October 31, 2018 – The recent Days of Croatian Tourism event on Hvar was attended by almost 2,000 Croatian tourism professionals. TCN has had lots of feedback to our articles on the winners. The Croatian National Tourist Board has kindly explained the methodology behind the nominations.
Last week TCN attended Days of Croatian Tourism on Hvar, the most important awards ceremony in the Croatian tourism calendar, and an event we have been examining in greater detail in the last few days. As very little is usually written in English about the Days of Croatian Tourism event, there has been considerable interest in these articles, one of which in particular attracted lots of comment and questions to the TCN inbox – Bosnian restaurant Taj Mahal in Dubrovnik being named the second best restaurant in Croatia for 2018.
A lot of people were not only surprised at some of the finalists and winners, but also wanted to know what criteria were involved and how the process worked. I could not recall any explanation on the night, but the PR department of the Croatian National Tourist Board (who, for the record, are by far the most response PR unit of any state institution I have dealt with) were sure to know, and so I asked for an explanation on behalf of our readers.
It turns out that the selection process is very thorough indeed. The tourist board’s response to my question about the selection for Days of Croatian Tourism in full:
“Within the category of „Destination of the Year”, six of the best destinations are awarded in the following sub-categories: Best City Break Destination; Best Croatian Continental Destination; Best Summer Vacation Destination; Best Authentic Seaside Destination – “malo misto”; Best Rural Destination; Best Health Tourism Destination.
“The entire selection process for destination of the year is comprised of 3 assessment rounds, while only destinations nominated by representatives from the ten Croatian tourism clusters are considered, each submits for their respective cluster. In the first round the grading is performed by an assessment team comprised of representatives from the head office of the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Ministry of Tourism, where they review all of the submitted candidacies, where for each of the respective sub-categories five destinations are put forward for further selection rounds in each sub-category.
“Once each of the 5 destinations for each sub-category has been selected via assessment criteria, representatives from each of the destinations are invited to present their destination in person before a broader assessment committee comprised of representatives from the Croatian National Tourist Board, the Ministry of Tourism, the Croatian Chamber of Economy, the Faculty of Economics – University of Zagreb, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management – Opatija and Juraj Dobrila University of Pula. In this second assessment round three destinations are selected for each sub-category.
“Finally, for the purpose of the third and final assessment round, six assessment committees are formed, one for each sub-category, where these committees then visit each of the 3 destinations selected in round 2 for the given category. Each committee is comprised of one member from the CNTB, the Ministry, as well as a Faculty and media representative.
“In each of the three rounds the criteria used in the selection process include the following: activities in the destination, public and private infrastructure, destination accessibility, image, human resources, destination prices. Considering each of the criteria the assessment committee gives each destination an overall grade based on the points accumulated in each category, which are crucial in the selection of the awarded destination for each sub-category.”
To follow the Croatian National Tourist Board, follow their official site here.
For more on Days of Croatian Tourism, here is the TCN coverage so far.
