July the 3rd, 2021 - The long awaited Rijeka Hilton Costabella Resort has finally opened its doors to guests after much talk. With the vaccination rollout in Croatia and Europe going well, there's hope to be had yet for the height of 2021's summer season.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, the very first Croatian summer resort of the global hotel company Hilton, the Rijeka Hilton Costabella Resort and Spa, has been officially opened. The resort with a private beach and its own anchorages is an investment of the Czech JTH Holding, which has invested more than 105 million euros in this project.

Following nothing but bad news dominating the travel and tourism industry across the world as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, this is definitely the event of the year for the Croatian hotel sector.

The Rijeka Hilton Costabella Resort's hotel offers a total of 132 rooms and 62 villas and apartments, the first eforea spa & health club in all of the Republic of Croatia and a fitness centre which is open 24 hours a day. The hotel also boasts six restaurants and bars, including the fine-dining Nebo Restaurant & Lounge at the very top of the hotel.

At the head of the restaurant is the youngest Croatian chef with a Michelin star, Deni Srdoc, and along with him, four restaurants and bars will be run by chef Miljenko Kosanovic.

"My dream has come true. This, I'm convinced, will be a place where thousands of guests will come, but also a place which has created many jobs and positioned this destination to a much higher level when it comes to tourist accommodation. I'm sure that this trend will continue,'' said Jaroslav Tresnak, the CEO of JTH Holding.

Simon Vincent, Hilton’s executive vice president in charge of the EMEA region, revealed that Hilton plans to open 40 new facilities across Europe this year alone, despite the continued difficulties when it comes to leisure and travel.

This new Rijeka resort is also part of the Hilton Honours loyalty programme, which covers 18 Hilton hotel brands, and guests who make reservations directly through Hilton's official channels can enjoy a number of different benefits, which will attract many new guests who are yet to come and discover Croatia.

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January 27, 2021 – They promised its arrival this spring and, true to their word, these first-look photos show the construction of the beautiful new Rijeka Hilton Costabella Beach Resort & Spa is complete

With an investment of €80 million and the keen co-operation of the city authorities, the arrival date of the new Rijeka Hilton Costabella Beach Resort & Spa was never in doubt. They said it would be ready for spring and due to open its doors in April. As these first look pictures show, they've been true to their word. Construction of the new Rijeka Hilton Costabella Beach Resort & Spa is complete.

Its been at times difficult to fully visualise the completed project from the glossy, computer-generated builders' images of how they predict the finished product will look. Rijeka residents too have had their worries – would the new promenade in front of the complex (paid for with city money) place a section of their beloved coastline off-limits to those not staying at the Rijeka Hilton Costabella Beach Resort & Spa?

They needn't have worried. As these new images show, the major construction work at the Rijeka Hilton Costabella Beach Resort & Spa is complete. It looks as though they could throw open the doors tomorrow. The worried-over promenade snakes between the main complex and the hotel residents' beach area. It allows pedestrians full access to the seafront – they can pass along the entire front facade of the Rijeka Hilton Costabella Beach Resort & Spa and enjoy the view from the shore just as much as hotel residents. When the Rijeka Hilton finally opens its doors, they'll also be able to take advantage of all of its spa facilities too, which will be opened up to local residents via a membership scheme.

The Rijeka Hilton Costabella Beach Resort & Spa complex has been built across a considerable 18,000 square metres. The main building complex has 10 floors which hold 132 rooms. The site also has 66 villas separate to the main building, six restaurant/bar/food outlets, a private beach, and one of the largest wellness facilities in the region - the two-floored spa area covers more than 3,000 square metres.

The new photos of the complete Rijeka Hilton Costabella Beach Resort & Spa, which are signed as Mr. Fly, were posted publicly to the Facebook group Riječka enciklopedija - Fluminensia by renowned Rijeka photographer Dario Matijević, whose breathtaking images of the nature, landscapes and cityscapes of the Kvarner region are often signed as Baredice Photo and can be enjoyed here. They were subsequently used by RiPortal in their coverage of this story.

As Novac writes on the 19th of August, 2020, although many thought that this year's tourist season would look catastrophic, Croatia could end 2020 with about 50 percent of last year's results, which is a result that is better than what was expected by just about everyone with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic firmly in mind. Unfortunately, this is obviously not the case in Rijeka because its most famous hotel, one of the symbols of the city on the river Rjecina, the legendary Bonavia - is closed.

The only available information as to why this was so, came from the most powerful global tour operator, the wildly popular Booking.com, which removed Bonavia from the list of Rijeka's offer with the remark: Additional safety and hygiene measures are currently being implemented at this facility due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

An explanation for the closure of Rijeka's much loved Bonavia, which is obviously of great public interest, was provided by its owner, the Porec-based company Plava laguna.

''Hotel Bonavia Plava Laguna in Rijeka was closed owing to a business decision of Plava Laguna. This hotel, like all of the other facilities we manage, will be opened in accordance with the booking situation and the demand of guests,'' said Eva Novi Zan Prusina, head of the public relations office of one of the strongest Croatian hotel companies, for Novi list.

In other words, it is obvious that Bonavia's booking status was below profitable figures and the company decided to close its doors, even though we're still very much in the Croatian tourist season.

According to the Kvarner Tourist Board, in June and July, the Opatija Riviera and the Rijeka area were the two worst county micro-regions. The Opatija Riviera achieved just 30 percent of last year's results in June, and the Rijeka area achieved 38 percent of the traffic it enjoyed last year, with both realising 55 percent of July 2019's traffic this July.

This is significantly worse than what was seen on nearby Krk and Cres, which both reached more than 70 percent of last year's results in July. If we look at Rijeka's tourism through this prism, the business decision to close Bonavia's doors makes sense.

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