Croatia wins medical tourism destination award

Croatia

Croatia has won the medical tourism destination award at the world’s leading tourism fair, the ITB in Berlin.

Croatia won the special ITB Medical Tourism Destination Award, which is awarded for the first time by the ITB with the support of HTI Conference (Health Tourism Industry).

The organisers of the award recognised Croatia as an innovative and sustainable destination that provides its guests with a high level of experience and services in the field of medical tourism, which is confirmed by the number of over 250 thousand guests who visit our country annually motivated by health tourism, the Croatian Tourism Board said.

The award was accepted by Romeo Draghicchio, Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Representative office in Germany, who thanked the organisers for the trust and the award, which will, among other things, be an additional motivation in the further development of medical tourism in Croatia.

(Photo: HTZ)

The Croatian National Tourist Board, together with 18 Croatian co-exhibitors, presented the Croatian tourist offer at the ITB in Berlin, which for the first time after 50 years was held online. 

The fair is being held from March 9th to 12th, and the Croatian delegation held a series of online meetings with representatives of the most important agencies, tour operators and other partners in the German market such as DER Touristik, Schauinsland, Eurowings and others.

“By performing at the virtual edition of the ITB fair, we maintain the presence and visibility of Croatia in our traditionally most important German market, but also maintain business contacts and relationships with key partners, agents, tour operators, airlines. Despite the current situation, we believe that with the easing of restrictions, tourist traffic will be normalised and that a large number of Germans will place their trust in Croatia this year as well. This is supported by the recent inclusion of four Croatian counties on the list of safe regions by the German Robert Koch Institute, making Istria the only safe sea region in the Mediterranean, as well as the announcement of the largest German airline Lufthansa to increase the number of flights to Croatia in the coming period,” said Kristjan Staničić, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board. 

It was revealed during the fair that there has been an increased interest in travel since mid-February. 

“They are especially interested in the sale of arrangements for the Easter holidays and spring, with an emphasis on Istria, for which restrictions and quarantine measures have been lifted when returning back to Germany“, said Draghicchio.

Those who presented at the fair this year included the Dubrovnik and Neretva County Tourist board, Tourist Boards of the city of Dubrovnik and city of Zagreb, but also Croatia Airlines, Jadrolinija, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Valamar, Maistra, Uniline, Laguna Novigrad d.d. (Aminess Hotels & Campsites), Liburnia Riviera Hotels, ID Riva, Abacus, Ban Tours, Perfecta Travel, Sunturist, Unlimited Croatia DMC and Via Mea Travel.