Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
/THERFACILITIES
0RIVATEROOMS
#AMPSITES
4OURISMVILLAGES
(OTELS
9EAR
A
B
A
#APACITYOFMARINASNOTINCLUDED
B
#ATEGORIZATIONACCORDINGTOINTERNATIONALSTANDARDS
Fig. 22.3.
Croatia: structure of the accommodation sector, 1987-2004. Source: Institutza Turizam, 2005.
2004 represented 73% of the overall accommo-
dation
and EU aspirations towards sustainability, Hall
(2003, 2004) speaks about the need in Croatia
for product and spatial diversification away
from the coast into various forms of rural
and cultural tourism development. Table 22.2
shows that out of 21 Croatian counties, seven
Adriatic-based regions continuously comprise
an average of 94% of all tourist nights (Institut
za Turizam, 2005). Thus, it could be concluded
that
capacity
(Institut
za
Turizam,
2005)
(Fig. 22.3).
The re-emergence of tourism has been
facilitated by central government rhetoric
aimed at transforming the concept of Croatia
through the development of a layer of 'value-
added' attractions and infrastructure. This layer
is based on the 'stimulation and acceleration
of privatisation process with general emphasis
on the development of entrepreneurship, partic-
ularly in the area of the so-called economy of
small scale' (Ministry of Tourism 1997, p. 14).
Reflecting this initiative, the Ministry of Tourism
published
Guidelines for Entrepreneurs in
Tourism
, in 1999 in conjunction with the state
budget to secure funding for promoting tourism
amongst small and medium-sized enterprises.
Changes to the structure of tourism admini-
stration have been aligned with broader policy
initiatives facilitating economic transition within
the European Union's
Agenda 2000
supporting
SMEs in candidate countries. As such it is
argued that tourism entrepreneurs at the
micro level have a strategic role in the macro-
integration of Croatia as a developed Western-
allied nation (Dulcic, 2000).
tourist
flows
remain
concentrated
on
coastal-based tourist consumption.
However, the spatial distribution of tourist
flows cannot portray the full detailed story. In
the last few years there have been some signifi-
cant infrastructural, policy and industry devel-
opments that suggest the mid-2010s will see a
turning point in Croatian tourism. There are
several reasons for this.
First, various associations and groups of
'special-interest tourism' have emerged for the
first time at the national level. The Croatian
Chamber of Economy has been the main leader
in the process, facilitating public and private
relationships between the central government
and the tourism industry, forming associations
in a number of sub-sectors:
private family-based accommodation pro-
viders (home-stays);
●
Product and Spatial Diversification
health and well-being tourism;
●
rural family-based tourism (agriturismo);
●
Croatia is politically divided into 21 counties,
so-called
Y
upanija; 14 continental and seven
coastal counties (Fig. 22.4). Within stated global
cultural tourism;
●
adventure tourism;
●
hotels and restaurants;
●
