If you know anything that lies beneath the surface-level of the tourism industry and you think of sustainable tourism, Croatia is likely not positioned very high on your list. The Croatian tourism ''strategy'' is questionable at best, and so is its old and incapable infrastructure when it comes to trying to cope with damaging, mass tourism.

The likes of Dubrovnik, its incredible overcrowding, traffic, poorly prepared infrastructure and cruise ship hell are notorious examples of just how not to do things, and Croatia's UNESCO protected southernmost city is also the country's most famous tourist destination.

Thankfully, there are several much less famous Croatian destinations that could work to balance out beautiful Dubrovnik's semi-disastrous reputation in terms of sustainable tourism, and two of those destinations are far from the extreme south of Dalmatia, in the rolling green hills of Istria, in the north of the country.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes on the 20th of September, 2019, Motovun, Krk and Rovinj's popular Batana Eco-museum are among the finalists for the best European Destinations for Sustainable Cultural Tourism.

Motovun and the aforementioned Rovinj museum are both located in Istria, while Krk is a large island in Kvarner, belonging to Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.

The finalists of the European Travel Commission selection for the best European destinations for sustainable cultural tourism have now been announced. Motovun is a finalist in the wine tourism category, along with two other renowned European winep-oriented destinations, namely the French destinations of Pays d´Armagnac and of course, the Loire Valley.

In a competition of 55 destinations from 19 European countries, the above-mentioned little Istrian town is not the only finalist from Croatia. In the category of intangible heritage, among the finalsites, is the amazing Batana Eco-museum in Rovinj, and in the category of innovation and digitisation, the island of Krk is a finalist with its digital presentation of the rich cultural heritage of the island of Krk.

The winners by category will be announced at the grand ceremony, which will take place on October the 24th in Granada, Spain.

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