Dear citizens of Zagreb, dear guests!

March is here, the month when the odd snowflake may still fall but Spring is in the air. I am overjoyed that our beautiful city, its green parks and picturesque streets will once more come to life and better weather will draw people out onto the streets.

For the 16^th year running Restaurant Week will be held, with the aim of promoting the Croatian gastronom scene in cooperation with restaurants and bars who offer guests promotional prices. After all that fine food, it’s a good idea to burn off those extra calories and the Beauty and Fitness Days at the Zagreb Fair is the perfect opportunity. This is the leading event in the region for professionals in the area of beauty, and it’s an international platform for the cosmetics, wellness, fitness and hairdressing sectors.

There are also two festivals planned in March. The first is ZagrebDox, a specialised festival showing the best creative documentary films, and its imaginative format and selection of themes make it unique in Croatia and in Europe. The second is the Festival of Lights Zagreb. After the first such festival was held last year with great success, over seven locations and with 100,000 visitors, this year Zagreb has become part of the international network of Festivals of Light on the invitation of the city of Berlin. The festival will be held over 19 locations in Gornji grad, and all events will be free of charge.

At the same time as the 2018 Festival of Lights Zagreb Place2go will be held, the international tourism exhibition, the largest of its kind in Croatia which offers travellers interesting and useful information about Croatian and international destinations. The concept of the exhibition is presenting the world to Croatia and Croatia to the world though presentations, promotions, workshops, lectures and everything which could inspire the curiosity of a would-be traveller.

March also prepares for us two conferences dedicated to tourism. The 8^th HTI conference gathers a large number of leading experts in the health tourism industry from Europe and beyond. And the 3T conference (Tourism, Travel & Tech) is the first conference bringing together tourism and IT, the leading and most important branches of the Croatian economy.

I wish all women everywhere a happy International Women's Day!

Sincerely yours,

Milan Bandić

Mayor of the City of Zagreb