engleski

Adventure Tourism Position in Tourism of Protected Areas: The State And Interest of Researchers in Croatia

Although adventure tourism is globally recognized as tourism that increasingly commodifies the values of protected areas in a sustainable way, and Croatia as the leading destination in the region, insufficient planning, organisation, and networking of its development in Croatian parks was observed. It is certainly evident in the insufficient presence of adventure tourism, partly because of lack of interests and efforts of researchers to encourage and contribute to its development, especially in nature parks. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to determine whether protected areas in Croatia recognize the global position of adventure tourism. Additionally, the main question is whether its development is planned and organized per prominent global trends of adventure tourism or is it spontaneous, mostly related to the expansion of the market, and initiatives of individuals and certain groups? Accordingly, the paper seeks to determine the above by studying the available literature, primarily relevant databases, using the appropriate scientific methods. This paper is an initial effort to stimulate discussion and interest of the scientific community to reconsider the current position of adventure tourism in Croatian parks. The paper identifies the need for more formal networking and collaboration of parks with higher education and scientific research organizations in this field. The obtained results are expected to enable parks’ management to better understand the need for planning adventure tourism development, which can provide additional targeted benefits to parks and the local community.

adventure tourism, adventure products and activities, protected areas, national parks, nature parks, Croatian parks.

nije evidentirano