engleski

Overtorurism at a Natural Heritage Destination: The Plitvice Lakes National Park Case Study (Croatia)

Lika-Senj County, specifically the Plitvice Lakes National Park, has all of the characteristics of overtourism connected to a rural area. Although one of the most undeveloped counties, with a large share of rural territory and incomplete transitional processes, Lika-Senj County has the potential to develop sustainable tourism. The county’s weaknesses can thus be seen as its primary developmental opportunity. So, this paper is based on the theoretical concept of integral sustainability. In its first section, the desk method is used in order to analyse existing sources and documents relevant to understanding the concept of over- and undertourism. The second part focuses on socio-cultural processes over the past two centuries that led to the critical situation in which UNESCO is considering the reclassification of the Plitvice Lakes as an endangered heritage site. This is followed by a basic analysis of publicly available statistical data related to the structure of tourist arrivals in recent years together with the irritation index concept. The goal of the paper is to highlight the negative processes that led to the current state of overtourism development in Plitvice Lakes and to consider potential solutions in Lika-senj County as a whole, with special focus on the Lika region

Lika-senj County ; overtourism ; Plitvice Lakes ; undertourism

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