Marketing management of the tourist region of Slavonia and Baranja

In order to make tourism development planning in certain tourist destinations effective, it is necessary to ensure appropriate legal and institutional frameworks at the state level, and to base development of tourism destinations on partnership and cooperation between public and private sectors, not neglecting attitudes of local people. Application of the new Law on Tourism Communities and Promotion of Croatian Tourism (NN 152/2008.), in its part relating to the obligation of tourism master planning for the local level, should ensure the key development inputs and precede development of spatial plans at the level of tourist destinations. It is questionable whether in Croatia have been created the adequate legal and institutional frameworks for the effective activities of the tourist region of Slavonia and Baranja, since current legislation does not recognize the concept of regions and regionalization. The existing legal framework of joint activities and mutual partnership of the tourism sector of the region of Slavonia and Baranja is based on a voluntary basis, which is insufficient for more significant role and positioning of the region on the tourist market. As part of the strategic marketing plan for Croatian tourism for the period 2010th to 2014th operational plans of individual regions, not sufficiently developed, are set. The lack of a strategic marketing plan for tourism development for the region of Slavonia and Baranja inhibits stronger development of tourism in the region, which only as a whole can constitute a tourist destination that should be uniquely managed. In order to determine the attitudes of the individual tourist boards, amongst directors of tourist boards of the region was conducted the primary research with purpose to investigate opinion of respondents on the need for adoption of a unified master plan at the regional level, as well as supporting the idea of creating a unique tourist destination management organization, and a unique marketing program at the same level. The results showed that the region of Slavonia and Baranja could achieve significantly better tourist results, if moving away from the concept of developing own tourism products by certain counties without sufficient differentiation and recognition. In this respect, efforts should primarily focus on creating a recognizable tourist region with specific tourist subregions within, in which the role of the regional tourism organization (RTO) would be taken by destination management organization (DMO), in charge of promoting the tourism product of the region as a whole.