engleski

The application of sustainable tourism indicators: Evidence from Croatia

The number of tourist arrivals, overnights stays and international tourism receipts are often the main indicators of the success of a tourism destination. These indicators also underlie the success of the tourism year, and they are usually part of the annual statistics published by the different national or international organizations. The quantitative indicators accepted as a measure of development and success of a tourism destination often become the primary goal, while their growth represents a necessity of survival and the performance of a particular tourism destination. However, destinations do not even notice the problems that constant striving for tourist arrivals and overnight stays can cause. This paper analyses the application of sustainable tourism indicators in tourism destination. On the sample of 62 tourist boards in Croatia a survey was conducted with the aim to identify indicators that tourist boards use for sustainable destination development. Results show unsatisfactory level of the usage of tourism indicators needed for destination management. Tourist boards are mostly gathering indicators on the number of tourist arrivals and overnights, while complex indicators and indicators related to the basic sustainability issues are missing. Main constraints are the lack of data, funds, knowledge and employees. The paper suggests that a legislative framework is required to regulate systematic gathering and calculation of indicators appropriate for the development of tourism in a certain destination. This would also serve as a support for creation of a sustainable tourism indicator system needed for decision making processes regarding the strategic development of a destination.

sustainable tourism indicators, tourism destination, sustainable tourism development

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