Holiday Villas Vista Zamask, Sreser, Falcon Rook and Vadediji Awarded as the Best in Europe

Four villas from Croatia providing tourist accommodation have won the European awards for the best holiday homes “Best European Holiday Home”, awarded for the third consecutive year by the European Holiday Home Association (EHHA), of which the Community of Family Tourism at the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) became a member this year.

The awards were received by Villa Vista Zamask in Istria (in the category of most original house), Villa Sreser from Pelješac (for the best house on the coast), Villa Falcon Rook from Konavala (for the best family house), and Villa Vadediji near Žminj (for the best wellness house), it was announced on Friday by the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK).

>>>In the finals for the best European holiday accommodation, 12 Croatian tourist facilities

This makes Croatia the absolute winner with awards in four out of a total of eight categories, emphasizes HGK, noting that the announcement and award ceremony for the best family-owned holiday homes took place on Thursday evening in Brussels.

This year, Croatia, having just become a member of EHHA through the Community of Family Tourism at HGK, nominated for these awards for the first time and ultimately had 12 finalists out of a total of 64 in eight categories from a total of 18 European countries.

Only Great Britain had more finalists than Croatia, with its holiday homes winning three awards, while large tourist countries like France and Italy had only two representatives each in the finals of this competition.

– The awards for family accommodation in Croatia are a great success and confirmation that this segment of tourism is developing in the right direction. It is also a confirmation of the increasing recognition of Croatian tourist accommodation in households in European markets, and given that this year the number of facilities providing such accommodation exceeded 90 thousand, the specialization of their offerings, branding of the destination, and education of hosts, on which the Community of Family Tourism at HGK is intensively working, is extremely important, says the vice president of that community, Danijela Čavlović.

She was also, as the only representative from Croatia, involved in the selection of the best European family accommodation and accepted the awards on behalf of the Croatian winners.

The Community of Family Accommodation at HGK became a member of EHHA in March this year, when EHHA also pointed out that the model of organizing family accommodation in Croatian tourism is an example of good practice, which can serve as a certain guideline in the legal regulation of this growing offer in Europe.

– Nowhere in Europe is private or household accommodation for tourists as well organized as in Croatia, which, like other countries, is facing an increasingly strong supply and demand for this accommodation due to the growing online platforms for booking and selling accommodation, but unlike most others in the European Union, Croatia is not unprepared for this ‘confrontation’ because this accommodation is actually dominant in total tourist accommodation, said the Secretary General of EHHA, Carlos Lassen, at that time.

>>>A good start to the year for family accommodation

Family accommodation in Croatian tourism has more than 50 percent share when it comes to tourist beds, or more than 500 thousand in over 90 thousand households that are registered in this business. Most of them are in the three-star category, and a recategorization is being prepared that would further increase the quality of this accommodation.

EHHA was founded in 2013, and according to data from this association, in the last two years about 45 million Europeans have used household accommodation during their travels across Europe, where more than 20 million beds are offered, generating an annual turnover of about 80 billion euros.