The city of Zagreb was voted Tourist Destination of the Year at the industry's biggest national event, the Croatian Tourism Days, held in the town of Hvar on the southern Adriatic island of the same name on Thursday evening.

The award was presented to Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who talked about excellent business and visitor figures this year.

“Without a strong economy, there is no strong tourist industry, and it achieved excellent results this year. By the end of 2018, we expect some 19.5 million tourists, 106 million bed nights, and over €12 billion in tourist industry revenue,” Plenkovic said, adding that €1.1 billion of investments in tourism was expected in 2019.

The tourist industry’s is one of the main sectors of Croatia’s economy, estimated to account for 18-20 percent of the nation’s GDP.

Other award winners at the ceremony included the newly-rebuilt Ottoman-era complex Maskovica Han, located near the central Adriatic town of Pakostane, and the medieval re-enactment festival Rabska Fjera on the northern island of Rab, which were voted Cultural Attraction and Cultural Event of the Year respectively.

The Innovation of the Year Award went to the Vucedol Culture Museum near the eastern town of Vukovar devoted to pre-historic artefacts excavated over decades of archaeological research in the area.

Zagreb’s historical Esplanade was voted Hotel of the Year, while Restaurant of the Year was Sv. Nikola in the Istrian town of Porec.

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