engleski

How to manage destinations of culture ; is culture a prime attraction or pure décor?

Over the past two decades, tourism has become a strong driving force of sustainability and European competitiveness. The same trend has been perceptible in Croatia, although for the shorter period of time, due to the war. Cultural tourism is expected to witness the most important growth in the future, due to the demand increase and integrated development strategies of urban tourist destinations. Developing integrated urban approaches and strategies towards sustainable cultural tourism, the one that preserve local heritage, requires an effective integration of urban activities and attractions. The paper's main objectives are to analyse strategies and practices of management of cultural tourism destinations in Croatia and to put them in the prospective of the best European practices ; to find out whether is it possible to harmonise knowledge and practice in European/Croatian cultural tourism destinations for the benefit of different categories of tourists, as well as of local residents and other users, and to build a multi-stakeholder community of private/public destination managers. The cultural tourism product is extremely diverse, ranging from heritage sites and museums to concerts and festivals, as well as and events that emerge out of the local tradition. Croatia has brought the Cultural Tourism Strategy ; the question is whether it has been applied and to what extent. The paper analyses the implications and outcomes of the two scenarios: integrated management of the cultural destinations (or destinations of culture) and lack of any strategy.

cultural tourism; destination; IQM; development; network

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