Original scientific paper
Development model of tourism on Croatian open-sea islands
Mili Razović
; University of Zadar, Department of Tourism and Communication Sciences, Zadar, Croatia
Renata Tomljenović
orcid.org/0000-0003-4649-7916
; Institute for Tourism, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Islands, as a separate land entity surrounded by the sea, from the very beginning of tourism, have become a unique and attractive tourism destination where tourism development faces different challenged than on the mainland. This is especially the case of the open-sea islands. The aim of this paper was to identify tourism development model suitable for the Mediterranean open-sea islands in terms of social, economic and environmental sustainability. The model was based on the assessment of tourism capacity, tourist traffic, attraction base and consultation with the two main stakeholder groups – residents and tourists. The primary research was conducted on the four open-sea islands of Croatian Adriatic - Dugi otok, Vis, Lastovo and Mljet, via tourist and resident survey. In total, 190 residents and 184 tourists participated in the research. The visitor survey was conducted in order to capture attitudes and opinions of tourists on those islands regarding different types of tourism products and tourism development options considered appropriate for the four islands. The resident survey was conducted in order to canvas their views on the preferred types of tourism development, tourism development scenarios and types of tourism products they wished to be offered. The results clearly point out that the optimal tourism development is the one that respect the island's development and tourism advantages based on unique natural and cultural heritage and way of life of the local population. The model of tourism development on these particular islands offers true value that attracts visitors and encourages further growth of tourist traffic. This tourism development is based on ecology, sustainable development, and family atmosphere.
Keywords
tourism development; tourism offer; tourism on the islands; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
137481
URI
Publication date:
30.3.2015.
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