Opatija Riviera at the Green Karst 2026 fair: cross-border cooperation as the foundation of more sustainable tourism
The Opatija Riviera was presented on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Ilirska Bistrica at the fourth traditional cross-border fair of local providers, “Green Karst 2026”, one of the more important tourism-business gatherings in the area connecting the Slovenian Green Karst and the Croatian Kvarner. The gathering at Dom na Vidmu brought together tourist boards, small entrepreneurs, family farms, craftspeople, food producers, and other stakeholders who are increasingly basing their development on local specificities, authentic products, and experiences that combine nature, gastronomy, and active holidays. It was precisely in such an environment that the Opatija Riviera, represented by the tourist boards of Matulji, Opatija, Ičići, Lovran, and Mošćenička Draga, appeared as a destination that can offer a blend of coastline, hinterland, tradition, urban heritage, and facilities for year-round stays. Participation in the fair was not merely a protocol presentation, but an opportunity for direct contacts with partners from the Slovenian market, an exchange of experiences, and confirmation that tourism in the immediate neighborhood is being viewed less and less through borders and more and more through a shared area of interest.
An event that connects supply, knowledge, and the market
The “Green Karst 2026” fair was organized by the Regional Development Agency Green Karst in cooperation with partner organizations from the Green Karst destination, the Society of Tourism Journalists of Slovenia, and the Slovenia Outdoor association. According to the published program, this is the fourth edition of the event, which has profiled itself as the central meeting place for local providers and tourism actors from the cross-border area. The program was not limited only to the exhibition segment, but also included a professional segment with introductory presentations, moderated discussions, and workshops. This further emphasized the basic idea of the meeting: tourism is no longer just a matter of selling accommodation or a one-day trip, but a complex system in which the story, the experience, the presentation of products, cooperation between sectors, and understanding guest habits all play an equally important role. The fair thus offered a space in which people simultaneously talk about the market, build business contacts, and show what a specific destination can offer.
In practical terms, the importance of such meetings is especially evident in regions that share similar development opportunities. The Green Karst and the Opatija Riviera belong to an area in which relatively short distances are a great advantage rather than a limitation. A guest who can combine a stay on the coast, an activity in nature, local cuisine, and cultural heritage in a single day is now looking for exactly that kind of flexibility and diversity. That is why cross-border fairs of local providers are becoming a place where not only products and services are presented, but also new models of cooperation among destinations that understand that a joint appearance can be stronger than individual campaigns.
Why the Slovenian market is important for the Opatija Riviera
For years, Slovenia has held the status of one of the most important foreign source markets for Croatian tourism, and Kvarner has traditionally been among the areas where interest from Slovenian guests is particularly pronounced. The reasons are well known and very concrete: geographical proximity, good transport connections, the habit of short and frequent trips, the historical connection between the areas, and the sense of cultural and gastronomic closeness. For the Opatija Riviera, this connection is additionally based on the fact that it is a destination suitable for stays throughout the year. In addition to the summer season, the riviera has facilities that are attractive in the pre-season, post-season, and even during the winter months: wellness offerings, promenades, congress and event tourism, gastronomic programs, active holidays, and excursions towards Učka and the Matulji hinterland.
That is precisely why the appearance at the event in Ilirska Bistrica has greater significance than a one-time promotion. When a destination presents itself on a market accustomed to frequent arrivals and one that knows Kvarner very well, it is no longer enough to rely on general recognizability. It is necessary to constantly offer new reasons to come, create additional content, and communicate precisely what makes each part of the riviera special. Opatija remains recognizable for its historic tourism role, architecture, and year-round character, Lovran for its old town core and chestnuts, Mošćenička Draga for the combination of the sea and an impressive hinterland, Ičići for nautical and family holidays, and Matulji for its role as the gateway to the riviera and a strong hinterland suitable for active tourism, interpretive tours, and eno-gastronomic experiences. At such events, that very diversity is turned into an advantage.
Presenting the Opatija Riviera as a whole, but also as an area of different identities
One of the most important messages of the Opatija Riviera’s appearance at the “Green Karst 2026” fair is the fact that the destination can be successfully presented as a whole while not losing the particularities of its individual places. At a time when guests are increasingly looking for a personalized experience, it is precisely the combination of a shared brand and local diversity that gives the best result. The Opatija Riviera is thus not just a series of places by the sea, but a broader area that includes an elegant historical urban core, coastal settlements, fishing villages, old centers in the hilly hinterland, walking and cycling routes, local producers, and a diverse gastronomic scene.
The official tourism websites of the Opatija Riviera emphasize that this is an approximately 30-kilometer-long area between the slopes of Učka and the sea coast, with famous promenades, historic villas, parks, beaches, smaller places, and an offer that is not exhausted by summer bathing tourism. It is precisely this element that is important to emphasize in markets such as the Slovenian one, where the audience already knows the basic motives for coming, but is increasingly looking for content that combines relaxation, activity, local flavor, and authenticity. In that sense, the joint appearance of five tourist boards sends the message that the entire riviera can be experienced as a connected yet content-wise diverse area.
Matulji in focus: an experience that combines nature, active holidays, and local flavors
Special weight to the Croatian presentation at the gathering in Ilirska Bistrica was given by the participation of Marijana Kalčić, director of the Matulji Municipality Tourist Board, in the professional part of the program. Within the framework of the exchange of experiences on the topic of connecting nature, outdoor activities, and flavors in the tourism offer, projects that have already been recognized in Matulji as examples of good practice were presented. Among them, Matuljcious – The Best of Matulji in One Place – and Bike&Taste, a concept that combines interpretive bicycle rides, local heritage, and gastronomy, stand out in particular.
Such projects clearly show the direction in which modern local tourism is developing. Instead of relying on one attraction or one event, the emphasis is increasingly on designing an experience that gives the visitor a reason to stay longer in the destination, spend more, and at the same time gain the impression that they have experienced something authentic. In this sense, Matulji is particularly interesting because it lies at the point where Kvarner Bay and the mountainous hinterland meet, thus naturally enabling a combination of outdoor activities, learning about local history, and tasting indigenous products. It is precisely this combination that, as shown by the promotional activities of the Matulji Tourist Board, has become an important part of the identity of a place that is positioning itself ever more strongly as an unavoidable point of active and gastro tourism in the hinterland of the Opatija Riviera.
Matuljcious and Bike&Taste as a response to changes in tourism demand
The Matuljcious project, described in public promotions as bringing together the best that Matulji offers “in one place”, relies on the logic that a guest wants to get to know a destination through experience, and not only through information. This means that the destination no longer promotes only locations, but also people, flavors, stories, and micro-experiences. A similar idea is developed by Bike&Taste, a project of interpretive bicycle rides that connects physical activity with a story about the area, local customs, the landscape, and gastronomy. According to publications related to the project, such rides are organized in several languages and are designed to simultaneously be a tourism product, educational content, and a way of presenting local identity.
This is especially important at a moment when the European tourism market is increasingly rewarding smaller destinations that manage to combine sustainability and experience. Guests are no longer necessarily looking for mass content, but for credibility. They want to know what they are eating, who stands behind the product, what story the landscape they are passing through carries, and how their stay fits into the local rhythm of life. Projects such as Matuljcious and Bike&Taste are therefore important from both a promotional and a developmental perspective. They are not just a marketing tool, but also a model through which the local community, small producers, guides, and the tourism sector can jointly build a product that has market value, yet remains tied to the place from which it originates.
Sustainability is no longer an add-on, but the core of the tourism offer
The message that could be read from the entire concept of the “Green Karst 2026” fair is that sustainability in tourism is no longer a decorative word for promotional brochures, but an operational framework for development. When tourism entities, family farms, craftspeople, food producers, and institutional representatives gather in the same place, it is clear that the quality of the tourism offer is no longer measured only by the number of beds or overnight stays. It is also measured by how much the offer is connected to local production, how much it includes the community, how much it reduces seasonality, and how much it provides the guest with an experience that cannot be copied by any other destination.
For the Opatija Riviera, this is particularly relevant. This area has long had an established tourism reputation, but precisely because of that, the challenge is no longer merely to maintain visibility, but to renew its own offer in terms of content. Cross-border cooperation has a very practical function here. It enables the exchange of good practice models, networking with partners who operate in a similar environment, and the strengthening of a regional identity based on nature, gastronomy, active holidays, and smaller producers. In such a context, sustainability is not reduced only to the ecological aspect, although that too is important, but also includes the economic sustainability of local providers and the social sustainability of an area that wants to remain alive throughout the year.
The professional program as an indicator of a new direction in tourism
The fair program itself clearly shows how the structure of tourism gatherings is changing. Alongside the exhibition and sales segment, the organizers placed at the center a discussion on connecting nature, outdoor activities, and flavors in the tourism offer. This was not a randomly chosen topic. It reflects a trend that is becoming stronger on both the Croatian and Slovenian sides of the border: destinations no longer want to be recognized only by a single postcard image, but by a more complex stay experience. Following that path were also workshops in the areas of bicycle preparation for the season, food styling, and the presentation of experiences in the development of bike-related content. Such a program shows that modern tourism requires professionalization even in seemingly smaller segments of the offer, from food presentation to technical readiness for active content.
For the Opatija Riviera, and especially for Matulji and the wider hinterland, this is important because active tourism, cycle tourism, local gastronomy, and heritage interpretation can be a strong development direction in the months outside the peak of the summer season. When such topics are opened in the professional part of an international or cross-border event, it means that we are no longer talking about marginal niches, but about segments that are becoming an important part of a destination’s competitiveness. In this regard, the participation of representatives of the Opatija Riviera has both a symbolic and a very practical dimension: it shows that local projects can be included in a broader regional conversation about the future of tourism.
What meetings like these mean for local producers and small entrepreneurs
The value of the cross-border fair lies not only in the visibility of the destination, but also in the concrete benefits for small stakeholders who often do not have the capacity for an independent strong market breakthrough. For family farms, small processors, craftspeople, and providers of specific tourism services, events like these are important because in one place they meet tourist boards, business partners, potential buyers, and the media. This is especially important in regions where small producers carry a large part of the authenticity of the offer. Local cheese, wine, processed products, sweets, souvenirs, guided tours, or small specialized programs are often what make guests remember a destination much more than any general slogan.
Such a development model also benefits the Opatija Riviera. Its advantage lies not only in its hotel and historical tradition, but also in the possibility of developing, alongside established tourism infrastructure, smaller-scale products connected to local identity. When coastal tourism, the rural hinterland, outdoor content, and food products meet at one event, a space for cooperation is created that an individual destination often lacks. That is precisely why fairs such as “Green Karst” have a developmental weight that goes beyond a one-day event.
Proximity as a strategic advantage, and not just a geographical fact
In Croatian-Slovenian tourism relations, proximity is often cited as an advantage, but at events like this it becomes clear that it is worth something only if it is turned into meaningful cooperation. Proximity in itself does not guarantee arrivals or partnerships. What creates them are well-designed products, continuous contacts, and mutual understanding of the market. The Opatija Riviera and the Green Karst have a number of common points in this respect: a natural environment, a tradition of hospitality, a strong potential for an outdoor offer, and an audience that appreciates local flavors and authentic experiences.
When such regions connect, they do not act as competition to one another in the classic sense, but as complementary areas. Guests who come because of the sea may also be interested in a one-day or multi-day trip to the hinterland, just as visitors to green inland destinations may extend their stay towards the coast. At a time when there is increasing talk about relieving the busiest summer hotspots and extending the season, such models of cooperation are among the most logical answers. This is also one of the key messages of the Opatija Riviera’s appearance in Ilirska Bistrica.
Strengthening recognizability through regional and international networking
Participation in the “Green Karst 2026” fair shows that the Opatija Riviera is not building the strengthening of its recognizability only through classic promotion towards guests, but also through regional and international networking with tourism professionals. Such an approach is particularly important in a period in which destinations must simultaneously preserve their identity and adapt to an increasingly demanding market. Recognizability is no longer created exclusively through large campaigns, but also through presence at specialized events, professional forums, and business meetings where relationships are built over the long term.
For the Opatija Riviera, this means consolidating its position as one of the most desirable destinations in the region, but also opening space for new joint projects. When Matulji, outdoor activities, local flavors, interpretive tours, and the wider riviera as a year-round destination are mentioned in the same context, an image is built of an area that knows how to use its own differences as strength. Precisely such appearances can be an incentive for the further deepening of cooperation with Slovenian partners, but also for strengthening internal connections among stakeholders on the Croatian side of the riviera.
The fair as an indicator of the direction in which tourism is moving
The fourth cross-border fair of local providers in Ilirska Bistrica showed that the future of regional tourism increasingly belongs to destinations that know how to connect the local story, small producers, active holidays, and professional networking. At that meeting, the Opatija Riviera presented itself precisely through such a logic: as a destination that, alongside a well-known tourism tradition, is also developing content focused on sustainability, authenticity, and direct cooperation with the market. At a time when guests are increasingly looking for a credible experience, and partners for concrete and market-sustainable products, it is precisely such appearances that can have long-term value. They do not bring only immediate visibility, but help shape a network of contacts and ideas from which new projects are later born, the quality of the offer is strengthened, and the position of the Opatija Riviera on the regional tourism map is consolidated.
Sources:- Visit Ilirska Bistrica – official event announcement with the date, location, and program of the cross-border fair “Green Karst 2026” (link)- Municipality of Matulji – announcement about participation in the cross-border fair and the presentation of the Opatija Riviera and the projects Matuljcious and Bike&Taste (link)- RRA Green Karst – invitation and description of the fourth edition of the local providers’ fair in 2026 (link)- Visit Opatija – official description of the Opatija Riviera, its scope, and tourism features (link)- Kvarner – official overview of the Opatija Riviera as a year-round destination with an emphasis on the area’s content and identity (link)- Tourist Board of the Municipality of Matulji – official page of the Matuljicious / Matuljišs / Bike & Taste project (link)- Croatian National Tourist Board – announcement on interpretive e-bike rides in Matulji as an example of linking cycling, heritage, and gastronomy (link)
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