engleski

Level of involvement of local tourism boards in using EU pre-accession funds for financing tourism projects : case of Primorsko- goranska county

One of the most important principles of sustainable tourism development implies that tourism should be initiated with the help of broad-based community-inputs and the community should maintain control of tourism development. One of the possible means to implement this principle is through active involvement of local authorities in creating and implementing sustainable tourism projects. Hence this process should be oriented to contribute towards the benefit of the entire community (through creating new jobs, increasing the competitiveness of the destination, etc…) , its leading coordinators should be the representatives of local tourism organisations (tourist boards). Another issue related to the pro-active approach of local tourism authorities in creating and supporting tourism projects includes means of financing these projects. Therefore, this article brings an overview of grant schemes within EU pre- accession funds that provide possibility of co- financing joint (sustainable) tourism projects among different regions (countries) and are available to applicants from Croatia. This article looks at linking two above mentioned issues (tourism boards as a significant stakeholders of local sustainable tourism development and possibilities of EU co-financing the same). Following topics shall be discussed, focusing on the employees and the management of tourism boards of municipalities and cities in the Primorsko-goranska county as a referenced area: -level of knowledge and experience regarding the possibilities of co-financing tourism oriented projects from EU pre-accession funds -level of motivation for creating such type of tourism projects and applying them for financing from EU pre-accession funds With the purpose of gathering relevant data, small-scale research was conducted on a sample of tourism boards of cities and municipalities within Primorsko-goranska County. Using a method of survey through questionnaire, information have been collected, analysed and are presented through this article.

sustainable tourism; EU pre-accession funds; tourism associations

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