engleski

A study of the Economic Aspects of Entrepreneurship in Croatian Rural Tourism

The adverse economic situation, which has resulted from a global economic crisis, has taken its toll on Croatia and has prompted people to consider new forms of entrepreneurship to help increase the well- being and quality of life of residents. In particular, this applies to rural areas which are characterized, on the one hand, by a lack of steady income, a high average age of residents, low educational background and the loss of the younger and working-age population and, on the other, by agricultural production and growing demand for rural settings and their peaceful and pleasant ambience. The purpose and aim of this paper is to analyse the development of entrepreneurship in Croatia’s rural tourism using indicators of economic performance.. This paper aims to examine the business operations of entrepreneurs by analysing realized income, new investments planned and the amount of financial assistance received. The research’s target group consists of entrepreneurs who run their businesses in the rural region of two Croatian counties. Two hundred entrepreneurs in these counties were surveyed. For the needs of research, a structured questionnaire was designed, comprising seven groups of questions. Processed using descriptive analysis methods, the results indicate that in their business operations entrepreneurs in rural tourism are confronted with many financial difficulties reflected in low annual income, making it impossible for them to invest in business in the following year. A considerable contribution of the paper lies in the fact that it underscores the necessity of cooperation between local and regional self-government and entrepreneurs to stimulate investment through a series of incentive measures which would help entrepreneurship in rural tourism reach a satisfactory level of economic performance.

Economic aspects; Entrepreneurship; Rural tourism

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