Review article
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.55.1.3
Image Redesign as a Tool for Safeguarding a Destination’s Market Prosperity: The Case of Dubrovnik
Ivo Kunst
; Institute for Tourism, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The city of Dubrovnik, particularly its historical core protected by UNESCO
and the space in its immediate vicinity, has been exposed to an excessively growing
tourist demand for more than a decade. This is especially true in the case of one-day
transit visitors originating either from cruise ships or from organized tourist groups.
As a consequence, the historic city centre is experiencing growing tourist congestion.
This is accompanied by a constant decrease in the quality and structure of food and
beverage and other tourism related services, which are adapting themselves increasingly
to a less demanding transient tourism demand. The above developments not
only severely undermine the local population’s quality of life, but also have important
implications for the long-term image of Dubrovnik on the tourism destinations market.
Following a critical examination of Dubrovnik’s prevailing tourism development policy
and its viability, not only from its socio-economic perspective, but in the context
of its long-term impact on the city’s market prosperity as well, this paper, based on
qualitative research insight, proposes changes in the City’s unique selling proposition
in order to decrease the problem of tourist congestion and sustain Dubrovnik’s competitiveness
on the tourism destination market in the years to come.
Keywords
Dubrovnik; tourism development model; market prosperity; sustainability
Hrčak ID:
182249
URI
Publication date:
30.5.2017.
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