engleski

Integral Tourist Management of Rural Areas

The past development of tourism in our region has been marked by periods characterized by different concepts and forms of tourist offer. The construction of hotel capacities has been accompanied by development of rural areas and individual building for tourist purposes that, in the first development stages, aimed at the expansion and improvement of the resident population’ s dwelling quality. However, in the course of time, both the rural areas and the family tourist facilities in them have gradually adapted to the standards of the single destinations and have integrated, as accommodation capacities, into the local tourist supply offered on the market. In time, this tourist segment has developed into a significant part of the overall tourist offer in Croatia. It is precisely the dynamic development of this segment of tourist offer that has generated new approaches to integral tourist management as an important factor of development of a given region, especially in rural areas. The very concept of rural tourism encompasses tourist activities outside urban and tourist settlements where major tourist capacities are concentrated, and is based on the environmental peculiarities (natural attractions, cultural heritage etc.) and, to a major extent, on singularity. It is linked to the town dwellers’ search for peace and healthy life in nature. Rural tourism includes visits to cultural and natural resources, rides in the countryside and enjoying in rural landscapes and farm tourism. Agrotourism, as part of rural tourism, takes place on family estates that, in addition to their basic agricultural activity have the possibility of offering services consisting of food and beverages’ preparation, or of accommodation. Generally speaking, the most attractive rural areas for tourists are those bordering on farms, frequently located in sparsely populated, isolated and less known mountain regions. Rural mountain areas such as the Pyrenees or the Rockies, that have been known for quite a long time, were formerly linked to winter sports – today, however, various tourist products are offered there, throughout the year. Rural tourism represents an additional source of income, particularly for women, and is exceptionally significant in the reduction of depopulation rates. Abandoned buildings in old villages or in farms can become a second home for town dwellers. Family tourist facilities are either situated in buildings where the owners reside throughout the year, or they stand as separate residential and business units. The peculiarity of family owned and operated tourist-oriented farms lies in the fact that the work in these facilities is exclusively performed by the immediate family members. The basic feature of this type of tourist offer is the capacities’ fragmentation that also defines the related economic effects. Besides, it lacks definition in terms of status and legal position ; it is rather treated as “ home industry” . As a result, capacities in family tourist facilities are prevalently placed on the market through private sales channels. The level reached – both in terms of quantity and of quality – by accommodation capacities in rural areas and in the family tourist facilities in them is such that, in the next decade, they are certainly going to define in many aspects the growth dynamics of tourist turnover and the related total tourist effects. However, this tourist segment has not been defined yet from the organizational and the marketing point of view, for the purpose of achieving an even better valuation of its capacities, both on national and international tourist markets. That is why this paper suggests models of tourist products’ integral management. The first model is implemented through the creation of strategic alliances, while the second model is based on the formation of a destination management company and on the linking of public and private capital on a partnership basis. The proposed models offer a better valuation of the tourist facilities and their management, so as to increase the overall economic and social effects from tourism. Adapting to demand, the family tourist facilities have gradually reached, in part, a high level of tourist offer and formed a specific tourist product, however due to the lack of integral management this tourist segment is still valued far below its market potential. Given natural and other tourist resources as well as the years-long and developed tourist and business tradition in complementary accommodation capacities, where family members are both owners and holders of the supply, there are realistic possibilities for the family farms to develop, through specific organization models, into a recognized and selective tourist product in rural areas. Such form of tourist offer is based on the possibilities, organization and business system of a given family. In addition to accommodation capacities as one of the basis of family subsistence, there is also agricultural production with part of its products being served in the family facilities. The guests themselves may participate in agricultural activities and production of ecological food and thus, as consumers in restaurants of family farms, assure themselves of its genuineness. There is also the possibility to develop plantations of fruit and vegetables, with their processing and harvesting becoming an attraction and part of the family farm tourist programmes. Likewise, it is also possible to process fruit at a family's own premises and produce own-labelled beverages to be served in the family restaurant. This helps enhance reputation and improve business efficiency of the modern family tourist-oriented farm. Fruits harvesting in the nature, hunting and fishing in the course of the tourist season - as an attraction and, outside the tourist season - as an activity, shall ensures additional food to be prepared and served to the guests in the family tourist facility. Sojourning in rural areas, tourists feels much more intimate, in fact they become members of a big family and this cannot be achieved through stays in big hotels. Limited capacities, work organization but most of all the specific environment and atmosphere provided to guests staying in a family tourist facility, adds special quality to this form of tourist offer and shapes it into a specific tourist product, with increasing possibilities of its placement on the international tourist market. This is why integral tourist management of rural areas has to be established.

integral tourist management; rural areas

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