Mali Lošinj is a town and municipality on the island of Lošinj, in western Croatia. It is the largest of all settlements on the Croatian islands.

Mali Lošinj has been successfully building its historical image as the island of vitality, health and sports destination supported by its commitment in encouraging soft transport (with 280 km of footpaths and cycling trails), air and bathing water high quality and its rich biodiversity of autochthonous medicinal plants.

In 2014, the Cres-Lošinj special zoological reserve for bottlenose dolphins was declared to conserve the endangered species bottlenose dolphin, along with a number of other species and critical habitats such as the loggerhead sea turtle, the Mediterranean endemic seagrass (Posidonia oceanica), coral biocenoses, and nesting sites of the common European Shag. This Natura 2000 site has perhaps the most extensive biological data supporting its designation in Croatia, back to 1990.

In 2016, after years of dedicated effort, Mali Lošinj won the award by the European Tourism Indicator System for Sustainable Development (ETIS) rewarding the breadth and depth of the gathered knowledge regarding sustainable tourism practices on the island, with more 130 indicators monitored. Mali Lošinj is thus firmly committed to sustainability in all its aspects.

This destination participated in the 2019 Sustainable Top 100 Destination Awards at ITB Berlin by submitting a sustainable tourism story. Keywords: dolphin protection, traditional clothing, research, education and conservation

2019 Sustainable tourism story