CULTURAL TOURISM: CROATIAN EXPERIENCES

Abstract

With the Strategic plan for the development of cultural tourism, the establishment of the Office for Cultural Tourism, and with activities realized by the Office and Ministry of Tourism of Republic of Croatia at the national level, cultural tourism is defined as one of the priorities of Croatian tourism. Implementation of the Development Strategy for Cultural Tourism creates preconditions for systematic development of cultural tourism in Croatia. In this way, the tourist image of towns and small villages can be created, protecting simultaneously the cultural heritage.

With the Development Strategy for Cultural Tourism, and especially with regional and local development stakeholders, preconditions of systematic development of cultural tourism in Croatia will be created. It should benefit both the tourist and the cultural sector. The overall destination image should be raised, which would retain existing guests, stimulate their activity and consumption during their stay, encourage extension of their stay in the destination and extend the season. Quality destination image would attract other visitors. It is also necessary to use cultural assets in a sustainable manner which would increase the revenue due to the increase of the number of visitors.

During its more than four years implementation, the Development Strategy for Cultural Tourism has shown certain failures that will need to be carefully analyzed and solved. The Strategy lacks an interdisciplinary approach which has impacts on its implementation. One of the key problems is the articulation and organization of all organizations, bodies and agencies that should participate in the implementation of the Strategy. Although since 2005 the state budget for cultural tourism has increased, recognizable cultural tourism products have not been developed. Therefore, it is necessary to detect specific problems regarding this issue. On the other hand, there are a number of cultural and tourist initiatives, especially individual ones, whose implementation is largely dependent on their own knowledge and skills.

For effective implementation of the Strategy, it is necessary to critically evaluate actions done so far, and the recently conducted research about attitudes and consumption of cultural visitors to the attractions and events in Croatia is an excellent basis for this, as well as the inter and intra sectoral cooperation. Namely, it is essential that all stakeholders of the Strategy actively cooperate as equal partners in all processes of its implementation. Only then the opportunities for cultural tourism in Croatia will truly be changed to better.