Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje win the annual Cultural Tourism Award

On Thursday and Friday, November 21 and 22, the Croatian Tourism Days were held in Opatija, culminating in the presentation of the Annual Croatian Tourism Awards. The city of Opatija and the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County were chosen as this year's hosts because this year marks 180 years of organized tourism in the city, which is often called the pearl of the Adriatic.

The winners in the Cultural Tourism Award category, among a total of 146 entries, are the Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje!

The director Jurica Sabol accepted this valuable award, just another in a row for the MHZ, in Opatija. He was joined there by Jelena Bužanić and Paul Lekaj (curator and manager of the Veliki Tabor Castle), who worked on the application form.

This is confirmation of the exceptionally high-quality work of the entire institution and all its employees. I truly believe that it is a great thing to receive such a nice recognition and win first place. We are truly proud of all the programs we have implemented in the past and all the projects we have implemented and will implement. This is a beautiful crown and reward for our work now towards the end of the year, said Director Sabol.

On that occasion, he also sent several special thanks: I must thank the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Croatian Tourist Board for recognizing the quality work of our Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje, which have been at the top of the list in terms of attendance for many years, and are also among the best in working with children. Of course, without the support of our founder, the Ministry of Culture and Media, this would not have been possible, but I must especially thank the local and tourist boards from the Krapina-Zagorje County, namely the cities of Krapina and Klanjec and the municipalities of Gornja Stubica, Desinić and Kumrovec. I truly believe that we are a great example of good cooperation between a public institution and the local community.

The Annual Croatian Tourism Awards is a project of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Croatian Chamber of Economy, which was created with the aim of further encouraging competitiveness, innovation and awareness of sustainable development and raising the quality of services and products in the tourism sector.

The Annual Croatian Tourism Awards are open to all stakeholders in Croatian tourism and represent an opportunity to present excellence and examples of best practices, their promotion and public recognition. The aim is to promote, encourage and reward excellence in Croatian tourism.

In 2024, the project awarded awards in as many as 15 categories: tourist event of the year, tourist destination of the year - champion of Croatian tourism, DMK - tourist arrangement of the year, gastronomic experience of the year, hotel of the year, within which the award for small and large hotel of the year were awarded, then campsite of the year, marina of the year, charter of the year and awards in active, cultural, business, rural and health tourism, as well as the Naturally Yours award for special contribution to sustainable development. In addition, the Croatian National Tourist Board annually rewards in the People in Tourism category, including the Croatian Tourism Award and the Man - Key to Success, Employee of the Year award. The Croatian Tourism Award also awards the Anton Štifanić Annual Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of the exceptional contribution of individuals and companies/institutions/associations to the development of tourism in the Republic of Croatia.

The deadline for submitting applications, exclusively via online application forms, was September 15.