When you drive into Lika, the air itself feels different. The roads narrow, the forests thicken, and the slopes of Velebit rise ahead like a living wall of stone and pine. It’s here, in the small village of Velika Plana, that Croatian-American entrepreneur Bruce Yerkovich is shaking up the very foundations of tourism industry.

Fifteen years ago, Yerkovich built Linden Tree Retreat & Ranch, a mountain hideaway that has since welcomed guests from 138 countries. “I never set out to build a business,” he says. “I wanted to create a place where people could remember what it feels like to belong: to nature, to a community, to themselves.” That belief in belonging has now evolved into the Heart of Lika (Srce Like), the most ambitious tourism project in continental Croatia.

The Heart of Lika Project

Srce Like unfolds across three sites that together form a single narrative of transformation. Linden Tree Village, in Velika Plana, will anchor the project with a five-star eco-resort surrounded by private residences, a branded boutique hotel, and a retirement community that blends hospitality, wellness and healthcare. In Gornje Pazarište, the Open Range Resort will feature Croatia’s first environmentally certified golf course alongside polo fields and open-air recreation. Near Otočac, the Spitfire Air Park will modernize the regional airport for civilian aviation, opening Lika as a new air travel destination with direct connections to major European cities.

Spanning hundreds of hectares and backed by a substantial investment, Srce Like is less a resort than a living ecosystem of sustainable luxury. Its economic potential is undeniable, promising meaningful employment and regional renewal, yet Yerkovich insists the goal isn’t growth for its own sake. “You can measure profit,” he says, “but you can’t measure connection. What we’re building here is a culture of care—for people, for land, for the future.”

Srce Like redefines the paradigm of hospitality — where technology serves nature and people alike. Intelligent systems will manage what once demanded manual labor, while new opportunities emerge for a highly educated workforce. It is a model of progress that honors place, advancing Lika without disturbing its rhythm. Each element carries the same design DNA: low-density construction, just ten beds per hectare, local materials, and renewable energy.

Yerkovich’s thinking often drifts toward ideas that seem closer to philosophy than business. Having once studied quantum biophysics, he draws inspiration from science to describe his projects. He references Oxford physicist Vlatko Vedral, who wrote that the fundamental elements of reality are not matter or time but patterns of connection.

“That idea resonates deeply with me,” he says. “In physics, nothing exists in isolation, everything is entangled. Srce Like follows that same principle. A place only becomes real through the relationships within it. When guests arrive, they stop being visitors. They become part of the field, part of the story.”

This belief gives Srce Like a rare emotional depth. It is not built for mass tourism or quick consumption, but for profound, transformative journeys that change both the traveler and the place they touch. It invites visitors to slow down, to rediscover meaning, and to experience luxury not as excess, but as harmony.

Croatia’s first model of integrative tourism

The project’s community model reflects that same philosophy. Local hiring and partnerships with regional producers are central priorities, ensuring that tourism revenue circulates within Lika rather than flowing out of it. Its “from field to table in one hour” gastronomy concept will celebrate local farmers and seasonal produce, turning each meal into a reflection of the region itself.

Strategically, Srce Like aligns with Croatia’s national plan for sustainable tourism through 2030, which emphasizes year-round destinations and environmental stewardship. It merges high technology with the rhythms of traditional life, using intelligence not to replace nature, but to learn from it—restoring balance, sustaining resources, and preserving the soul of Lika.

For travelers, the appeal is obvious. Lika offers the kind of authenticity the modern luxury market craves: vast wilderness, clean air, and a sense of discovery untouched by mass development. From here, the Adriatic coast lies just an hour drive away, yet the region remains one of Europe’s last great natural sanctuaries, home to brown bears, wolves, lynx, and more than 5,000 plant and animal species.

Despite its scale, Srce Like’s tone is refreshingly modest. The project doesn’t shout ambition; it listens. “Every decision here begins with a question,” Yerkovich says. “How do we add value without degrading what already exists?” That philosophy guides everything from architecture to infrastructure, shaping an evolutionary leap from tourism that largely remains conventional and unsustainable toward innovative, balanced, and alive with purpose.

As groundwork begins, Srce Like is attracting attention from investors and experts across Europe. It represents not only a new chapter for Croatian tourism but a broader statement about what luxury can mean in an era defined by climate consciousness and cultural fatigue.

“The future of travel as viewed through the lens of integrative tourism begins with a destination and a host at the destination,” Yerkovich reflects. “When you wake up here and see the mist lift off the mountain, and know that everything you touch supports a community, that’s the kind of wealth that lasts.”

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As the project moves forward, Srce Like is set to do more than transform Lika. It aims to challenge the global industry to reconsider its most basic equation: that progress and balance are not opposites, but two sides of the same heart.

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