July 29, 2019 - One of the great success stories of the Adriatic has been discovered a Wimbledon winner, a Russian Prime Minister, and now The Times of London - Festa on Zut, now with glamping.
While lots of people are complaining about a poor tourist season in Croatia, my observations from the many people I have spoken to is that those with something really quality to offer are not complaining at all. Indeed, some are even having record seasons, as we learned yesterday from Ante Lacman from Hvar Tours, the first in our series of Croatian businesses enjoying a record season.
With so many accustomed to the way of life that tourists will come anyway and 'doing tourism' merely involves handing out the apartment key and taking the cash, or serving the same average menu for increasingly higher prices, the 2019 season has proven to be a wake-up call for many. The return of competition markets such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the recovery of Greece, has provided healthy competition, and there is a growing perception that standard Croatian tourism is just too expensive and lacking in content without the sun and the sea. The widely-read Daily Mail put that perception in numbers with its M&S Bank survey. Not only was Croatia the most expensive of the 7 European destinations, it was the only one to increase prices, while the cost of a family holiday to the Algarve was reduced by 20%.
But quality always wins, and I was delighted to see one of the great success stories of gourmet tourism featured in The Times yesterday, especially as the photo was taken by my good friend Igor Tomljenovic - restaurant and glamping resort Festa on Zut on the Kornati Islands.
It is a quite incredible story. On an island with no permanent inhabitants, no water, no electricity, and no ferry, they decided to open a restaurant in 1993. In the middle of the war.
Not only did Festa survive but it flourished. So much so in fact that when it came to celebrate its 25th years, there was a special Festa Days event, including a 10-course dinner prepared by 5 Italian Master Chefs, and 5 of Croatia's top gourmet names. You can read about it here.
Festa has recently added glamping to the island's offer, allowing those without their own boat to enjoy the peace and tranquility of this delightful spot on the Adriatic, which has been visited by Djokovic, Luka Modric and even Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev.
You can read the article in The Times here.
