Gorski Kotar has long been known as a health tourism destination, where the clean mountain air of Gorski Kotar is used for the purpose of prevention and rehabilitation, and by becoming a member of the Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster, we will strengthen our strategic advantage, pointed out Petar Hrg, director of the Gorski Kotar Tourist Board on the occasion of joining the Cluster.

The health tourism offer of Gorski Kotar, with its unique and recognizable signature based on well-being, in synergy with nature as a catalyst and autochthonous gastronomy, will contribute to the tourist positioning of Kvarner Region and Croatia.

“Gorski Kotar as the so-called green heart of Kvarner Region represents well-being in the full sense as a combination of physical, mental, emotional and social factors of health. The key advantages of this destination are climate therapy, active rest and gastronomy, which includes all Goran autochthonous products – from berries, meduna to autochthonous gastro-offers. By joining the Gorski Kotar TB to the Cluster, we have opened up the possibility of combining the natural factors of the sea and the mountains, and thus the monitoring of medical effects on people’s health and quality of life,” said Assoc. prof. Vladimir Mozetič, MD, Ph.D., president of the Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster.

The Gorski Kotar mountain area covered with unique forest communities includes therapeutically beneficial climatic zones, from the lowland part with an altitude of 200 m to the high altitude parts of the middle and high mountains, above 1500 m above sea level. For example, the high concentration of oxygen in the air and bioactive substances in the needles of coniferous forests and the leaves of coniferous forests have an extremely favourable effect on the general psychophysical state of the organism.

“The inclusion of Gorski kotar in the Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster is precisely what confirms the Kvarner Region as a health destination, the unique combination of the coast, islands and mountains, which characterizes the tourist offer of Kvarner, as well as the offer of health tourism. I believe that the medical profession will also find that Gorski Kotar is a source of climatic benefits and the potential for the development of services, a part that can contribute to the further development of health tourism in Kvarner”, said Irena Peršić Živadinov, Ph.D., director of the Kvarner Region Tourist Board and president of the Board of Directors of the Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster.

The trend of recognizing Gorski Kotar as a destination for health and healthy living was particularly prominent during the corona epidemic, as it became a synonym for a safe place for visitors and an attractive area for a revitalizing, active holiday in the aegis of pure, untamed nature.

“A big step forward was made by joining the Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster. This will strengthen the positioning on the market for us, local restaurateurs, accommodation facilities and family farms, and enable the further development of this high-value tourist product,” said Andrej Kauzlarić, director of the Bitoraj Hotel from Fužine, which has been developing products of this type of tourism for many years.

The importance of health tourism in the market positioning of the destination is indisputable, clearly measurable and a segment of the tourism product that expects stable growth as it complements health systems. Namely, the trends clearly show that more and more health-tourism products will be consumed, which are aimed not only at rehabilitation, but also at prevention, which is crucial in preserving health, which consequently affects the optimization of health care costs.

“With membership in the Cluster, we want to highlight our comparative advantages, but at the same time send a signal to investors who recognize the importance of sustainable, year-round tourism offer that can be achieved through health tourism offer. Our goal is to expand and prepare the conditions for increasing the quality of the tourism offer in Gorski Kotar with high-quality investments based on well-being and gastronomy,” concluded Hrg.