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A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Cerovic, Ljerka; Drpic, Danijel; Milojica, Vedran Article The possibilities for repositioning of the Opatija Riviera's tourism offer UTMS Journal of Economics Provided in Cooperation with: University of Tourism and Management, Skopje Suggested Citation: Cerovic, Ljerka; Drpic, Danijel; Milojica, Vedran (2014) : The possibilities for repositioning of the Opatija Riviera's tourism offer, UTMS Journal of Economics, ISSN 1857-6982, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Vol. 5, Iss. 1, pp. 121-130 This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/105293 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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UTMS Journal of Economics 5 (1): 121–130. Preliminary communication (accepted November 19, 2013) THE POSSIBILITIES FOR REPOSITIONING OF THE OPATIJA RIVIERA'S TOURISM OFFER Ljerka Cerovic1 Danijel Drpic Vedran Milojica Abstract: The competition on the tourist market is getting more harsh, which imposes the need for continuous co- operation of academic and economic community with the objective to get to know the latest wishes and aspirations of increasingly demanding tourists, and improvement of the tourism offer in accordance with their preferences. Maximum efforts must be invested in achieving recognisability and competitive advantages on the international tourist market. The purpose of the paper was to point out the importance of Opatija Riviera as a tourist destination in function of contributing the development of a Croatian tourist product. The goal of the paper was to give the presentation of the importance of researching the satisfaction with the offer of a tourist destination. It is necessary to reposition the current position of the Opatija Riviera on the tourist market and to, through adequate promotion of the tourist destination, increase the tourist turnover. Keywords: tourism offer of the Opatija Riviera, preferences of tourist service consumers, competitiveness, recognisability, repositioning. Jel Classification: L83 INTRODUCTION The Republic of Croatia possesses a rich resource base which is a foundation for tourism offer development. It must attempt to create new tourist products based on designing of new, innovative events and attractions on the tourist market in order to attract new tourists and achieve an increase in tourist consumption and competitiveness. It must be designed in compliance with the sustainable development principles. Taking into consideration the fact that new tourist destinations keep 1 Ljerka Cerovic, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics in Rijeka; Danijel Drpic, M.Sc., Ph.D. Candidate, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija; Vedran Milojica, M.A., Rijeka, Croatia. 121 Cerovic, Ljerka, Danijel Drpic, and Vedran Milojica. 2014. The possibilities for repositioning of the Opatija Riviera’s tourism offer. UTMS Journal of Economics 5 (1): 121–130. emerging on the modern tourist market, Croatia must make the best of its resources and invest the greatest efforts in development of quality and diverse tourism offer (adjustment to preferences of modern tourists, adoption of best practice of the leading destinations, and creation of its own unique and top tourism offer) in order to stand out among countless tourist programmes and events offered by the competing destinations, and to achieve competitive advantages on the turbulent and changing tourist market. The Opatija Riviera is an important factor of development and improvement of the total tourism offer of the County of Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Croatia whose true potentials have not been fulfilled despite real opportunities. Taking into consideration previously mentioned, the authors have set the following hypothesis: by conducting continuous research and monitoring the level of satisfaction of tourists with the tourist offer of Opatija Riviera, it is possible to improve the quality of tourist offer, achieve recognisability, and thus, achieve competitive advantages on the contemporary tourist market. The purpose of this paper was to point out the importance of Opatija Riviera as a tourist destination in function of contributing the development of a Croatian tourist product. The goal of the paper was to present an analysis of the state of tourism in the Opatija Riviera and tourists' satisfaction with its tourism offer, its significance in terms of contribution to tourism development in the County of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, and proposal of guidelines for future development of the tourism offer of the Opatija Riviera. In this paper, the following scientific methods were used: method of analysis and synthesis, historical method, method of concretization, statistical method based on secondary statistical data used in the paper, method of comparation, classification, description, and others. THE CURRENT STATE OF TOURISM IN THE OPATIJA RIVIERA – ELEMENTS OF THE TOURIST OFFER AND TOURISTS' SATISFACTION According to Stipanovic and Alkier Radnic (2007), the globalised environment and determinants of the dynamic European tourist market define the principles of tourism. Activities of the competition and development of demand preferences require constant activities, optimisation and promptness in development. Innovation in the developmental concept provides the possibility of transforming the Croatian tourism offer and redesigning the monotonous, scarce mass tourism offer into an industry of entertainment and active holidays, with the objective to stimulate higher tourist consumption, attract tourists of higher purchasing power and increase the level of tourist satisfaction. An important precondition in the process of designing tourist events and programmes is caring for the impact of a new tourist product on competitiveness of the destination. The author Tripunic, via Kresic, points out that competitive advantage is the 'punctum saliens' of strategic activities of all the tourist suppliers in the destination, and its possession the basis for differentiating successful from unsuccessful destinations (adapted according to Kresic, 2007). Therefore, there is the need to create new and innovative contents of tourism offer in tourist destinations, especially in Opatija which has been developing its tourism industry since the 19th century. 122 Cerovic, Ljerka, Danijel Drpic, and Vedran Milojica. 2014. The possibilities for repositioning of the Opatija Riviera’s tourism offer. UTMS Journal of Economics 5 (1): 121–130. The Opatija Riviera has an important role in realising more successful and competitive tourism development and recognisability, not only of the County of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, but also Croatia as a tourist destination on the international tourist market. Its rich history, natural resources, cultural and historical heritage, good transport links, the vicinity of tourist-generating markets, etc., are some of the factors for which this destination developed its recognisable image and tourism offer. However, comparing its current state with the other leading Mediterranean destinations, the conclusion is derived that it is insufficiently developed in relation to its real possibilities. Great efforts should be invested in the creation of a single tourist product which will be recognised by tourists as a unique tourist brand. What follows is the presentation of tourists' satisfaction with elements of the tourism offer in the Opatija Riviera. Likert's scale was used in the analysis (1–7), i.e. tourists could choose from 1 (complete dissatisfaction with the offer of the tourist destination) to 7 (complete satisfaction with the offer of the tourist destination). 2 Table 1. Elements of the Tourism Offer in the Opatija Riviera in 2011 Elements of the tourism offer in the Opatija Riviera Sub-region Inhabitants, employees in tourism 5,59 Space, resources, environment 5,49 Facilities 5,22 Organisation of the destination 5,03 Recognisability, safety, level of information 4,96 The above indicates the fact that tourists are mostly satisfied with kindness of the local population and employees in tourism and the hotel industry (5,59). What follows are the space, resources and the environment (rated 5,49) which indicates quality background for development of sustainable tourism offer. This is especially significant, taking into consideration