engleski

Croatian tourism strategy and widlife tourism

The development and promotion of the awareness about nature, preservation of nature and the human connection with it, has resulted in strengthening the links between the environment and tourism. The paper discusses the possibilities of wildlife resource valorization trough tourism sector and illustrates its transformation to tourist attraction and resource. In Croatia wildlife tourism (WT) does not exist as a tourist product. Animals exist as a part of the offer, but they are not an independent attraction. Wild animals are a part of the tourist offer in Zoos and there is also the possibility of observing wild animals (wolves, birds) in the various tour operators offers (partially different tour operators – tourist agencies deal with it). Many countries manage networks of natural areas where wildlife is protected by law, but that allow and promote their observation by tourists. Croatia is following this example when it comes to protecting the animals, but there is no clear conception when it comes to the relation towards wildlife tourism on an institutional level. The research sought to examine the possibilities of wildlife tourism on the Croatian territory. The basic assumption is defined as the reversibility of the impact on the environment. The research proposes a model of acceptance (SWEM), presented as a graphical imagery. Great attention needs to be paid to developing effective management strategies that are based on knowledge and the precautionary principle. The inputs which are necessary for the making of the model will not be specially defined in this paper. Instead the authors propose a theoretical operational strategies as the source of data.

wildlife tourism; Croatia; SWEM model; tourism strategy; sustainable development

nije evidentirano