Naslov
Guide to Croatian cultural and sport events evaluation

Autori
Tomljenović, Renata ; Marušić, Zrinka

Izvornik
Tourism : an international interdisciplinary journal (1332-7461) 58 (2010), 1; 74-76

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, kratko priopcenje, stručni

Ključne riječi
tourism; cultural and sport events; evaluation; guide; Croatia

Sažetak
The guide was developed in cooperation with the local tourism board, with every aspect of the Guide's implementation being pilot tested and experiences thus gathered were built into the final product. The Tourism Board of Karlovac was a key industry partner. The Board has taken keen interest in the project, provided seed funding and actively participated in the Guide development. Karlovac is a mid-size town an hour’s drive south of the capital Zagreb, known for the star-shaped Renaissance fortress, four rivers running through the town and a brewery. As mostly relying on the regional visitors, they need events to augment their attraction base. However, short of human and financial resources, they opted for supporting and growing community events, rather then on importing events or organizing new ones by themselves. In this, they asked how they can make a sound decision as to what events are worth investing in and in what way, apart from offering financial support, can they assist the event organizers. Also, they were aware that these events need to innovate to keep visitor interest and have looked for the continuous monitoring of the events' performance. Thus, the Tourism Board of Karlovac has been a highly motivated and active partner in this project. The project evolved slowly. Firstly, we have developed and pilot tested methodology on their medieval fair event. We have developed the questionnaire, survey plan, trained the interviewers and conducted data entry and analysis to test the suitability of Excel. For the second and third pilot studies, small scale community events the Tourism Board of Karlovac has taken on a greater role by modifying the questionnaire, developing a research plan, training the interviewers and entering data. We have taken only an advisory role and helped in the reporting phase. The fourth pilot was their hallmark event – Karlovac Beer Festival which is entering slowly into stagnation phase and attracting some controversy regarding the public expenditure versus resulting benefits. By this time, the Board's staff was able to organize the visitor survey and was also keen to obtain some indicators on vendors’ satisfaction. This proved to be very difficult against vendors’ suspicions and reluctance to participate in the survey. In the light of this experience, we have decided to keep the guide focused on the visitor survey only and restricted to the small and medium scale cultural and sport events. We would like to build a culture of evaluating events and using the evaluation data to further the quality of events and their marketing. Once a critical mass is achieved, the plan is to move into the more sophisticated phase of the comprehensive event evaluation.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija

Napomena
Tekst je objavljen i na hrvatskom jeziku

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