_____________________________The proximity of the peninsula to Austria, Italy and southern Germany (Munich is only eight hours away by car from Porec) resulted in the past in huge floods of visitors, especially in the summer. In 1990, the number of overnight stays was a very impressive 16.2 million. When the conflict started the following year, with the breakaway of 'Hrvatska' from the Republic, this number suddenly shrank to a mere 3.8 million.
The great potential of Istria as a tourist magnet was noticed early on. The Yugoslav state supported the development of it's infrastructure, starting in the sixties. Today, the peninsula has the largest capacity for accommodations on the entire Adriatic coast.
Adversely, most jobs are related in some way to the tourist industry. Even the processing of some local raw materials (mineral coal and quartz sand for Murano glass, for instance) cannot relieve the lop-sided job situation of the 200,000 inhabitants of the peninsula.
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