engleski

Wellness tourism of Republic of Croatia - a chance for the recuperation of Croatian tourism in the post-COVID 19 period

PURPOSE-The consequences of the COVID-19 virus are visible, especially in countries with strong tourism sectors catering to foreign visitors, these countries in Europe, especially in Portugal and Croatia. For this, countries apply that they are disproportionately affected, as every million euros lost in tourism revenue can mean two to three million fewer sales for the industries that supply tourism. According to the pandemic situation and consequences for the tourism industry, this paper aims to analyse the consequences for the wellness tourism of the Republic of Croatia. According to the global pandemic situation and its impact on the tourism industry, it is clear that it will never be the same before the pandemic. Therefore, we prepared the following research question: What will be wellness tourism like after the pandemic and how to adapt the wellness tourism strategies to the post-pandemic situation? RESEARCH METHODS-This study aims to use the content analysis and key- words co-occurrence analyses for analyzing the content of touristic business reports, government strategies and policies, wellness companies’ strategies and scientific articles in tourism and hospitality. The goal of the content and key-words co- occurrence analyses is to define the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and hospitality and to present strategies to limit the consequences, especially in wellness tourism. Following the difficult situation, increasing the demand for foreign travel, and ensuring domestic tourism growth. Therefore, an investigation of this nature goes in-depth to identify changes in future tourism strategies. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-One of the important consequences of COVID-19 will be that it will accelerate the decline of the period of mass tourism. The post-COVID-19 period will be characterized by an increase in demand for individual travel, while a decline on the demand side for group travel is expected. The consequences of the pandemic affected the decline in income in Croatian wellness tourism. According to study findings, the wellness tourism companies will have to restructure and adopt the wellness tourism content according to the resilience sustainable solutions. Strategies will need to focus on combining the high-quality wellness offer that will include a complete health and hygiene control and the new customer demand situation in which tourists will increasingly seek genuine personal contact, so getting to know the locals and local cultures will no longer be so playful, visibly staged, and artificial. IMPLICATIONS-Based on this paper’s findings, the authors will present the developmental guidelines to improve other Croatian wellness tourists’ offer and further development in the post COVID- 19. The knowledge gathered can provide guidelines for further research that will later contribute to the theoretical and practical managerial policies for post-pandemic tourism wellness development strategies and concrete solutions based on resilience sustainable sources.

wellness tourism ; wellness tourists ; Croatia ; post-COVID 19 period

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