Željko Kukurin

CEO, Valamar Riviera

Željko Kukurin, Ph.D. was born in Zagreb in 1974. He completed his Master of Science in Marketing at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Zagreb. Later, in 2010, he received his EMBA degree in International Management from the Bocconi University in Milan. In 2020, he obtained his Doctor of Economics degree from the Faculty of Economics and Business in Pula. His thesis topic was “Profitability of Investments in the Hospitality Industry”.In 2000, he started his career as an intern at Riviera Poreč, a member of the Valamar Group. From 2003 to 2009, he held various management positions in Sales and Marketing, where he
was responsible for developing several strategic projects within the group. From 2010 to 2014, he was the Management Board President at Istraturist d.d. During this time, he cooperated with Meliá Hotels International in managing the hospitality portfolio in Umag. After restructuring business operations and increasing enterprise value, he participated in the sale of the company for EUR 120 million. In June 2015, Mr. Kukurin became the President of the Management Board of Valamar Riviera.

Since then, he has led a strong development and investment cycle worth EUR 661 million, which has doubled the company’s business value. During this time, Valamar Riviera’s portfolio has been repositioned towards higher quality products, and they have expanded through acquisitions in Croatia and their first international acquisition in Austria. They have also established various strategic partnerships with pension funds for joint investments in tourism.Valamar Riviera has been recognized as the best employer in tourism for seven consecutive years. Mr. Kukurin was also named the businessperson of the year in 2017. Throughout his career, he has managed tourism investment projects with a total value of more than EUR 1 billion.

He currently serves as the deputy Supervisory Board Chairman at Imperial Riviera d.d. and holds several other important positions in Croatian tourism. He is the chairman of the Hospitality and Tourism branch of the Croatian Employers’ Association, the deputy chairman of the Croatian Tourism Association, and a member of the Croatian National Tourist Board Council and the Istrian Tourist Board Council. Additionally, he is involved in various national professional associations.