At the Green Destinations Conference, held from 28 to 30 September this year in Montpellier, France, destinations from around the world gathered to exchange experiences and trends in sustainable tourism and business. The gala dinner on 29 September, which was the highlight of the conference, was very significant for our protected area, as Plitvice Lakes National Park received the Golden Green Destinations Award for sustainability.
The awards are presented by Green Destinations, a global non-profit organization based in the Netherlands that has been supporting the sustainable development of destinations and tourism stakeholders for many years and that encourages good practices aimed at solving the challenges of sustainable tourism. Green Destinations today includes more than 600 destinations participating in various Green Destinations programs, of which over 160 are certified and awarded in more than 60 countries around the world. In this way, the Green Destinations organization promotes the recognition of green destinations in the global tourism market.
THE PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY
Receiving this recognition represents an important step on the path to sustainability, which is for the Public Institution a key moment to confirm the right direction in nature conservation, management, social well-being, environment and climate, cultural heritage, and business and communication. Back in 2023, by receiving the silver Green Destinations recognition for sustainability, we clearly defined our vision, and this year’s gold recognition confirms the positive path we are on.
Given that the national park had previously won the Green Destinations recognition, after two years the renewal process followed. Recertification began in April 2025, and the recertification team (Maja Vurnek, Zrinka Nenadić and Kristina Sigurnjak) collected documentation and described individual criteria that needed clarification or harmonization after the first audit. In the first phase, around 50 criteria were included, and then, after reviewing the documentation and visiting the national park by the evaluator, another 34 criteria were further clarified across 5 chapters. In the chapters “nature and landscape” and “culture and tradition”, Plitvice Lakes National Park achieved the maximum number of points. This entire journey ultimately led to confirmation of the attractiveness, quality and investment in the sustainability of this largest and oldest national park in Croatia, and we upgraded the silver award to gold!
GREEN DESTINATIONS CONFERENCE
At the two-day conference, we had the opportunity to hear leading lecturers on the following topics:
- Destination management – toward successful sustainable tourism,
- Cultural heritage and tourism that strengthens and connects communities,
- Strategies, tools and activities for achieving climate resilience,
- Certificates (EcoLabel and regional cooperation in tourism),
- Innovations,
- Digital transformation,
- Decarbonization,
- Regenerative tourism through partnerships and social welfare.
Various topics opened numerous opportunities for researching sustainable solutions and exchanging best practices, connecting with destinations from around the world (over 300 participants), including representatives from Croatia: tourist boards, counties, development agencies, Tourism Lab, and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
