Strategic Planning And Actors' Perspectives In Rural Tourism

Rural tourism is a potentially important resource of revitalization in rural areas, which constitute more than 90% of Croatian territory occupied by nearly 50% of the population. Although the rural area is exposed to permanent depopulation due to favourable conditions of life in the cities, there is no development strategy of rural tourism at the national level, while strategic documents are rare at the regional and local levels. Although rural tourism represents an important opportunity for (self)employment due to the fact that family members and local population work in such economies, a number of Croatian counties have almost no registered rural households engaged in tourism, including even the counties that with more than 50% of the rural inhabitants in overall population belong to the predominantly rural regions. This study examines the key strategic documents regarding rural tourism at the national level due to examination of its current state and development perspectives. In addition to the secondary data analysis, the results of semi-structured interviews are presented. Interviews were conducted in January 2015 with five representatives (owners and managers) of legal entities active in rural tourism in the Split-Dalmatia County. The market-recognized forms of rural tourism were included, while the following business aspects are reviewed: work motivation, business development, impact on the environment and the local economy, business intentions and recommendations, etc. The theoretical framework of the study is the idea of indivisibility of the micro and macro levels of society. Its relevance is confirmed by the research results as strategic documents show a poor representation of rural tourism in tourist traffic at the national level, which also applies to Split-Dalmatia County. Such a situation is particularly conditioned by weak financial and human resources of the public sector at the local level, burdening bureaucracy, poor municipal infrastructure and lack of awareness among local population about the development opportunities of rural tourism. Interviewees face these disadvantages through practice, but their permanent influence slowly alters the public institutions' actions towards strategic planning with an aim of achieving the favourable economic effects and better life quality of rural residents. Given the complemen- tarity of the findings at the micro and macro social levels, the interview results are applicable to other micro-locations in Croatia