Marina Punat has won the Golden Anchor award for 2019, the biggest Croatian nautical tourism award, given by Jutarnji list to the best Croatian marina (according to their research and sailing around Croatian marinas for two months).
The award ceremony was held in the luxurious Grand Hotel Park in Rovinj, as a part of the conference "Future of the Nautical Tourism in Croatia", organised by Slobodna Dalmacija. This is the second time that Marina Punat has won the award, in the three years since this award has been established. Marina Punat's director, Renata Marević, said that it's an acknowledgment of the great job done by everyone working there. She added that they've won numerous awards over the year, and that each one makes them want to work even harder in the years to come, and pay attention to the compliments and the problems their customers bring to their attention.
ACI Marina Cres and ACI Marina Skradin won second and third place, and ACI Marina Dubrovnik got the "My Favourite Marina" award, given to the marina that has gotten the best reviews by their guests. The award for the most courteous staff was given to ACI Marina Pula, while the biggest change for the better was recognised in ACI Marina Jezera.
Kristjan Staničić, the Croatian National Tourist Board's director, said at the awards ceremony that the award has a remarkable educational and promotional character, and that it helps increase quality in Croatian nautical tourism. Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli agreed with him, and added that the data collected through this project might help create the tourist strategy for the next seven years.
Oleg Butković, Minister of Maritime Affairs, Traffic and Infrastructure talked about the significance of Croatian nautical tourism, stressing that it is growing each year, that the number of chartered boats has also increased and that they bring numerous new guests to Croatia.
Goran Ogurlić, Editor-in-Chief at Jutarnji list stated that the idea of the award is not only to say which marina is the best, but rather to improve the quality of Croatian nautical tourism with specific ideas and proposals that arise from the experience of visiting them all.
