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Cultural tourism: the backbone of the upcoming tourism development in eastern Croatia

Contemporary tourists have profound implications for all socio-economic sectors, including the tourism as the fastest growing global industry. In accordance with those trends, there occur changes in the affinities and preferences of the 'new' tourism consumers, which in the end resulted in the development of special forms of tourism, the most notable of which is the cultural tourism. As the terms cultural tourism and 'cultural' tourist are considered to be relatively new terminological terms in Croatian academic community, but also in the sector of tourism in general, it seems legitimate to provide a concise theoretical analysis of this special type of tourism. In order to ensure the most relevant theoretical comprehensions and conclusions possible, this work will use the scientific method of analysis and synthesis, as well as the historical and descriptive method. Since the cultural tourism itself is a narrowly specialized market niche and is characterized as a dominant touristic product which is being given a considerable attention during the past decade in Croatia, one of the primary goals of this work is to provide an analysis and an overview of the most recognizable cultural resources in eastern Croatia which show good examples of the connection of culture and tourism and which could be an incentive to put tourism and other less-known cultural resources into function. In order to indicate the importance of cultural tourism as the backbone of still not sufficiently developed touristic areas of eastern Croatia, an empirical research will be made whose main purpose is to determine the current state of tourist and cultural resource base but also the main limiting factors from the aspect of the co-creators of national tourism policy. In order to collect primary data on a convenient sample, the method of in- depth interview will be used. The aim of this work is to define the main guidelines for the development of tourism, based on the valorisation of cultural resources of Eastern Croatia, with the purpose of advising the Ministry of tourism of the Republic of Croatia about promoting the cultural tourism.

contemporary trends, cultural tourism, cultural tourists, eastern Croatia, cultural resources

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