engleski

Cultural Manifestation Based on Rural Tourism Development : Istrian Example

Istria, the most developed tourist region in Croatia, has set one of its main tourism and cultural policy goals the organisation and realisation of many cultural and entertainment events. Tourism can thereby contribute to successfully promote culture, heritage and history and valorise material and immaterial cultural heritage. According to a widely-known thesis, the guests of farms and consumers of rural tourism above all seek opportunities to satisfy their need for contact with nature, peace and quiet, but are also motivated by the desire to learn about the region, the traditions and the people of the area they are staying in. This means that rural tourism consumers want to become familiar, to the greatest possible extent, with the destination they have chosen, feel it “ colours and flavours” (Jafari, 1997). Cultural events offer visitors the opportunity to experience an “ articulate form” of tradition, customs and autochthonous values of the destination. Tourists and excursionists want to familiarize with the local ways, experience the place they are visiting, meet the local population, feel part of the local community, feel involved and challenged and learn something. The basic motive for event organising is the desire to preserve genuine tradition, to renew memories of customs which, due to modern living and globalisation, are in danger of falling into oblivion. By fulfilling this function, events also achieve a tourism-related purpose, in that they provide added value to the tourism product of rural and coastal destinations. They also embody Jensen’ s concept of storytelling, which is the foundation for the competitiveness of the tourism product in the modern world. On this basis of data gathered and research carried out, the authors conclude that cultural events in rural Istria are specific when compared to those taking place on the coast. The reason for that is probably the traditional heritage which has been better preserved in rural areas than on the coast. Events in rural Istria are specific because they contain more features of the local heritage (e. g. folklore reviews, encounters of musicians playing folk and traditional instruments, a cappella choirs concert (“ fešta prez štrumienti” etc.) than events in the coastal region, which are mostly adapted to the masses in order to attract more visitors. Cultural events in rural Istria are not programmatic, in that they arise from the initiative of a few enthusiasts who try to organise something out of a key idea, and then this “ something” turns into an event which is either well received by the public and the media and thus established, or, conversely, rejected and discarded. A research of cultural events in rural central Istria has shown that these events are neither planned nor coordinated, but rather that event is organise by a separate group of stakeholders (tourism board, folklore associations, open university, city, municipality, various associations, etc.). This leads to the conclusion that what rural central Istria urgently needs is coordination of cultural events and the appointment of a public sector institution (tourism board, agency, etc.) to manage the organisation of cultural events in that part of Istria. This would provide systematic support to all organisers, prevent overlapping of individual events and create an organised system of events in rural central Istria which could lead the many tourist coming to Istria in the summer month to choose it as their destination in the pre- and post-season as well. Similarly, useful results could be achieved by vertical coordination at cluster level. Both models and the logic behind them are illustrated in the paper.

cultural manifestation ; maintainable (responsible) tourism ; rural tourism ; rural tourist destination

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