Possibilities of Including Roma Population in Ecotourism Development of Koprivnica-Križevci County
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RESEARCH STUDY POSSIBILITIES OF INCLUDING ROMA POPULATION IN ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF KOPRIVNICA-KRIŽEVCI COUNTY Sandra Kantar Kristina Svržnjak INVOLVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES OF THE ROMA POPULATION IN ECOTOURISM Viktória Szente Attila Pintér Orsolya Szigeti POSSIBILITIES OF INCLUDING ROMA POPULATION IN ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF KOPRIVNICA-KRIŽEVCI COUNTY Sandra Kantar Kristina Svržnjak Križevci College of Agriculture 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1. PROJECT PURPOSE, OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES .............................................................................................................................................. 5 1.2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 2. CHALLENGES OF ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN KOPRIVNICA-KRIŽEVCI COUNTY: RESULTS OF RESEARCH CONDUCTED WITHIN »ECOTOP« PROJECT ......................................................................................... 7 3. ROMA COMMUNITY IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA ........................................................................................... 9 3.1. DEMOGRAPHIC DATA ABOUT ROMA POPULATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA ............................................................................... 10 3.2. ROMA POPULATION IN KOPRIVNICA-KRIŽEVCI COUNTY ................................................................................................................................ 10 3.3. ROMA IN CROATIAN TOURISM .................................................................................................................................................................................. 15 4. RESULTS OF SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................................ 17 4.1. PREVIOUS RURAL TOURISM EXPERIENCE ............................................................................................................................................................. 18 4.2. INCLUDING ROMA MINORITY TO ECOTOURISM ................................................................................................................................................ 20 5. RESEARCH RESULTS OBTAINED BY ADMINISTRATION OF INTERVIEWS ...................................................... 22 6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................ 29 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................................................... 30 S. KANTAR, K. SVRŽNJAK / POSSIBILITIES OF INCLUDING ROMA POPULATION IN ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF KOPRIVNICA-KRIŽEVCI COUNTY 5 1. INTRODUCTION According to some estimates more than 30.000 Roma inhabitants live in the republic of Croatia, whereas only some 900 live in Koprivnica-Križevci County. Roma people are to a large extent marginalized in almost all social and public activ- ities, and life conditions of Roma population are worse than average life conditions of the majority of population, in- cluding other minorities. Due to poor education, exclusion from formal forms of work, specific life style and other char- acteristics, Roma people are to a bigger or lesser extent marginalized in economic, spatial, cultural and political aspect. Position of Roma population in Koprivnica-Križevci County is also bad, but Roma population is connected through several associations, Roma settlements are gradually being urbanised, Roma children attend primary and secondary school, and the Town of Koprivnica also gradually includes the members of Roma association in Interreg projects and other projects with the objective of integration of Roma to society. What is more, majority of Roma population already uses some kinds of social transfers provided by the state, which makes their lives somewhat easier. However, one should not be pleased with current situation, but should think of new ways of including Roma population into community by means of developing economic activities, one of which could be affirmation of Roma culture and identity through rural tourism and ecotourism. The neighbouring countries, Hungary and Slovenia, have for some while been develop- ing successful models of inclusion of Roma to economic life through gastronomy (e.g. Roma restaurant in Maribor and production of Roma food in the little village of Cserda close to Kaposvar), which could also be applicable to the area of Koprivnica-Križevci County. In this respect the study »Possibility of including Roma population to ecotourism develop- ment in Koprivnica-Križevci County« represents analysis about advancing the existing and creating new contents which could trigger economic and social benefits for wider community. 1.1. PROJECT PURPOSE, OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES Project ECOTOP2 »Life-long learning programmes for increased growth capacity in ecotourism« is implemented with- in INTERREG V-A cross-border cooperation programme Hungary - Croatia 2014-2020 Križevci College of Agricul- ture is lead beneficiary, and project partners are Trade and Industry chamber of Somogy County, Trade and Industry Chamber of Zala County, University of Kaposvar and Koprivnica Tourism Association. Results of the project ECOTOP, which was implemented in the previous programme period1, indicate that ecotourism as special form of tourism in the cross-border area exists, but that it is not sufficiently developed and can not to a full extent satisfy current tourism need of ecotourists. Project ECOTOP2 is continuation of a successful project ECOTOP, and its main objective is to improve the compet- itiveness and service level of ecotourism service providers in the area of Koprivnica-Križevci, Zala and Somogy County through development of educational programmes and research related to inclusion of marginalised groups into ecot- ourism offer. Emphasis is placed on development of adequate marketing strategy in ecotourism and advancement of business skills and capacities of entrepreneurs, in order to set up and maintain successful family agricultural businesses. Specific objectives of project ECOTOP 2 are: 1. Study visits to ecotourism destinations in order to learn from examples of best practice, 2. Educational programmes and language courses for ecotourism service providers, 3. Researching attitudes of ecotourism service users and providers related to inclusion of marginal groups to ecotour- ism offer through survey questionnaire and interviews. Target groups with direct benefits from the project are: 1 Instead Croatian Food Agency from Osijek, project partner in ECOTOP2 project is Koprivnica Tourism Association. 6 S. KANTAR, K. SVRŽNJAK / POSSIBILITIES OF INCLUDING ROMA POPULATION IN ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF KOPRIVNICA-KRIŽEVCI COUNTY 1. Members of the existing and future family farms, organic producers, owners of catering and accommodation facil- ities and all other that have preconditions for providing ecotourism service, 2. Roma minority which can use project activities for getting included in economic activities in the cross-border area and thus advance its social status, 3. Students of rural studies that acquire new knowledge for development of their region into ecotourism destination, 4. Scientists, teachers, public organisations, and all those that can provide technical and infrastructural support for de- velopment of ecotourism, as well as support through human resources, Target groups with indirect benefits are: 1. Local population, Roma minority and business stakeholders in the project area, that are not directly involved in ec- otourism, but will use the benefits of positive economic activities related to development of ecotourism in the re- spective area, 2. Decision makers on local and regional level that will benefit from easier preparation of county and regional devel- opment rural tourism and ecotourism strategies, environment protection strategies and models for integration of Roma minority to Croatian society. Implementation of ECOTOP 2 project will positively affect possibilities of development of ecotourism, nature preser- vation and inclusion of Roma population to economic activities in the cross border area of Hungary and Croatia. 1.2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In order to carry out the research in ECOTOP 2 project we used qualitative and quantitative methodology, i.e. we car- ries out survey questionnaire on random sample of informants and interviews with selected informants that are directly connected with the topic of inclusion of Roma population to ecotourism. In the first section of the survey questionnaire the informants were asked to assess to which extent the characteristics such as love for nature, travel, sports and organic products refer to them and which type of tourism they are most inter- ested in. They were also asked to describe the notion of ecotourism in their own words. Positive reply to filter questions related to visiting some rural tourism destination directed the informants to questions that defined in more detail infor- mation about the categorisation of the object they visited, services and products they used and activities they participat- ed in. If the reply to filter questions