Clusters As An Initiative For A Rapid Development Of Rural Tourism

Rural tourism as a selective form of tourism is still not properly developed. This claim mainly concerns the continental part of Croatia, in which only 5% of the overall number of overnight stays is accomplished. Although nearly 88.7% of Croatia is classified as a rural area by the criteria of OECD, if the tourist traffic in coastal Croatia is excluded, it is evident that the forms of rural tourism are still not developed properly in a great part of our country. On the other hand, there is a presence of the insufficient connection of various forms of specialized business subjects that are concentrated geographically and have a potential of operating in a segment of rural tourism. By the research conducted under the name of ‘‘Clusters in the Republic of Croatia 2011’’, there are 5 clusters of insufficient degree of development, the activity of which is considered to be a part of the segment of rural tourism. Clusters effect the growth of the productivity and associating into clusters actuates the growth of the competitiveness of cluster members positively. However, before the actual act of assembling the clusters, what needs to be conducted is the analysis of the basic assumptions for the emergence and development of clusters. The aim of this work is to point that the basic assumptions for the emergence of clusters exists. The work also aims at pointing that the clusters founded with the goal of connecting the prospective development coordinators of rural tourism in the area of three counties of continental Croatia- Koprivnica-Krizevci, Virovitica-Podravina and Osijek-Baranja can contribute to the rapid development of the rural tourism in the advised area.