engleski

Implementing principles of sustainable development in rural tourism in continental Croatia

Starting from the paradigm of sustainable development that the needs of contemporary generations for resources should be met in such a way as not to jeopardize the opportunities of meeting the needs of future generations, this paper investigates the problems and presents the principles of sustainable development of rural tourism in continental Croatia. The term and the principles of sustainable tourism are explained: the principles of ecological sustainability, socio-cultural, technological, as well as of economic sustainability. These principles are complementary in tourism, which means that it is only by means of their interactive implementation that the sustainable development of a tourist destination may be provided. The application of these principles is particularly important in rural tourism, whose development is based on cumulative attractions of natural, socio-cultural and economic resources that might ensure the sustainable development of rural areas only through interactive activities. Rural tourism is the least developed kind of tourism in Croatia, although more than 90% of the area of Croatia is acutally the rural area. This is the result of the past tourism policy which preferred maritime tourism, and neglected the so-called Green Croatia. The accession of Croatia to the European Union creates new market and investment opportunities for the developmetn of rural toursim through special interest tourism. The goal of this paper is to investigate and explain the principles of sustainable development and to point out their possible implementation in rural tourism of continental Croatia. The initial hypothesis in this paper is that for long-term sustainable development of rural tourism the implementation of interactive principles of sustainble development is necessary. This hypothesis is proven through the analysis of the results of past research by applying the desk research method, analysis method, synthesis method and comparison method.

sustainable development ; rural tourism ; special interest tourism ; Croatia

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