The data produced recently by the Tourist City Board of Zagreb show that Zagreb is no longer just a randomly selected stop-over on the way to the Adriatic coast, but a true tourist destination which was visited by over half a million guests from January to October this year. As a result of efforts and hard work on the part of the Zagreb Tourist Board, Zagreb has been positioned on the tourist market as an attractive city break destination.

Amidst extremely fierce competition between the contestants running for this year's Meetings Industry Marketing Awards (MIMA), the Tourist Board of the City of Zagreb grabbed the silver award for the best CD-Rom/DVD for the promotion of the MICE Industry. The competition was launched in 2002 by the Meetings and Incentive Travel Magazine published by the respectable British publisher, Cat Publications.

The Regent Esplanade Zagreb Hotel has recently received a few international awards for excellence in providing deluxe services. Amongst others, at a ceremony in London, it received two highly coveted World Travel Awards: the first for the best hotel and the second for the best presidential suite in Croatia.

Zagreb keeps on recording an increasing number of visitors every month. They have recognized the capital city of Croatia as a year-round attractive tourist destination. This September, the number of tourists was 15 per cent higher than in the same month last year.

Veliki Tabor, one of the best preserved late medieval burgs in continental Croatia, has reopened its doors to visitors to show off its oldest, central part which has undergone a 7-month reconstruction project.

According to recently carried out research involving 70 European mid-sized smart cities, Zagreb was ranked in the middle – in 36th place. The cities were ranked according to six different criteria.

In addition to staging interesting exhibitions, the Arts and Crafts Museum continues to be the venue of musical events. The series of 100 Scarlatti sonatas continues to mid-December. The Aulos series of chamber concerts by the wind section of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, which began in May, also continues.

The series of opera premieres planned for this season at the Croatian National Theater will kick off with Georges Bizet's Carmen, an opera considered to be the centerpiece in the repertoire of every opera house. Carmen opens on 7 December.