Croatia News

The small settlement of Plovanija, situated in Istra, right next to the border with neighbouring Slovenia, should soon see the official opening of a five-star luxury hotel. The new Hotel Mulino is already known to its many domestic and foreign guests as the Casino Mulino. The casino has been open, namely, for many years now, and is known even outside of Croatia for its top-notch offer and excellent entertainment and cabaret program. It has the reputation of being on of the most beautiful and best led casino clubs in Europe. It is no wonder then that its owners wish to convert the entire complex into a real tourist destination for the most demanding guests. [>>>>>]

The first Ryanair flight out of Ireland landed at Pula Airport at the beginning of March, launching a regular international air connection between Pula and Dublin. The new line marks a continuation of the existing cooperation between the Irish low tariff air carrier and Pula Airport, as there is already a regular line flying between Pula and London. Ryanair’s flights link Pula and Dublin three times a week – Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and given the excellent results last year on the Pula – London line, the top management at Ryanair and Istrian tourism professionals expect positive results and an even greater number of Irish tourists. Since the introduction of regular lines between Pula and London, namely, over 4,000 passengers have come to Istra on this low-tariff air carrier company, with the same amount of passengers going in the other direction – to London. [>>>>>]

The Pelješac peninsula is as of recently richer for a new tourist attraction that should already this year draw a greater number of visitors interested in traditional values and top-notch gastronomic thrills. The new Pelješac Wine Roads project has launched the revitalisation of this area, rich in vineyards, and a greater appreciation of wine and other wine-related traditions in tourism. The people behind this project are members of the Pelješac Wine Roads association, whose leadership has announced the expansion of this project of the revitalisation of this segment of the tourism offer to surrounding regions – more precisely to the island of Korčula and in Konavle, near the city of Dubrovnik. Pelješac does not live from tourism alone as agriculture and viticulture are its most important industries, and the wines of Pelješac are a unique “export” product of that Croatian peninsula. [>>>>>]

Croatia’s easternmost point – the city of Ilok, is becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination, not only in Slavonia, but also on a Croatian scale. Tourism in Slavonia offers visitors a somewhat unique, warm and exceptionally attractive story. And besides that, the city leaders are investing more and more effort in bringing this story closer to those tourists accustomed to a high quality tourist offer. In Ilok and around it an entire series of new attractions have been built and developed over the last few years with this in mind. Along with the already developed Old Cellars of the Ilok Winery and the raising of new vineyards, the revitalisation of the entire old town core is under way. [>>>>>]

Tourists heading out to Slavonski Brod these days, and especially those who decide to take the opportunity to visit the city’s Fortress, a world heritage site, will have a surprise awaiting them. Every visitor to the Fortress will, namely, receive a small electronic guidebook – a palmtop PC that will provide textual, video and audio files offering the complete background to the wealth of history and tradition linked to this Slavonski Brod monument. Visitors will be able to access key data related to all of the structures that make up the Fortress on the screen, and they will also be able to find out how life looked there in the past, and who were the local artisans and officers. The information will be available to the users in four foreign languages. [>>>>>]

Thanks to the extra virgin olive oil of the buža variety, manufactured at an Istrian manor, the Stancija Meneghetti, both Istra and Croatia have been entered into the map of the best extra virgin olive oils in the world. The selection of the best olive oils in the world is organised each year by an Italian group, the L’Extravergine organisation, which on the occasion publishes a prestigious guidebook of quality olive oils, divided up among the various varieties and countries of origin. A total of 3,000 different oils from 27 countries were “in the running” for a prestigious spot in this year’s guidebook, and among the many varieties of olive oil that received awards at the occasion was the Croatian extra virgin oil of the buža variety, harvest of 2005, declared the best fruit oil in the world manufactured in 2006, and subsequently included in this year’s issue of the brochure. [>>>>>]

One of Croatia’s most popular tourist destinations – the City of Dubrovnik – will await the launch of this year’s peak tourist season offering its visitors 1,500 new beds in high quality establishments, and besides these new accommodation capacities the renovation and development of many existing facilities is in full swing. Almost all of the new accommodation capacities will be up to the standards of the four and five star categories. Some 600 new luxury beds will be on offer to the market at the new Libertas Rixos hotel, while the Hotel Admiral, situated in Slano, already features a total of 580 new four-star category beds. Construction is also underway in Lapad Bay where the new Hotel Ariston, featuring 107 new double rooms, is scheduled for opening in the very near future within the new Importane Resort, as are the five-star category Importane Suites featuring a total of 25 apartments. [>>>>>]

The management of Paklenica National Park, situated not far from the city of Zadar in on the central Dalmatian seaboard, has announced that it is opening yet another attractive tourist facility for its visitors at the kick off of this year’s peak tourist season. A new ethno house, a period home that recently saw intensive work on its reconstruction, will open its doors to the public in the spring. Besides its traditional architecture and interior decoration typical of its period, tourists will be provided the opportunity of getting acquainted with the traditional values of the region. There will, namely, be an autochthonous Dalmatian konoba (tavern) on the ground floor offering specialities typical of the region, with a small info-centre, ethnographic exhibition and souvenir shop on the first floor. [>>>>>]

In line with the consistent growth in the number of guests visiting Osijek, this Slavonian city every year sees the opening of more and more high quality accommodation facilities. There are currently six hotels operating in the city – the Hotel Osijek, the Central, the Waldinger, the Silver, the Mursa and the Villa Ariston, with the opening of a new one slated for the very near future – the Hotel Millenium. In question is the existing tourist bed and breakfast already offering its guests five large suites and two rooms, and which will, after the opening of the new additions, when the bed and breakfast begins operating as a hotel, provide guest of the hotel with a further twelve new rooms. The future hotel – the owners are, namely, awaiting the final certificates from the competent institutions – will offer guests 40 beds, so that this new Osijek hotel will soon be able to accommodate larger groups of guests. [>>>>>]

In Rijeka preparations are in full swing for the coming Rijeka Summer Nights, which are this year to be held at a somewhat earlier date than is customary. According to the official announcement, the program of the summer festival is to kick off as early as June 5th and run through to July 20th. The change is due to the announced guest appearance of world-renowned tenor Jose Cura, who is on June 6th, 7th and 8th, for the first time in the role of director, to stage Ruggerio Leoncavallo’s opera “Pagliacci”, in which he is to appear in the leading role. A day ahead of the opera’s premier showing, the traditional gala opening of the Rijeka Summer Nights is to be held on the Karolina of Rijeka Pier (Gat Karoline Riječke), with appearances expected, among others, of Spanish and Argentine performers. [>>>>>]

That the increasing Croatian orientation towards the congress offer is giving concrete and visible results it attested to by the news that has come to us recently from CONFEX, London’s specialised congress and incentive bourse: in a strong field of international competitors Croatia was declared the best congress and incentive destination. The recognition is all the more valuable as it has come from the buyers themselves, i.e. from the organisers of international congress and incentive meetings, from their evaluations of the quality of promotion, of the veracity and speed of available information and of the quality of services offered in the destinations at which they hold their congress and incentive meetings. [>>>>>]