The ceremonial presentation of the annual tourism awards for the best-organized tourist destinations in coastal and continental Croatia, the Blue and Green Flowers, and the Tourist Flowers – quality for Croatia, awarded to the best destinations, companies, individuals, and the best employees in tourism this year, took place in Rovinj, organized by the Ministry of Tourism, gathering the largest number of participants to date, over two thousand.
The award ceremony was held in the old Tobacco Factory Rovinj in the presence of the Prime Minister of Croatia, Jadranka Kosor, who also presented the award „Tourist Flower – Quality for Croatia“ to the overall winner, the so-called tourist champion of Croatia 2010, the municipality of Bol from the island of Brač. On this occasion, along with congratulating the sector on another well-executed season, she emphasized that it was her honor and pleasure to see people from tourism and congratulated them on their efforts, noting that this season was particularly good. Therefore, she fulfilled her promise from last year’s Croatian Tourism Day in Bol and brought almost half of the government to tonight’s ceremony, promising everyone that if next season is even better than this one, she would bring the entire government to the next Croatian Tourism Days. With Prime Minister Kosor in Rovinj were also ministers Ivan Šuker, Tomislav Karamarko, Davor Božinović, and Đuro Popijač.
She particularly welcomed the Slovenian Minister of Economy, Darija Radić, emphasizing that this year 10.6 percent more tourists came from Slovenia to Croatia than last year, which was certainly contributed to by the excellent relations between the two governments. However, as she emphasized, none of this would be possible without the valuable people in tourism, urging them to be even better next year than this one.
In addition to Bol, the award for first place in the „Tourist Flower – Quality for Croatia“ initiative, traditionally conducted by the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) and Croatian Radio Television (HRT), was also awarded to the island of Krk in the Adriatic, while on the continent, Varaždin and Sv. Martin na Muri received awards. The best marina is Punat from Krk, and the camps are Zaton near Zadar, Jasenova from Žaborić, and Politin from Krk. Among small hotels, the awards went to San Rocco from Brtonigla and Korana Srakovčić from Karlovac, while among five-star hotels, the best was declared to be the Hilton from Dubrovnik in the Adriatic, and the Esplanade in Zagreb in the interior.
