engleski

The challenges of sustainable tourism development - an analysis of good practice examples from Istria County

Sustainable tourism is a concept which encompasses the current and future economic, social, environmental and cultural impacts of tourism development. This concept requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as strong political leadership in order to ensure wider participation and consensus building. This paper reflects on the challenge of sustainable tourism development, taking Istria County, Croatia, as a case study. It is one of the most developed counties in Croatia according to the various indicators related to tourism (number of visitors, overnights, employees, tourism consumption, etc.). However, there are still significant differences of the level of tourism development in the coastal area when compared to inland parts. The coastal area is well developed, mainly based on mass tourism combined with various selective types of tourism. The inland part is less developed, faced with an ageing population, depopulation, deruralisation and the loss of traditional heritage. The development of selective tourism, based on the principles of sustainable tourism in the inland part, presents significant potential for fostering economic development, strengthening social capital and environmental protection. The aim of this chapter is to analyse the examples of good practice of selective tourism development in the inland part of Istria County. Although each example is specific, there are some common barriers: insufficient collaboration with the public sector, insufficient inter-sector collaboration, the absence of adequate strategies of sustainable tourism development and difficulties with achieving environmental and economic sustainability. It can be concluded that Istria County has great potential for further development of selective tourism, adjusted to contemporary market trends. The good practice examples of sustainable tourism development analysed here are creating a new vision of Istrian tourism based on proper valorisation of its natural and cultural heritage, economic development and involvement of various stakeholders.

sustainable tourism, selective tourism, good practice, Istria County

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