October the 26th, 2021 - Losinj hotels have been recognised once again for their wellness and spa offers, putting this beautiful part of Croatia firmly on the radar of those tourists who opt for that type of holiday, and there are more and more of them.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, Losinj's popular Hotel Bellevue, a member of the luxury hotel brand Losinj Hotels & Villas, has climbed to the very ''top of the world'' when it comes to spa and wellness offers this year. The Spa Clinic Hotel Bellevue is the winner of the World’s Best Hotel Spa 2021, which has been being awarded by the World Spa Awards for six years in a row now with the aim of promoting and rewarding quality in the increasingly popular spa and wellness industry.

This Losinj hotel also won at the Europe’s Best Hotel Spa 2021 and Croatia’s Best Hotel Spa awards. In the same selection, Vitality Punta from Veli Losinj, another hotel from the Jadranka group, won the title of the best wellness hotel in all of Croatia.

For Losinj hotels, these aren't the only awards in tourism which were won throughout the month of October. As part of the fourteenth International Conference on Cultural Tourism in Europe, which was held on Thursday in Athens, the project of sustainable cultural tourism from Nerezinac camp, also in Losinj, was awarded.

At that conference organised by the European Cultural Tourism Network, this Losinj project won second place in the category "Archaeological Sites and Museums as Cultural Tourism Attractions".

The first place also went to another incredible Croatian museum, the Museum of Krapina Neanderthals and the Husnjakovo site, while the third place went to the City Museum of Zenica. According to the Tourist Board of the town of Mali Losinj, awards were given to various projects from all over Europe in five more categories.

Among the winners were other impressive Croatian museums, for example, the first place in the category "Walking Tourism and Slow Travel - Synergies with Cultural Tourism" was won by the Rab Archaeological Museum, and the Zagreb Chocolate Museum was also a hit.

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September the 28th, 2021 - Losinj sustainable tourism has been being tested out, and the so-called ''eco standard'' of it will be measured and judged by nobody but independent travellers themselves.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, last week, Losinj hosted a project which showcased the modern simulation of sustainable travel. Six people of different professions, from several Mediterranean countries, had the task to try out and evaluate a carefully designed all-inclusive innovative eco trip called "Rhythm of the senses of the island of Losinj" in the protected area of ​​Cres-Losinj.

This is the main activity of the Mediterranean project INTERREG DestiMED PLUS called "Ecotourism in Mediterranean destinations", which, back at the end of 2019, included the Croatian Institute of Tourism. This Losinj sustainable tourism project has been being prepared for two years now and is taking place in parallel in Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Albania and of course Croatia, and the leading partner is the Italian region of Lazio. The International Association for Nature Conservation (IUCN) and WWF Mediterranean are also involved in the implementation of the project.

The subject of the project is the development of an innovative ecotourism package deal in each of the selected protected areas of project partners, which is created, tested, improved and then adapted to current market needs through the accurate measurement of the environmental sustainability footprint and all other sustainability indicators. The goal is to minimise the negative impacts of tourism on the environment, economy and community, by exact measurement, and not only by declarative, anticipated recommendations.

Specifically, the Losinj sustainable tourism project itinerary was made for smaller groups of 6 to 12 people and lasts for six days. Now, the testers, and in the future tourists, will be staying in family/private accommodation with eco references, and they'll also make the most of the more sustainable transfers provided in the wider Losinj area.

The programme includes an hour of cooking in a family restaurant, a visit to a fragrant garden and a herbarium workshop with local herbs and a tasting room, a visit to the Apoxyomenos Museum as an aspect of local cultural value, kayaking and diving on the island of Orjula, enjoying a glass of local wine, being educated on sustainability at the Blue World Institute, cycling, and a promenade walk along the Path of Vitality and a picnic along the coast.

"The name of ''Rhythm of the senses of the island of Losinj'' was created in the desire to introduce guests to the true island rhythm that Losinj breathes during the rest of the year, when it isn't the peak of the tourist season in summer. The rhythm of the senses alludes to the sheer variety of activities Losinj boasts. With their arrival, tourists extend the season and participate in the conservation of this protected area through responsible behaviour and their consumption of arrangements whose negative impact on the environment and local population is minimised, and income is kept within the local economy of the resident population,'' explained the Institute of Tourism.

The trip which the Losinj sustainable tourism project created was intended for the market of experienced, solvent, environmentally responsible and adventurous middle-aged, English and German-speaking travellers who enjoy a combination of outdoor activities and psychophysical rest, local gastronomy, culture, nature and tradition and interaction with locals through various creative workshops, experiences and visits.

These guests love and seek sustainable more remote, Mediterranean exotic destinations, they typically choose comfort over luxury, and put quality before the price of a tourist service or product. The itinerary of the ecotourism package includes a number of local service providers who have recognised the quality and long-term value of this project, which will be available on the tourism market in the future.

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April 28, 2021 - Starting this weekend, the Lošinj Gastro Weekend 2021 prepares a real treat to the visitors of 14 restaurants on the island.

A beautiful island setting of Lošinj, and delicious food next to the Adriatic - all a regular feature of the annual gastro weekend which starts this week and continues until the end of May.

As Losinj Tourist Board website VisitLosinj.hr announces, fourteen restaurants from Osor all the way to Mali Lošinj will each weekend have a special offer based on a specific product.

Starting with this Friday, April 30 to Sunday, May 2, the restaurants will have lamb specialties in which the local meat will be offered to satisfy your taste buds.

The next is asparagus weekend (May 7-9), followed by fish dishes (May 14-16), Medditaranian herbs dishes (May 21-23), and finally the Antic cuisine (May 28-30).
Artatore, Baracuda, Bocca Vera, Bora bar, Borik Mediterranean Bar, Deveron, Diana Steakhouse, Eki, Lanterna Grill Mare, Silvana, Silver Bay Televrin, and Veli žal are the restaurants.
Turizmoteka.hr also covered the story and warned readers to reserve their place in the restaurants to enjoy this lovely culinary spectacle.

„In these moments, the cooperation between every actor in the destination is extremely important to overcome the negative effect of corona crisis as fast as possible. This festival is an ideal opportunity for visitors to meet Lošinj through local specialties. Come and enjoy!“, said Mali Lošinj mayor Ana Kučić, writes Turizmoteka.

"It is our wish to bring our guests almost all gastronomy pleasures the Island of Vitality is known for“, said Dalibor Cvitković, president of Lošinj Tourist Board, referring to the island's nickname.

Learn more about Croatian islands on our TC page.

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March 25, 2021 - Both the Croatian Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Croatian tourist boards recognised the development of health tourism as a high priority for Croatia.

To discuss the development of health tourism in Croatia, a branch that is becoming one of the more important Croatian tourist products, Croatian Tourism and Sports minister Nikolina Brnjac met with Kvarner Tourist Board director Irena Peršić Živadinov, Kvarner Health Tourism cluster president Vladimir Možetič, and Zagreb Tourist Board director Martina Bienenfeld. As life expectancy and healthy lifestyle trends increase, the value of health tourism grows. The novel coronavirus only made that growth even more rapid.

"Over 80,000 tourists in 2020 visited Kvarner (well-known for Lošinj Island and its hospital for respiratory issues) for health services. Today, many people are recovering from the consequences of the novel coronavirus there," said the Kvarner Tourist Board director Živadinov.  

"We have all the advantages for further development of health tourism: a good reputation of health services, qualified staff, natural richness of thermal sources, good climate, and long tradition of tourism," said minister Brnjac. Her goal is to pull Croatia out of the perception of a country only good for the summer season.

Croatia offers health services in wellness and medicine tourism. Health tourism is most associated with the regions of Kvarner, Istria, northern Croatia, and Zagreb, but the goal is to include other regions that have the potential for health tourism and to achieve the goals of a strategy that needs to be accomplished by 2030.

Martina Bienenfeld said that the Zagreb Tourist Board is working on the City's recognition as the centre of medical excellence. She pointed out good traffic connections, a mixture of the Mediterranean and mid-Europe climate, as well as good prices of health services as great advantages of Croatia's capital to the international clientele.

The Health Care Bill and Services in Tourism Bill now allow hospitality and health tourism services in hospitals and medical centres. These legal changes are also significant in attracting further investments in the field.

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September 3, 2019 - For eleven consecutive years, the town of Mali Losinj has reached 2 million overnight stays.

This year, by September 1, Mali Losinj achieved 2,013,495 overnights, making it one of the top ten Croatian destinations with the most, reports Novi List.

Thanks to the promotion of key attributes of the image of Losinj island, as well as the efforts and activities invested in organizing events and enriching the year-round offer, from January to August 2019, there were 262,898 arrivals and 1,998,235 overnights.

Guests from Croatia recorded a 4% increase in overnight stays, while foreign guests recorded a 2% decrease in overnight stays, with an average tourist stay of 7.6 days. When looking at the age structure, leading guests are over 35.

The share of total overnights spent by Croats is 14.5%, while foreigners occupy 85.5%. Almost 67.4% of foreign guests came from already four traditionally important broadcast markets; Slovenia, Germany, Italy and Austria. It is led by guests from Slovenia (26.5%), Germany (19.3%), Italy (12.2%), Austria (9.4%), Czech Republic (2.8%), the Netherlands and Poland (1.7%), France (1.5%) and other countries (10.4%).

Looking at the results by accommodation, the most visited were camps (35.3%), followed by households (18.7%), hotels (18.3%) and other types of accommodation (27.7%). Also, the most overnight stays were in Mali Losinj (51.1%), followed by Nerezine (17.8%), Veli Losinj (11.9%), Punta Kriza (6.7%), Osor (4.6%) and other places (7.9%).

In August alone, 762,351 overnights were recorded, which is an increase of 1% compared to the previous year. The arrivals in August totaled 85,382, which is an increase of 5%. The highest percentage of overnight stays in August 2019 was realized in camps (285,454 nights - 37.4%), followed by visits to domestic and private accommodation (152,320 nights - 20%), by hotels (104,408 nights - 13.7%), other hospitality accommodation (82.738 nights - 10.8%) and non-commercial accommodation (137.431 nights - 18.1%).

Many options and events are available for guests who choose to spend their holidays on the ‘island of vitality’. Namely, from September 7 to September 21, 2019, the festival “Losinj sails around the world” will introduce visitors to the golden age of Losinj seafaring through various sport, gastronomic, cultural, entertaining and educational events. The 9th Losinj Half Marathon is also held in September, followed by the 37th Arbunada and the Cres-Losinj Triathlon in October, the 21st Lošinj Cup - Optimist Regatta, and in November, the Cres-Losinj Trail weekend.

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