Dear friends and business partners!

Sustainable tourism as a tool of development is the theme for this year’s World Tourism Day which is held every year on 27 September. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), tells us that sustainable tourism promotes environmental protection, the preservation of tangible and intangible heritage and the engagement, commitment and respect of local communities.

It is impossible not to agree with him and not continue with the path that Zagreb is following, promoting heritage and the environment, respecting local values in the name of an even better and more successful future! Our task will be to continue to be at the service of our citizens and our visitors presenting to them and offering the best of what we have, from the wealth of history to varied gastronomic and top-flight cultural events.

And it is exactly history and gastronomy that set the tone for September in our city. Thanks to the exhibition “Croatia is Hrvatska” the entire Grič tunnel will be turned into a Croatian time machine which will take visitors through 13 decades of our past. Hand in hand with greats such as Nikola Tesla and Tomo Gotovac, in the tunnel we will stroll through time, through events which marked Croatian history and influenced our social and political development.

We will enter into history at Mesnička ulica and come out of the tunnel at Radićeva ulica where we will enter the future. Outside the tunnel a real gastro autumn is waiting for us; numerous festivals at which we will be able to enjoy the delicacies of Croatia’s and Zagreb’s gastronomy. The Zagreb Burger Festival will again bring the best Croatian burger chefs to Strossmayerov trg, while just a short distance away on Zrinjevac we will be enjoying food and in the evenings watching culinary-themed films. There is also the ZeGeVege Festival and the Zagreb Coffee Break.

Finally, there is also of course the Zagreb Tourfilm Festival – an international festival of tourist film. There are 170 promotional films, TV reports and environmental films from around the world in the competition. Many of them will, doubtless, confirm the fact that sustainability is indeed one of the key tools of development.

September brings us absolute variety and in the best sense of the word “assaults” all our senses.

Welcome!
Martina Bienenfeld
CEO, Zagreb Tourist Board