The Opatija area, which includes Ika, was already recognised as a climatic health resort at the end of the 19th century, shortly after other European spas and health resorts, due to very favourable climatic and meteorological conditions. Thus, a health resort was once located on the site of today’s Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management. From older sources we learn that a priestly sanatorium was located in this building. The spa at that time was an institution for the treatment of certain diseases and for the recovery and recuperation of patients. The word “sanatorium” in the name Sanatorio Priestheim or Priestly Sanatorium comes from Italian and stands for a health facility intended for the treatment or recovery of certain groups of patients. It is built in regions where the meteorological and climatic conditions favour healing. Nature becomes a refuge for the inhabitants of the big cities, and the nobility and the wealthier strata of society were the first to discover the charms of the Mediterranean. Summer holidays and seaside resorts became the solution to the “ills of the city”.
During the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, members of the army, the navy, the Austrian territorial police, employees of the court and the state, provincial and municipal employees, as well as priests and teachers of state and municipal schools were treated here. At that time and at the beginning of the 20th century, there were three homes for priests in the territories subject to Austria, namely: the Rudolfinum in Gorizia, the Philippinum in Merano and the Emperor Franz Joseph Priests’ Sanatorium in Ika, founded on the initiative of Monsignor Dominik Filip.
The beginnings of higher education for tourism and hospitality go back to the foundation of the two-year Higher School of Economics for Hospitality in 1960 in Opatija and a year later with the introduction of the tourism branch at the Faculty of Economics in Rijeka. In 1974, the Department of Hospitality and Tourism and the University merged and founded the Faculty of Hospitality. Since 1987, the Faculty has been operating in Ika under the name of Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management. Several administrations, generations of Faculty members and staff have made great efforts to develop a unique higher education institution that focuses on human resource training for tourism, hospitality, and sustainable development. The results are visible today as the institution is recognised on the international stage. The scientific, teaching, and professional activities of the Faculty have been recognised not only in the Republic of Croatia, but also in the entire region. The Faculty is the holder and/or partner of numerous scientific, professional, and European projects and organises scientific and professional conferences and meetings. The Faculty also actively cooperates with business, the public sector, civil society, and other higher education institutions.
