engleski

Cultural tourism in the rural area: A new approach to product development

The purpose of this work is reflected in the necessity of a precise terminological definition of the concept of cultural tourism in the rural area and the identification of stimulating and limiting factors for its development, as well as establishing guidelines for the development of a competitive and authentic product of cultural tourism in the rural area. The primary research was conducted using the method of interviews with key participants in the development of cultural tourism in the area of Virovitica-Podravina County. The results showed that the Virovitica-Podravina County is characterized by a unique cultural landscape that provides a stronghold for the development of various forms of cultural tourism. The research also pointed to numerous limiting factors that present challenges and reduce the competitiveness of the cultural tourism product. In particular, the lack of professional staff from the cultural sector for the processing and interpretation of the entire heritage, the passivity of people in the tourism sector who do not follow the development of the cultural offer, and the general lack of intersectoral cooperation and tourism entrepreneurship stand out. Opportunities for the future development of cultural tourism in rural areas should certainly be sought in the integration of cultural identity into the tourist offer and a change of approach in the development and management of the cultural tourism product, whereby the emphasis will be on the redesign of existing and the creation of new competitive tourist experiences and the unification of individual elements of the offer into a unique product. Following the above, this work represents a kind of contribution in making public and political proposals for the further development of cultural tourism in rural areas. Since the research was conducted on a relatively small sample and on the example of only one County, it is necessary to conduct additional research in the future to provide more representative results.

cultural tourism ; rural area ; product development

nije evidentirano