Registration workflow

Accommodation providers register and deregister guests in eVisitor within 24 hours of arrival/departure.

eVisitor contains provider and accommodation-facility data entered from official decisions of competent state administration offices and the Ministry of Tourism and Sport.

Technical interfaces

eVisitor is a web application and supports electronic registration through a protocol for safe and correct registration/deregistration or automatic data exchange.

The public material does not yet identify the SDEP endpoint, authentication model, sandbox, or platform onboarding path.

Open questions

Whether the new Hospitality Act will make eVisitor the SDEP base or create a separate platform-facing interface.

Whether Parliament keeps the planned 1 May 2027 application date, and what registration-number application, validation, and platform-reporting specifications follow.

When platform-facing technical documentation for Regulation 2024/1028 reporting will be published.