Organized by the popular British travel magazine Wanderlust, the prestigious Wanderlust Travel Awards ceremony was held last night in London, as part of the World Travel Market (WTM). Croatia also had reasons to celebrate, given that Croatia was included in the list of top 10 countries in the category of most desirable nearby destinations, while Dubrovnik is on the list of top 10 most desirable nearby cities.

In the beautiful and elegant ambience of Kensington Palace, the awards were presented by the founder of Wanderlust, Lyn Hughes, and the editor-in-chief, George Kipouros, while the awards for Croatia were collected by Darija Reić, the director of the CNTB Representation in Great Britain.

“Wanderlust is one of the UK’s leading travel magazines with a top reputation and reliable and relevant content. Their readers actively and regularly travel the world and we are extremely happy that such an audience recognized Croatia and Dubrovnik as quality, exciting and desirable destinations," said Reić.

Namely, Croatia took an excellent 6th place in the category of the most desirable closest destinations led by France, Italy, Iceland, Greece and Spain, while behind our country are Portugal, Georgia, Norway and Austria.

Dubrovnik, on the other hand, took an excellent 5th place in the category of the most desirable nearby cities, led by Lisbon, Seville, Tbilisi, Marrakech, while behind the Croatian pearl on the list were Bologna, Tallinn, Salzburg, Stockholm and St. Petersburg.

"We are returning from the London WTM fair with a new recognition for Croatian tourism, which gives us an incentive to be even better, more successful, more creative and of better quality in the years to come. The award comes from the readers of a prestigious British magazine that is trusted, has a tradition and we are really proud to be at the very top of the world's tourist destinations," said the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, and he especially congratulated Dubrovnik on winning the award.

"We are extremely glad that Dubrovnik and Croatia have once again been recognized as the most desirable destinations. The British market is our most important market, whose tourists are traditionally at the top of the list of the most numerous visitors in Dubrovnik. Continuous promotion as well as ensuring the visibility of Dubrovnik as a destination in this market will continue and we believe that positive tourist results will not be lacking in the future,” said Ana Hrnić, the director of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board.