Dubrovnik-Neretva County
Former Republic of Ragusa survived 450 years through neutrality; now Europe's most overtouristed destination (27 tourists per resident), capping daily visitors as Old Town population collapsed from 5,000 to 1,500.
For 450 years, the Republic of Ragusa proved that a city-state could survive among empires by making itself useful to all of them and threatening to none. Founded by refugees fleeing the collapsed Roman town of Epidaurum in the 7th century, Dubrovnik evolved into one of the Mediterranean's great trading powers—its merchant fleet rivaling Venice's, its diplomats playing Ottoman sultans against Habsburg emperors, its neutrality so valuable that all parties protected it. The republic's final borders, fixed by 1426, stretched from Neum to the Prevlaka peninsula, including the Pelješac peninsula and the islands of Mljet and Lastovo. Napoleon ended the experiment in 1808.
Today the county exhibits island biogeography despite sitting on the mainland. The Neum Corridor—a 20-kilometer strip of Bosnian coastline dating to an Ottoman-era cession—physically separates Dubrovnik-Neretva from the rest of Croatia. Until the Pelješac Bridge opened in 2022, reaching Dubrovnik by land required passing through Bosnia-Herzegovina twice. This isolation helped preserve the Old Town's character but also concentrated development pressure when it came.
The pressure came in the form of cruise ships and Game of Thrones. HBO's use of Dubrovnik as King's Landing starting in 2011 drove a 10% annual increase in tourist arrivals. By 2023, the county hosted 27.4 tourists per resident—Europe's highest ratio. The Old Town's permanent population collapsed from 5,000 in 1991 to 1,500 today, homes converted to Airbnbs, UNESCO threatening to revoke World Heritage status. The city now caps daily visitors at 11,200 within the walls and limits cruise ships to two per day, 5,000 passengers maximum—carrying capacity management applied to human ecosystems.
Beyond tourism, the Neretva delta remains Croatia's fruit basket: 1.4 million mandarin trees produce 90,000 tons annually, and the county's mussel farms account for 68% of national bivalve production. By 2026, Dubrovnik faces the paradox of all successful destinations: how to remain worth visiting without being destroyed by visits.