December the 10th, 2025 – The Sunflower (Suncokret) Awards for Rural Tourism have been awarded for the thirteenth time. This is otherwise a well known event that brings together the most successful projects, entrepreneurs and visionaries from across Croatia every year.
This year’s edition of the Sunflower Awards for Rural Tourism brought together a record-breaking 270 applications from Croatia and six regional countries, while the ceremony itself was attended by over 400 guests, confirming the increasing importance of rural tourism in promoting Croatian tradition and authenticity.
The judging jury had a difficult task at hand as a result of the very large number of applications. The awards were awarded across 17 categories, as well as in 3 special categories relating to individuals. The Dr. Eduard Kušen Award went to the best tourist destination of the year and to smart rural communities, as highlighted by Dijana Katica, president of the Croatian Association for Tourism and Rural Development “Village Members’ Club”, emphasising the importance of the Sunflower Network project as something that enables communication with all previous winners and promotes the exchange of knowledge and best practices.
Rural tourism is becoming an increasingly strong motive for arrivals of both domestic and foreign guests to Croatia, and this should be seen as an enormous wealth of potential to tap into. Authenticity and local stories make Croatia a recognisable destination across the board, and rural tourism certainly has the greatest growth potential in the coming years. This is especially the case given the fact that tourists who come to Croatia, both foreign and domestic tourists travelling within their own country, actually end up discovering new destinations and having new experiences,” said Kristijan Staničić, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ).
Dario Hrebak, mayor of Bjelovar, stated that his city is experiencing a real revival in tourism. He believes that Bjelovar has deserved to step even more strongly onto the Croatian tourist map by hosting the Sunflower Rural Tourism Awards this year.
Hrebak also noted that beautiful Bilogora has a lot to offer not only to domestic but also foreign tourists, emphasising the construction of a spa with which Bjelovar will transform into a brand new destination on the continental tourist map of Croatia with a projection of 200,000-250,000 tourists per calendar year.
Monika Udovičić, state secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, emphasised the strategic importance of rural tourism for Croatia. “There can be no true year-round tourism without rural and continental tourism. Over 80% of the funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan are being implemented in projects located in the continental and rural parts of Croatia, meaning that this is a clear indicator of how important we believe rural areas and continental tourism are for the sustainable development of Croatian tourism,” concluded Udovičić.
The next Sunflower Rural Tourism Awards will be hosted by Varaždin County, which confirms the quality of the offer with as many as ten awarded projects across various categories.
