Terme Tuhelj, a Slovenian-owned spa resort on the Croatian side of the border, has reopened after a €27 million renovation partly funded by the EU as further investment is in the pipeline.

"The completed investment in Terme Tuhelj is the largest in the company's history. To our knowledge it's also the largest Slovenian investment in Croatian tourism," Terme Tuhelj director Vasja Čretnik said.

Located in the border region of Zagorje, Terme Tuhelj was taken over in 2003 by Terme Olimija, the state-owned spa company in Podčetrtek on the other side of the border.

The Slovenian owner has invested €60 million in upgrading the resort since, including €27 million over the past two years as part of the latest innovation drive.

They have built a new, 46-room family hotel, which is already fully booked for Easter holidays, and renovated the swimming, spa and other facilities.

The renovation started in 2023 as a solar power plant was installed over the car park and a new biomass boiler room was built.

This was followed by a complete renovation of the western section of the thermal complex, landscaping, walking paths and playgrounds, construction and renovation of bars and restaurants, and digitisation.

For the latest investment, they received €6.6 million in the EU's recovery and resilience funds from Croatia with Čretnik telling the newspaper Večer they were the first to have completed a project with the help of those funds.

Speaking to reporters earlier this week, he said they were grateful to the Croatian government for including tourism into EU recovery and resilience funding, which enabled large companies to compete for funds.

"We are also grateful to the Ministry of Tourism and Sport for recognising this project as one of exceptional quality and for supporting us by including us among the recipients of these funds," said Čretnik.

Terme Olimia CEO Florjan Vasle said that after a one-year break, they were planning to continue the investment cycle by pulling down the oldest hotel and building a new one on the same location.

That investment is valued at €15-20 million. "If there are still some funds available, we'll certainly do our best to apply for them," he said.

After the latest renovation, Terme Tuhelj has 20,000 square metres of water surfaces, which means it can accept up to 3,500 visitors at a time.

Together with the new hotel, they have 310 rooms of different sizes. Like Terme Olimia, they also have their own glamping and camping site with 54 pitches, 18 safari tents and 26 mobile homes.

The two spas recorded over half a million nights spent at their accommodation facilities last year. The group Terme Olimia saw its revenue rise by 5.4% in 2024 to top €50 million as pre-tax profit rose by 5.5% to €7.5 million.