In a letter sent to the Croatian Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Tourism, Transport and Development, the EC says that Croatia has been short-listed along with Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Belgium, Cyprus, Malta, Austria, Italy and Latvia. This makes Croatia's nomination all the more important because it is not an EU member, the Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
However, considering its non-member status, Croatia will not have the right to a grant to which EU members participating in the project are entitled.
The announcement and presentation of awards will take place during the 6th European Tourism Forum, to be held in Portugal in late October this year.
The selection of the national winner in Croatia will be conducted by the National Tourist Board, which has established selection criteria on the basis of general EU criteria, including tourism offers and the economic, social, demographic, environmental and cultural impacts on the destination.
The pilot project is aimed at promoting the European tourism, the tourism of all member-countries and regions, the diversity and quality of European tourism offers and the awarded destinations, as well as encourage other destinations to adopt models of sustainable tourism development.