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There is good news for all those to whom the south Dalmatian island of Korcula, and particularly the city of Vela Luka, is their favourite tourist destination. The hotel Korkyra is in the midst of a revamp, after 12 years of not working, waiting for new owners and a more than necessary renovation. When, before the next tourist season, it opens its doors, it will be a four-star hotel with an accommodation capacity of 59 rooms and 120 beds. It will also feature an inside pool of 80 square metres and other facilities. The owners plan for the hotel to be open for the most part of the year. Vela Luka is located on the western coast of the island of Korcula, at the end of a very long bay. The city is the subject matter of one of the most beautiful traditional Croatian a capella songs, and attracts many with its tranquillity, mild climate and its site of medicinal mud, thanks to which health tourism is developed here as well.
Source: Croatia.hr

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The City of Dubrovik, the destination of numerous visitors in the summer as well as year-round, has decided on one more way of saying welcome to its visitors: by introducing the tourist card for the price of EUR 15. The card enables visitors to take a tour of the remarkable city walls, three museums, the fortress Revelin, the Dubrovnik art gallery, the home of Marin Drzi and the Dulci ­ Masle ­ Pulitika gallery with a 50% discount compared to regular ticket prices, making cultural monuments of the city more accessible to all.The daily tourist card was introduced at the beginning of August of this year, and in 2010 a weekly card will be introduced. The cards are sold at info centres of the City of Dubrovnik Tourist Board at the following locations: Siroka ulica, Gruz, Lapad, Lopud, Sipan and the Dubrovnik Airport. Dubrovnik, whose old city centre is on the UNESCO world heritage list, is visited by more than a million tourists every year, half of which stay more than one day in this city known for its high quality accommodation facilities. The rest visit the city as part of Mediterranean cruises, which always necessarily include Dubrovnik as one of their destinations.
Source: Croatia.hr

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Dubrovnik, a city that has conquered the hearts of many visitors and world celebrities, can add one more recognition to the long list of awards it has received this year. The web page Skyscanner has ranked the Dubrovnik beach Banje among the ten most beautiful city beaches in the world. Out of the ten beaches, five are located in the USA, Canada, Israel and Australia, which makes Banje one of the top five European beaches. Though to everyone who has visited this pebble-stone beach any explanation is unnecessary, Scyscanner cites the most beautiful view of the Dubrovnik old city centre, located only 100 metres from the beach itself. Everyone has to be moved by such a view, says Skyscanner, adding the Dubrovnik beach also earned its status of a top beach with its crystal clear sea and the numerous activities and facilities offered. The old Dubrovnik city centre is one of the most attractive and well known on the Mediterranean, and is the reason why Dubrovnik has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful cities in the world in countless surveys. It is on the UNESCO world heritage list and is visited every year by many tourists, including members of the world jet set.
Source: Croatia.hr

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Visitors travelling through the German tour-operator TUI have chosen Hotel Afrodita, located in the well known tourist destination Tucepi on the Makrska Riviera, as one of the 100 most popular hotels in the world. The hotel received this award, the TUI Holly, in a competition against 6,000 other tourist facilities from all over the world. Afrodita received the biggest compliments from visitors for the best "time in the year" they have spent on a holiday. Tucepi is an eminent tourist destination in mid Dalmatia, and is located right next to the sea, on the slopes of the Biokovo mountain. It is known, among other things, for its pine tree forests and amazing pebble-stone beaches. The four-star hotel Afrodita, which has received the same award last year as well, offers 305 beds, rich hospitality services and facilities, a wellness area, pool and recreational activities
Source: Croatia.hr

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The Dubrovnik hotel Uvala, operating under the Maestral Hotels company, has been proclaimed one of the best hotels in the world by Expedia, the world's leading online booking provider. Expedia awarded Uvala with the Expedia Insiders Select Hotel 2009 recognition, for its quality of service, dedication to making its visitors happy and an optimum cost to value ratio. The four-star hotel Uvala has already received much recognition. It features 51 rooms, an inside and an outside pool, and a wellness area on two floors that has also received many awards. The hotel also comprises business meeting halls and generally features a rich offering, on account of which it has repeatedly been ranked among the world's leading hotels.
Source: Croatia.hr

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According to the British Daily Telegraph, the beach Zlatni rat in Bol on the Island of Brac is the most beautiful beach in Europe. Also, the tourist guide publisher Lonely Planet has ranked Zlatni rat among the ten most beautiful beaches in the world. Zlatni rat is located on the west side of Bol on the mid Dalmatian island of Brac, positioned beneath the Vid's Mountain, the highest Adriatic insular mountain. It is half a kilometre long and is one of the biggest natural attractions of the Croatian Adriatic coast. The beach is spectacular on account of its triangle shape, and its specificity is that it changes shape depending on the direction of the wind. This makes it perfect for surfing and other water sports, which is why many international sports competitions are organized here. The beach is surrounded by a pine tree and oak tree forest, and offers numerous possibilities for the organization of various entertainment events. Numerous high quality hotels, suite resorts, restaurants, cafes, taverns and nightclubs, as well as sports facilities for both children and adults are located in close proximity to the beach.
Source: Croatia.hr

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Apart from its basic activity, the production of salt, the salt pans in Nin, near Zadar, are also devising tourism programs. A couple of years ago, the Nin salt pans became a sort of natural park with organized guided tours for visitors.The Nin salt pans, along with the ones in Ston, are the only ones of their kind on the Adriatic, where salt is manufactured in a traditional way, as was done thousands of years ago, with sea water perspiring from shallow pools. This is why a procedure has been launched to protect the entire area as a natural good, a protected landscape of flora and fauna, with the end goal being protecting the entire laguna area, partly through the UN project Natura 2000. The Nin salt pans are spread over 55 ha of the Nin Laguna, right next to the ancient Croatian city of Nin, in the Zadar County. The salt pans date back to the Roman era. Venice purchased the pans and closed it down in 1550 to maintain its monopoly in salt production and trade on the Adriatic. It was re-established four centuries later, in 1955.Numerous tourists visit the salt pans during the summer and buy interesting souvenirs made from salt. The salt is produced in an entirely natural way, with the sea water perspiring from the pools because of the sun and wind, and natural sea salt crystallising. Nin salt has a high concentration of Iodine because of the algae in the sea water, which gives it a special place on the market. It is also sold as scented bath salt, enriched with natural oils (lavender, rosemary, rose, lemon, sage), thus combining several characteristics of the Mediterranean.
Source: Croatia.hr

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Though it opened its doors at the beginning of June, hotel Valamar Lacroma Resort, a true conference centre judging by its facilities and offering, is already solidly booked for the autumn conference season. It already was host to the Libertas Film Festival, and by the end of the year, this hotel located on the Dubrovnik peninsula of Lapad will be host to a series of events, including the 39th annual congress of the European Association for Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy and the general assembly of the European Association of Tourism and Hotel-Management Schools, each gathering around a 1,000 participants. Also taking place in the hotel is The European Conference of the International Society of Transport Aircraft trading (ISTAT), and the MICE Europe congress, gathering participants interested in making business in the MICE industry (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions). The four-star Valamar Lacroma Resort is the biggest conference and spa hotel in Dubrovnik. It features 400 rooms and suites, the wellness centre Ragusa Spa, spread over almost 400 square meters, and a rich hospitality offering. The biggest conference hall is "Elafiti", with the accommodation capacity of 1,110 people. There is also a separate business centre, with seven more halls and offices for rent. The first summer season of the hotel is dynamic. Apart from hosting the Libertas Film Festival, it has been host to the many visitors that have chosen to stay in it while vacationing in Dubrovnik.
Source: Croatia.hr

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Since July of this year, Croatian tourism can add one more luxury tourist resort to its offering, the Radisson Blu Resort, located in Orasac, around 10 km north of the City of Dubrovnik. The hotel features 201 hotel rooms and 207 residential suites and many different facilities. The resort was designed by architects Branimir Medi and Pero Puljiz. The interior design is the work of the London company Hirsch Bedner Associates, and the hospitality facilities are the design of Henry Chebanne of Blue Sky Hospitality, the world's leading company in this segment, with over 100 design projects realized in over 25 countries all over the world. Interestingly, the entire resort has been built out of domestic materials ­ stone from Dubrovnik and Brac and travertine, and the walls are decorated exclusively with works of Croatian artists. The horticultural development of the resort contributes greatly to its beauty, with the hundred year-old olives and rich Mediterranean greenery perfectly fitting into it. The entire area, including several restaurants, bars and traditional taverns, has been conceptualised as a little town in itself. Greatly contributing to this atmosphere is the market that is part of the resort, with its bakery, fishery, butcher's, wine-store and patisserie, where visitors can try, buy or prepare fresh products themselves. For those who can not imagine their vacation without sports, the resort features many sports facilities and a rich wellness offering. Radisson Blu Resort & Spa Dubrovnik Resort also features contemporarily equipped multifunctional areas ­ a large conference hall and several smaller business meeting halls.
Source: Croatia.hr

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In the Museum of the Town of Kastela, an exhibition was recently opened on the occasion of celebrating 100 years of organized tourism in this town. The exhibition is organized by the Town of Kastela Tourist Board, the Town of Kastela, the Split-Dalmatia County and the Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board. The important anniversary has also been marked with the publication of the book "A Chronological Survey of Tourism in Kastela ­ 100 Years of the Soulavy Pension", by Sanja Acalija. The dawn of tourism in Kastela is considered to be the opening of the first tourist pension with a developed beach in Kastel Luksi. It was opened by the Czech physician Henrik Soulavy in 1909, who bought the castle Tartaglia there. 1909, therefore, is the year when the development of tourism officially begins on the Kastela Riviera. Almost two decades later, Petar Kamber opened the Hotel Palace in Kastel Stari, a representative tourist facility for the time. To raise the quality of the tourist offering even more, in 1936 a Municipal Bathing Committee was established for the "Lower Kastels" (Kastel Stafili, Kastel Novi, Kastel Stari and Kastel Luksi). Located to the northwest of Split, the town of Kastela is comprised of what used to be seven villages ­ Suurac, Gomilica, Kambelovac, Luksi, Stari, Novi and Stafili. Each one of these is specific in its own way. Though they are connected, they differ in the mentality and interests of its inhabitants, and all boast a rich cultural heritage and numerous monuments. The Kastela Riviera features many private accommodation facilities and a couple of hotels. Yachtsmen can use the marina located in Kastel Gomilica. Characteristic for the entire area is its rich park architecture. The most renowned park is the Park Vitturi in Kastel Luksi, the oldest park on the Riviera, built in the second half of the 18th century. It is spread over 7,450 square meters and was proclaimed a nature park in 1968. Also well known are the Botanical Garden of the Ostrog Elementary School and the Bibilical Garden, built in the honour of the second visit of Pope John Paul II to Croatia and located in the Marian sanctuary Lady of Stomorija. The garden features numerous plant species mentioned in the Bible and sculptures of eminent Croatian sculptors Vasko Lipovac, Kazimir Hrasto and Matko Miji. The arrival of the Czech physician Soulavy to Kastel Luksi, which he never left, intrigued the great Czech director Jiij Menzel enough to put the story in his documentary filmed in Croatia. Menzel is shooting the film, entitled "My Croatia", in cooperation with the crew of the Croatian national television, and wants to show through it that it is precisely the Czech who were the very first tourists in Dalmatia.
Source: Croatia.hr

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