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THE ROLE OF DIFFERENT SOURCES OF FINANCING IN THE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF NATIONAL PARKS IN CROATIA

The most sensitive areas of nature are strict reserves and national parks, which represent and require the highest level of protection and substantial funding has been allocated to them for years, mainly from the state budget of the Republic of Croatia. Presently, eight Croatian national parks are financed from various sources, other than the state budget, so national parks are also financed from their dedicated sources, including tourism. The accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union on 1 July 2013 has allowed Croatia to use EU financial instruments for various purposes, environmental protection being one of the priorities. Since the day Croatia became a full member of the EU, EU structural funds have, among other things, been available to national parks, primarily the Cohesion Fund, intended for the funding of public investments in transport infrastructure and environmental protection, as well as the European Regional Development Fund. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the structure of funding sources for NPs in Croatia from 2014 to 2018. It aims to prove a trend of increasing revenues earned by national parks in Croatia, the resulting reduced reliance on the state budget, and increased reliance on other sources of funding, in particular EU funds. The paper analyzes the financial plans of all eight national parks in Croatia and data regarding their sources of funding, and also describes in detail the specific investments of EU funds in all NPs in the Republic of Croatia. The research showed that the structure of funding in the national parks of Croatia changed significantly during the observed period, while the quality of tourist offerings was improved to achieve sustainable tourism development. Funding received from the EU is used to implement the economic, environmental and socio-cultural principles and indicators of sustainable tourism development, and at the same time, NPs remain attractive in the tourism market and attract visitors.

sources of funding for national parks, EU funds for national parks, tourism in national parks, sustainable tourism development, Croatia

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