Croatia`s - Meetpie.com

CROATIA
ATENS
Robin Anderson
reports on
Croatia’s
burgeoning
reputation for
events
Laid-back in Split
The Mediterranean
as it used to be
W
edged,
improbably,
between a spectacular
Adriatic
coastline
laced with almost
1,200 alluring islands
and half a dozen Eastern European
states, Croatia has made stunning
progress as a conference and
incentive destination over the last
two decades.
Who would have predicted that
since the summer of 1991, when
international tourists fled a region
standing on the verge of war, the
country would emerge as an exciting
and highly professional international
events destination?
Earlier this year, several of the
country’s
leading
destinations,
including the northerly capital
Zagreb and southernmost Dubrovnik,
welcomed the World Handball
Championships, while this summer’s
schedule in Zagreb includes the
World Congress of Vine and Wine
and the International Congress of
Aviation and Space Medicine in
September.
And until Croatia, now a ‘candidate
country’, gains EU membership, it
is outside the Eurozone. Its own
currency, the kuna, currently offers
good exchange-rate value for money.
Capital of the independent state
since 1991, Zagreb is a classic central
European city illustrating well over
1,000 years of history – although
most of its landmark buildings are
grand peach-coloured monuments
to the self-importance of the AustroHungarian empire.
Inevitably, Zagreb is Croatia’s
political, economic, commercial,
cultural, sporting and diplomatic
centre with a good selection of
conference hotels, including the
Westin, Sheraton, Regent Esplanade,
the International, the Four Points
by Sheraton Panorama Hotel and
the Hotel Dubrovnik. Two smaller
properties - the Atunovic Hotel
Zagreb and the Aristos - have added
business centres to their amenities.
The city hosts a burgeoning calendar
of meetings and business events for
up to 1,000, but it’s also home to the
WHO
to contact
CROATIAN CONVENTION
AND INCENTIVE BUREAU
CROATIAN NATIONAL
TOURIST BOARD
Tel: 00 385 1 4699 307
Fax: 00 385 1 4557 827
Email: [email protected]
www.croatia.hr
Concert and Congress Hall Vatroslav
Lisinski (largest hall seating 1,851)
and the Hypo Expo XXI Conference
Centre, which opened a couple of
years ago and can accommodate up
to 1,500.
The Zagreb Fair Congress Centre
offers ten meeting rooms and halls
and the largest two combined offer
1,200 seats. Zagreb Fair delivers
a packed calendar of shows and
exhibitions
across
90,000sqm
of space in 40 pavilions. Recent
business visitors have included
Glaxosmithkline, UEFA and T-Mobile.
Zagreb’s schedule also features
plenty of artistic events including the
World Festival of Animated Film, the
International Folklore Festival and
the International Festival of Puppet
Theatres.
Plans
are
afoot
for
the
development of a significantly larger
multi-purpose congress centre – a
project encouraged by the launch
earlier this year of the Zagreb Arena.
The Arena’s first major event was
the World Handball Championships
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ATENS
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the expert
Continued from page 53
contemporary styling. It offers five
restaurants, four bars, a nightclub,
indoor and outdoor pools, tennis
plus a spa and wellness centre.
The property hosted last year’s
Croatia Summit, while its corporate
guest-list includes BMW and L’Oreal.
More recently it was home to a
five-day pharmaceutical event for
130 delegates, mainly from Russia,
organised by Zagreb-based Kompas
Travel.
According to Aleksandra Uhernik
Durdek, manager of the company’s
Meetings
&
Incentive
Travel
Department, such events could also
include: Dubrovnik sightseeing; a
treasure hunt round the old town;
a half-day trip to the Konavle Valley
with traditional lunch and a visit to
the old port town of Cavtat; a voyage
on the Karaka, replica of an historic
trading vessel and cruises to the
islands of Kolocep, Sipan and Lopud.
A member of Adriatic Luxury
Hotels, the Dubrovnik Palace
has a local sister property in the
Excelsior Hotel & Spa, which
PETRA PODKUBOVSEK
-MEDIC, OF DUBROVNIK
TRAVEL DMC,
RECOMMENDS:
GALA DINNER FOR 100
The fortess Revelin in Dubrovnik.
Price: from b100 (£85) pp
TEAM-BUILDING FOR 10
The Old Town Challenge
around historic landmarks and
attractions. Abseiling, kayaking
and wine-tastings can be
included. Available in Dubrovnik,
Split, Zagreb and Hvar.
Price: from b50 (£43) pp
CONFERENCE VENUE
FOR 500
The Westin Zagreb; La Croma
Conference Hotel and Spa;
The Dubrovnik Palace; Rixos
Libertas; the Radisson Blu; the
Croatia, Cavtat; Amphora, Hvar;
Le Meridien Lav, Split.
Price: from b50 (£43) DDR.
The Dubrovnik Palace Hotel offers stunning views
underwent renovation last year and
today presents six state-of-the-art
conference rooms for up to 650,
three restaurants and a piano bar.
Dubrovnik’s
other
five-star
properties include the Hotel Bellevue,
the Hilton Imperial and the Grand
Villa Argentina. The comprehensively
restyled Hotel Rixos Libertas
also boasts blue-chip past clients
including Sony Ericsson.
Newcomers include the Radisson
Blu Resort and Spa Dubrovnik Riviera,
which opened this month offering 408
guest rooms and meeting capacity for
up to 1,000 people; and the 401-room
Valamar Lacroma Resort, set on the
Babin Kuk peninsula near the old
town. It boasts eight meeting rooms
including a conference hall seating up
to 1,000 delegates.
The city’s leading gala dining
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ATENS
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'Dubrovnik is
the country's
tourism gem'
The gala dinner was held at the spectacularly-located Gils Restaurant
Top adventures in
Dubrovnik
Croatia’s ‘undiscovered’ exoticism, easy
trans-European access, reputation for
meetings professionalism and strong
value for money all proved key factors
in a UK insurance broker’s decision
to undertake an incentive adventure in
Dubrovnik.
The Oval Group took 50 key players
from its British offices and departments
to the historic Adriatic city for three
days of business, fun, recognition and
to encourage cross-selling between the
company’s specialist sectors.
The event was handled by
Leicestershire-based Emu Events,
whose director Mike Utton recruited
fine-detail support from Dubrovnik
Travel DMC, one of Croatia’s leading
destination management companies.
"Dubrovnik Travel was able to find
many of the elements we needed
across its great contacts network they were invaluable,” said Utton.
Emu Events specialises in providing
as much organisational and
technical support as clients require.
The Oval Group incentive proved
a good example of professional
teamwork.
The group stayed at the opulentlyappointed Grand Villa Argentina, set in
lush terraced gardens leading down to a
private beach, just a few minutes’ walk
from Dubrovnik’s old town and UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
but it has also transformed the city’s
cultural life with visits by the likes of
The London Symphony Orchestra,
Beyonce and Jose Carreras.
In contrast to the metropolitan,
genial, big-city culture and nightlife
of Zagreb, Dubrovnik is relaxed
and Mediterranean as well as being
historic and charismatic. In addition
to its well-regarded Summer
Festival and those views of the
Adriatic and the old town from the
ubiquitous 25m city walls, Dubrovnik
is the country’s tourism gem, having
recovered rapidly from the damage
inflicted on it in the early 1990s. Little
wonder, then, that the city features
prominently on Lonely Planet’s list of
hot travel destinations.
The Dubrovnik Palace Hotel is set
about 10 minutes from the old city on
a peninsula between pine woods and
the open sea with views of rugged
coastline and the Elaphiti Islands.
The 308-room property can host
events for up to 1,000, yet it retains
a sense of intimate elegance with
classic Mediterranean twists to its
Continued on page 55
The programme included an al
fresco dinner in a square beside the
old town’s Pucic Palace; a speed-boat
trip to Lokrum Island and then
Supetar Island, hired exclusively for a
barbecue and team-building activities;
pre-dinner drinks on the massive old
town walls followed by a gala dinner
at Gils Restaurant, built into those
walls. The schedule also embraced
carefully-devised business sessions and
generous leisure-time.
“Our experience proved to be very
slick and well-organised,” said Kevin
Williams, regional director for The Oval
Group. “It certainly raised expectations
for future events.”
Other elements of the Dubrovnik
Travel incentive portfolio include: the
three-hotel Importanne Resort, set on
the Lapad Peninsula and featuring the
luxuriously-renovated five-star Ariston
Hotel; the Radisson Blu; tours of the
old town’s many charismatic sights and
buildings; sampling local delicacies
and concerts in historic buildings;
photo treasure hunts offering interactive
exploration of Dubrovnik’s culture
and legends; jeep expeditions into the
Konavle region, a fertile valley packed
with olive groves and wineries; dinner
at the Restaurant Nautica, which used to
be the Dubrovnik Nautical Academy and
is protected by the fortresses of Bokar
and Lovrijenac overlooking the Adriatic.
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ATENS
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options include Nautica and Gils plus
the Franciscan Monastery.
The largest city on the Adriatic
coast, Split offers rich evidence
of some 400 years of Venetian
influences, although the town centre
lies within the walls of the huge
fourth century palace founded by the
Roman Emperor Diocletian.
This bustling, colourful place
features such business travel
locations as the multi-awardwinning, five-star, 381-room Le
Meridien Lav, where clients have
included Speedo and the American
Chamber of Commerce.
The former Hotel Marjan, on
the Split waterfront close to the
city’s historic centre, will re-open
in three stages over the next year
as the 314-room Hilton Marjan
Split – joining the Hilton Imperial
Dubrovnik as the second Hiltonbranded property in Croatia.
Split will have a new Radisson Blu
Resort by the autumn, complete with
meeting facilities for 450 people. And
the new five-star marble and glass
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Stradun, the main street in Dubrovnik's old town
Atrium Hotel has been built atop the
ancient Diocletian Aqueduct, part of
which can be seen in a gallery next
to the main entrance.
The island of Hvar, off the coast
from Split, features three major
Suncani hotel group properties
including The Riva (member of Small
Luxury Hotels of the World) and The
Adriana (member of Leading Hotels
of the World).
The island, with the popular
Pakleni Islands nearby, epitomises
Croatia’s heady combination of
stunningly varied landscapes and
cultural influences.
After four years of restoration, the
Lesic Dimitri Palace has opened as
a five-star boutique retreat, located
in Korcula Old Town on the island
of Korcula, between Dubrovnik and
Hvar. It occupies an 18th century
bishop’s palace and five medieval
cottages with assorted designs paying
homage to the Silk Road travels of
Korcula’s most famous resident: the
13th century explorer Marco Polo.
Croatia is home to seven treasures
protected by UNESCO. Dubrovnik’s
old town and Diocletian’s palace in
Split feature alongside the ancient
Basilica of Euphrasius in Porec; the
Cathedral of Saint Jakov in Sibenik;
the Romanesque-Gothic town of
Trogir; the Plitvice Lakes; and the Stari
Grad Plain on the island of Hvar.
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