Tourism

"The gods wanted to crown their creation and on the last day they turned tears, stars and the sea breeze into the isles of Kornati " so said George Bernard Shaw of just a part of the spectacular Croatian coastal island." Croatia is the Mediterranean at its best.

The Adriatic's beautiful coastline of elongated islands, startlingly clear blue-green water, and enchanting medieval coastal towns contributes to Croatia's exhilarating landscape. However, it is the combination of this natural splendour with an extraordinary political circumstance that makes Croatia such an enthralling place to visit. A product of the 1991 break-up of Yugoslavia, Croatia is finally independent, at peace, and completely safe to visit. Today, visitors are returning to this remarkable country in droves. Tourism is returning to its pre-war levels. For the traveller, it is an excellent opportunity to experience one of Europe's most beautiful and fascinating countries. Croatia is indeed not only an exceptionally beautiful land with a clean sea and an intricately indented coastline, but also a land of quality tourism offering a very a wide range of facilities.

Summer tourism
The majority of accommodation-facilities is situated in the coastal area from Savudria in the North to Prevlaka in the South, where during the summer season tourists may stay at pleasant hotels, apartments, tourist colonies, campsites. Very seldom you will find such untouched nature and pure sea.

Nautical tourism
The Adriatic Sea is an extraordinarily interesting and attractive resource of the Croatian nautical possibilities. A more intensive development of nautical tourism in the last decade completes the Croatian tourist offer. Croatia has 41 marinas with all necessary accompanying facilities at its disposal.

Yachting paradise
The ''sea of a thousand islands'' offers a range of 47 marinas with some 12,500 berths in the sea and 7,200 dry berths. Larger marinas are equipped with technical services, cranes and hoists and fuel pumps, as well as with shopping and catering facilities. Majority marinas operate a yacht hire service and also organize schools of sailing. Croatia has well-indented coast with a total of 1,185 islands, isles and cliffs, 4,012 km of island shoreline, 36, 000 ha of land in three island national parks (Kornati, Brijuni, Mljet) thousands of berths in island marinas. It has 2,600 sunny hours per year, which makes it one of the sunniest countries in Europe. The best season for sailing is early summer: there are good winds in May and June. In July and August, when periods of calm prevail, conditions are ideal for those motorboat fans that prefer calm waters. The sailing is excellent, as the wind funnels down between the islands. Predominantly westerly in the summer, the occasional "Jugo" blows from the southeast to keep you on your toes. All the ingredients are there for fantastic sailing holidays. You can experience excellent sailing, spectacular scenery and visits to lots of places that would otherwise not be accessible. There are many places for history buffs to have a great time, to mention just Dubrovnik, Korcula, Split, Zadar and Hvar.

Health resorts
Numerous medicinal, mineral and thermal springs offer the possibility of developing this kind of tourism. In the continental area there is a series of spas and health resorts in Daruvar, Bizovac, Varazdin, Stubica, Krapina and Tuhelj in the vicinity of Zagreb. Famous spas in the coastal area are in Umag, Opatija, Crikvenica, Veli Losinj, Korucula, Hvar and Makarska.

Convention tourism
In terms of convention tourism Croatia takes an important place in the world. By organizing many specialized conventions in the tourist centers of the country (Zagreb, Brijuni Islands, Opatija, Porec, Umag, Rovinj, Pula, Zadar, Sibenik, Split, Dubrovnik), Croatia made its way among the most important convention centers worldwide.

Some comments from around the world;

Forget St-Tropez: If you want serious partying in the Med, head for Hvar, the stunning Croatian island that's suddenly rivalling Ibiza and Mykonos as Europe's happening, triple-S (sun, sea, and sex) destination. Lively Hvar, with its Venetian overtones (it was ruled by the city from 1420 to 1797), is the 40-mile-long island's main port, its pulse point, and the most convenient place to arrive by ferry from Split.

From Chicago Tribune, by Thomas Swick, March 11, 2001 Travelling down the Dalmatian coast (especially over water) is like turning the pages of Vogue.

From Reuters City, by Belinda Goatcher There is something about Croatia that just compels you to relax. Perhaps it is the constant warming rays of the sun, the pristine crystal clear waters of the Adriatic Sea or the abundance of good food and wine. Or maybe it is a combination of all three and so much more which makes Croatia such a perfect holiday destination... As a holiday destination, Croatia has it all. From wonderful historical cities and towns, to lakes, forests and a spectacular coastline there truly is something to satisfy even the most demanding of travellers.

From Virgin.net, January 19, 2001, by Chantal Martineau Croatia is still a relatively well-kept secret. In its pre-war fame, it was the recipient of some 10 million Western European visitors every year. Today, the country is slowly rebuilding its former popularity as a stunning destination only a few hours from the UK. With some 1100 miles of coastline and 1185 offshore islands, there are countless sandy spots to rest your well-travelled bones. One of the elements contributing to the rising number of visitors is the excellent communications between Croatia and large cities throughout Europe.