Croatia Forum

[Filip]

Preparations for this year’s peak tourist season in Croatian will see the country investing over 800 million Euros. Of that hotel owners will invest about 500 million Euros, while the remainder will be invested by the local administration and tourist boards in improving existing destinations and opening new destination products. Planned investments into the hotel sector will see at least 15 new hotels opened by the launch of the peak season, most bearing four or five star ratings. Besides this, the opening of a large hotel complex in Split is slated for August. The Le Meridien chain of hotels will manage the renovated five-star Hotel Lav, while the island of Pag will see the opening of two new hotels – the Hotel Pagus in the city of Pag and the Hotel Luna in the town of Novalja. New hotels are already open in Gorski kotar, namely, two new facilities in Fužine, an alpine house at the Platak ski resort and a five-star hotel in Vrbovsko that is scheduled for opening at the year’s end. New facilities have been opened in the Kvarner area. The old Hotel Jadran has been renovated and opened for business in Rijeka, and the city has gotten its own youth hostel, while a smaller hotel, the Villa di Laurana, has been opened at the entry to the Uc(ka Nature Park. Of the other new hotels there is the large top-category Hotel Antunovic' in Zagreb scheduled for opening in June, the Hotel Nautica, already open for business in the Istrian town of Novigrad, the new Garden Istra Hotel in Umag, the Hotel Admiral in Slano near Dubrovnik and the small family-run Hotel Ariston in the Slavonian city of Osijek. Besides these new hotels, Croatia will this year, following massive investment in upgrading the quality of services, get at least another 25 hotels in the four-star category. The biggest step forward in improving the quality of accommodation infrastructure has this year been marked in Split-Dalmatia County where as many as seven hotels will be brought up to the four-star category. These are the hotels Adriatic and Amfora operating within the Sunèani Hvar Company on the island of Hvar, the Kaktus hotel in Supetar and the Grand Hotel Elaphus in Bol on the island of Braè. The Brela Hotels Company on the Makarska Riviera will improve the quality of their services in the Soline and Berulia hotels, while a four-star rating will go to the Hotel Palace on the Kaštela Riviera. If we add to these facilities the already mentioned Grand Hotel Lav and Split’s well known Hotel Marijan that is to open its doors next year bearing a five-star rating, we can conclude that the Split region will definitely take its place alongside those destinations in Croatia that are recognised for the high quality of their service like Dubrovnik, Opatija and Istria. These destinations have seen years of continuous investment, and plans for the 2006 peak season should see the opening of high category facilities. The Opatija hotels Kristal and Admiral, part of the Liburnia Rivijera hoteli Company, are to be improved to a four-star rating, four stars are to be awarded to the Hotel Istra in Istria’s Rovinj, the Belvedere Tourist Complex in Vrsar, the Hotel Albatros in Poreè, and the Koversada Apartments nudist park. The Hotel Bellevue is under renovation in Dubrovnik, as of this peak season offering five-star standard services, while the Hotel Neptun and Grand Hotel Park will sport one star fewer. The other regions are far from idle. Zadar is currently seeing the renovation of several hotels, all with the aim of securing a crown of four stars for the hotels operating within the Falkensteiner Hotels & Resorts Company in Zadar’s well-known tourist quarter of Borik. The same categorisation is to be received by the accommodation facilities in Zadar’s Turisthotel. Besides this the Hotel Alan in Starigrad-Paklenica not far from Zadar is under renovation and a fourth star is to be received by the Hotel Sali in the town of Sali on the island of Dugi otok. Besides this information we’d like to point out the massive investment being made in wellness services. Almost every hotel kicking off this year’s peak season with an added star in their rating will offer a wellness centre. Much has been invested in continental destinations in raising the overall quality of services. These destinations are presently recognised as Croatia’s top wellness destinations and include the Tuhelj Spa in Hrvatsko zagorje and the Sveti Martin na Muri Spa in the Meðimurje region, which have both seen further investment this year in completing a comprehensive wellness offer. Besides larger facilities, this year has seen a continuation in investments into village households. And while Istria in this regard remains the leading region in Croatia, steps being made in the development of Agro tourism in the Kvarner area and in Zagreb County suggest that Croatia will, with a growing number of small family hotels, through Agro tourism increase its accommodation capacity in facilities adapted to the demands of modern tourists.

Source: Croatian National Tourist Board