In its sixty years of operation Jadranka d.d. of Mali Losinj has developed into one of the most successful hotel companies in Croatia. It was founded in 1947 by a decision of the People’s District of Mali Losinj when the hotels Alhambra and Istra were allotted to its management, while the construction of the hotel Helios in Cikat and the hotel Punta in Veli Losinj started in the 1960s. The hotel Bellevue was built at the end of the 1970s, and in 1977 the hotel complex Suncane uvale was opened which included the hotels Aurora and Vespera. Parallel to the hotel business Jadranka in the 1960s developed its camping offer and later went on to branch out into other activities, among which their property management activity is gaining in importance over the past years.

Up to 2005 Jadranka d.d operated as a hotel and hospitality industry company, and then the Jadranka Group was founded in which Jadranka d.d. is the owner of three sister companies - Jadranka hotels d.o.o., Jadranka camps d.o.o. and Jadranka trade d.o.o. Jadranka is also co-owner of the Losinj Airport, and Jadranka Yachting, which has this year launched a charter operation with six new vessels in its ownership.

Jadranka currently manages six hotels and several smaller villas, located in three separate and specifically positioned tourist zones and six out-of-accommodation hospitality industry facilities. It recorded about a half million overnight stays last year, with about 35 percent of the guests having stayed in Jadranka hotels more than once.

In its camping sector Jadranka has a total of four caravan parks on the islands of Losinj and Cres - Slatina, Baldarin, Bijar and Cikat - and given the seafaring tradition of the people of Losinj, a project that aims to develop nautical charter tourism has been launched with foreign partners.

Over the past sixty years of the development of tourism Jadranka has always nurtured the protection of the natural environment, respecting its cultural and traditional attributes. In this vein on the occasion of its 60th anniversary, instead of the customary letters of thanks and recognitions, it has donated funds to the Apoxiomen exhibit at the Museum of Losinj. Apoxiomen is a unique statue of a Greek athlete dating to the 4th century BC, found on the seabed just off Mali Losinj, currently exhibited at the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Directory: Mali Losinj
• Jadranka

A City of Dubrovnik Tourist Board promotional film, shot under the name Unique Dubrovnik is the recipient of another global recognition - the Silver Screen Award at the US International Film and Video festival in Los Angeles.

The Tourist Board has already won a second place award at the Berlin Festival of Tourist Films with its film Unique Dubrovnik, and has won two top global awards in a short period of time.

The film Unique Dubrovnik took second place in a field of 1,200 films from 24 countries at one of the leading global festivals that recognise the values of documentary, entertainment, industrial and information technology production. The winning of the award bears witness to the quality of the City of Dubrovnik Tourist Board’s promotional film, say its top management, and an additional possibility to promote this destination on the very important US market.

At the awards ceremony, organised for the fortieth time in Hollywood, the award was received by the Director of the City of Dubrovnik Tourist Board, Tonci Skvrce.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Directory: Dubrovnik
• City of Dubrovnik Tourist Board

The opening to traffic of the last Krapina - Macelj section of the A2 Zagreb- Macelj highway marked the completion of one of the key transport routes in Croatia.

With the construction of the last section on this highway on the Phyrn corridor towards western Europe, one of the most demanding, from a construction aspect, Croatian roadways was opened to traffic, into which 235 million euros was invested. A total of six tunnels and nine viaducts were built on this section. That this is a very important roadway is attested to by the fact that an average of 18,000 vehicles passes on the route each day, with that figure climbing to 30,000 on weekends.

Besides the construction of this exceptionally important transport route, also opened for traffic was the new 37 kilometre long Dugopolje - Sestanovci section of the A1 Zagreb - Ploce highway. The opening of this section means tourists will be closer to destinations south of Split that ill be joined with Ploce by the end of 2008 with a 96.2 kilometre stretch of highway. Along with the completion of construction on these sections, also opened to traffic is a 8.8 kilometre section from Vrbovsko - Bosiljevo on the Zagreb - Rijeka highway, and by the end of the year the 23 kilometres of the Djakovo - Sredanci section on the highway from Beli Manastir and Osijek to the border with Bosnia & Herzegovina will be opened. This is a part of the European corridor 5C, which stretches from Budapest via Sarajevo to Ploce. Over the past ten years 1.150 kilometres of highways have been constructed in Croatia, with intensive works now underway on the Zagreb - Sisak highway. The Croatian roadways construction plan foresees the construction of a total of 1,500 kilometres of highways.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Croatian Auto Club

The FIRST NATIONAL CULTURE TOURISM DAY was held on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007, with the aim of intensifying links between culture and tourism, giving the cultural offer the attention it deserves and improving tourism products.

The event was co-organised by the Culture Bureau of the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Primorje-Gorski kotar Tourist Board in collaboration with Primorje-Gorski kotar County, the City of Rijeka Tourist Board and member tourist boards.

A series of culture events were organised in the frame of the first national Culture Tourism Day in the Kvarner region that a broadly based audience could enjoy, from the local inhabitants to tourist-visitors.

As the event’s host, the city of Rijeka, along with the many attractions accompanying the first national Culture Tourism Day, opened the doors of its museums free of charge to all visitors.

There was a lavish program for the already traditional St. Vitus Day events, and one of the top attractions was a parade by the Crossbow Archers of Rab on Rijeka’s central Korzo downtown promenade.

Opatija was geared entirely towards the Greetings From Opatija - K.u.K. Postcard event that revives the glorious times of Opatija’s tradition in tourism, while the Juraj Sporer art pavilion is featuring the World Exhibition of Small & Miniature Ceramics.

For the first national Culture Tourism Day Kastav offered free visits to the Kastav region museum collection and the Barrel Maker’s and Coppersmith’s collections, in nearby Rukavac people could visit the Bell Maker’s museum, while in Baska you could visit, free of charge, the renowned St. Lucy complex in Jurandvor, the Heritage Museum and the archaeological park.

Crikvenica had an open multimedia exhibition entitled Ad Turres - Crikvenica featuring the archaeological find of the antiquity period ceramics workshop of Sekstus Metilius Maksimus, Kostrena organized the Zurkovo 2007 visual arts colony, and in Punta an exhibition of art photographs by Drazen Sokcevic was opened.

In Mali Losinj an exhibition of paintings was opened under the moniker Navigare necesse est… with museum and archive material from the private collection of Albert Cosulich, the last shipowner from the famed Mali Losinj Kozulic family of mariners.

For its visitors Rab organised a promenade performance of the Rapski tanac Culture & Arts Society, while Cabar organized a free expert tour of Castle Zrinski in Cabar for its pupils, and organised a workshop on the topic of The Cultural & Historical Content of the City of Cabar.

An of course, gastronomy is an unavoidable part of both the tourism and cultural offer. In Matulji select restaurants took part in the Street of Local Food event, while in Lovran the Lovran Cherry Days were in full swing that, along with an offer of cherries, cherry sweets, a 10 metre long cherry strudel enjoyed by the visitors at the closing ceremony, also included an offer of indigenous souvenirs and performances by well known folklore ensembles.

The first national Culture Tourism Day is an encouragement to hold similar days in the future, every year, and in so doing further reaffirm the culture offer as an important segment of the overall tourism offer of both the Kvarner area and all of Croatia.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

The city of Beli Manastir, situated in the heart of the Baranja region, recently got its first hotel. The city is situated in the direct vicinity of the municipality of Bilje, one of the most developed tourist municipalities in Baranja where there are already a sizeable number of accommodation capacities offered in rural households.

Besides organised visits the Hotel Patria plans to link its offer to business clientele, as it has a large congress hall with about 600 seating places and two smaller conference rooms. The hotel’s management sees their advantage in this given that the ambience of hotel rooms can not be compared to that of rural households which are today more attractive to the majority of visitors to Baranja. For this reason the hotel will turn its efforts to those segments of the market that rural households can not cover because of their limited capacities, that is to say the hotel will offer services to organised groups and business people.

This is why the management of the Hotel Patria is counting on groups of hunter and fishers that are traditionally visitors to Baranja, and given that it was precisely in the municipality of Bilje that the World Fishing Championship was held last year, for which top-notch fishing conditions have been created on the Drava River, an increase in the number of fishers visiting the area is expected in the coming period. In line with these expectations, an area for storing equipment and ammunition will soon be erected in the hotel, while the installation of hunting doghouses has already been started.

The hotel has 39 double rooms and three suites, and all of the accommodation units are equipped to the four-star standard so that every bathroom in the rooms has a hydromassage shower or a smaller Jacuzzi, while the deluxe rooms have plasma screen televisions.

Along with this the hotel should soon get a beer hall, an oenotheque, a national restaurant and a cocktail bar, and the appropriate sports grounds. In the meantime guests can enjoy the other facilities in the smaller wellness centre and fitness, Pilates and aerobic centre already on offer in the newly opened hotel.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Hotel Patria

The five-star Le Meridien Grand Hotel Lav recently opened its doors in the Split-Dalmatia County.

This large hotel complex is situated in Podstrana, a settlement not far from the city of Split, and had been closed for the past fifteen years.

About 65 million Euros was invested in the renovation and widening of the entire hotel and tourism complex. In the accommodation facilities, in four individual, but mutually connected buildings, guests have a total of 382 rooms and suites at their disposal, of which the top management at Le Meridien point out that they are among the most spacious in all of Dalmatia. The hotel also features eight restaurants with a gastronomic offer of international cuisine and an entire range of accompanying facilities.

The hotel’s congress area stretches over 2,900 square metres where one of the largest banquet halls on the entire Adriatic seaboard has been outfitted, while a total of eight modern-style halls are available for smaller meetings.

There is also a large wellness centre with all of the possible facilities - from the classic ones like saunas, massages, Jacuzzis and whirlpools, right up to tepidariums, caldariums and similar wellness facilities.

The hotel has ensured a series of facilities for athletes, recreational athletes and children, and it is adapted to sailors given that it has a large marina with about 60 berths for boats and yachts.

The quality of the new Lav is undeniable, and the beauty of the entire offer is enhanced by the hotel’s exceptionally attractive location. Given that it is situated about eight kilometres south of Split there is a phenomenal view of that city and the surroundings islands from its beaches and rooms.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Directory: Split
• Le Meridien Grand Hotel Lav

The Tuhelj Thermal Spa, a trademark of the picturesque town of Tuhelj in the Zagorje region of Croatia, recently opened the doors of the largest wellness centre in Croatia. The Thermal Spa is located at the very source of the thermal water spring and medicinal mud, surrounded by the greenery of the pristine nature of the Zagorje hills. The spa is only some 40 kilometres from Zagreb, and besides the new and exceptionally attractive wellness centre, there is a diverse and high quality tourist and catering offer available to tourists.

The new wellness centre spreads over more than 1,000 square metres and features a large number of facilities including as many as seven different types of saunas.

Visitors of the centre can relax in three Finish saunas (a bio-ionizing sauna with crystals, and extreme sauna and a program sauna with chromotherapy), followed by three steam saunas - with salt, with mud and a double steam sauna, and finally in a laconium - a gentle sauna. Also on the bill is a whirlpool, an ice pool, ice cave, kneipp track, relax rooms with various mood settings and a wellness bar offering health beverages and food.

Along with the world of saunas, guests can visit the large SPAeVITA beauty centre and the entire range of sports and recreation facilities already in operation.

The renovation and upgrading of the Tuhelj Thermal Spa has been ongoing over the past several years during which it has operated within the Terme Olimpia Company, a period that has seen the quality of this Zagorje region spa raised to an enviable level. A large aqua centre called Water Planet was opened last year with over 3,200 square metres of outdoor swimming areas and over 1,200 square metres of indoor swimming areas dominated by pools with attractive water effects - waterfalls, underwater massage, Jacuzzis and geysers. Also on offer are winter swimming, air massage, underwater massage beds and an entire range of other facilities.

In the sports and recreation part of the offer guests are offered a wide selection of sports facilities, while the hotel, whose standards are at the level of a four-star rating, offers an excellent selection of local cuisine.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Tuhelj Thermal Spa

That Croatia is no longer a destination for mass tourism and that it possesses all the preconditions needed for visits by a very demanding clientele is confirmed by the latest ranking of the most prestigious global travel magazine, Conde Nast Traveller. In its special November issue the US magazine included the Dalmatian islands among the top ten destinations in the European island category. The ranking gives the top 100 destination in the world as selected by the readers of this exclusive magazine. The selection of the best in the various categories this year evaluated hotels around the world, cruisers, airline companies, cities and islands, with the islands of Dalmatia making seventh spot.

Canadian magazines share these sentiments. A four-page report in Hello magazine spotlighted Croatia as the new exclusive global Riviera. The World Travel Market tourism fair recently held in London also gave a positive take on Croatia, citing it, China and the United Arab Emirates as the three “leading stars on the rise” and saying that these countries are in a position to clinch the spots of main global tourist destinations.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Although the peak tourist season is behind us, Croatia’s best-known tourist Mecca - the city of Dubrovnik, continues to draw attention. As many tourists visit the city during the summer season, when the crowds do not allow one to enjoy the city as it really is, now is perhaps the best time to visit Dubrovnik, where numerous cultural and other events are available to tourists.

The many cultural and entertainment programs the city offers include an attractive sailing regatta held in Gruž harbour in early November and will run through to the end of February. The second International Festival of Nativity Scenes And Christmas Traditions will be held in the City’s historic core in mid-December, and the Christmas spirit with many additional events will continue right up to the Epiphany. An attractive New Year’s Eve party is being organised meantime, another of the events for which Dubrovnik is recognised on the global tourist map, with a series of other interesting events following the New Year’s bash.

After the New Year is brought in tourists will have the opportunity to take part in Dubrovnik’s entertaining feast day of Sveti Vlaho (St. Blasius) the city’s patron saint, in the Days Of Dubrovnik, the Dubrovnik Carnival and in other fascinating events. Besides all this, the city also enjoys a reputation as an ideal place for sweethearts, so that Valentine’s Day in Dubrovnik is sure to remain a fond memory for many.

Along with the traditional cultural events the city will also be the scene of almost daily events accompanied by an excellent culinary offer, there will be a series of shows for the theatre and the clubs of Dubrovnik are also preparing an array of attractive surprises.

Visit the web site of the City of Dubrovnik Tourist Board for all the information you need on the Dubrovnik In Winter program, running from November 1, 2006, to February 28, 2007.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Directory: Dubrovnik
• City of Dubrovnik Tourist Board

The Novi dvori (New Palace) in Zaprešić, a small town situated some 17 kilometres west of Zagreb, is a noteworthy historic complex that recently saw the launch of the first phase of its renovation. The palace was once the residence of Croatia’s best-known Ban (viceroy), Josip Jelačić.

Besides the reconstruction of the palace itself, the City of Zaprešić, as of recently the proprietor of the entire estate, plans over the coming five years, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, to renovate the other 17 buildings in the complex and adapt it entirely for tourism.

The first phase of the renovation will see the complete reconstruction of the palace itself - the façade, roofs and the building’s foundations will be renovated, and plans have already been drawn up for the further reconstruction of other parts of the palace. It is already known that the eastern wing of the palace will feature a memorial room dedicated to Ban Josip Jelačić, while the palace’s basement will feature a luxuriously appointed wine cellar and multimedia facilities.

The central and largest hall in the palace has been conceived as an area in which formal occasions and receptions would be organised.

Besides the diverse culinary offer and sports facilities that will make up a part of the future Novi dvori, a part of the rooms in the complex will be set aside for suite-type accommodations. The plan is to grant caterers concessions for the lion’s share of the estate grounds that will then continue the reconstruction of the buildings in the complex. For now it is also known that that part of the catering offer will also include a pastry shop where sweets from the time of the Banovina (Banate, or viceroyalty) can be sampled. A few years ago, namely, the last book of recipes once owned by the Countess Jelačić was found in Zaprešić.

The book has been translated into the Croatian language and it is to be the source of recipes for many sweets that will be at the heart of the pastry shop’s offer.

Also in the works is the complete revamping of the estate’s grounds that will, after the entire complex is reconstructed, be the setting for fashion shows, exhibitions and other open-air affairs.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• City of Zaprešić Tourist Board