In the era of mass tourism development in Europe, tourism is perceived (often unrealistically) as a vehicle for the revitalisation of marginalised rural and mountain areas. This paper focuses on Lika in Croatia, a historic mountain and karst region that has long been marginalised from urban centres and coastal tourist areas. Without major urban centres, the rural region has suffered from intense depopulation, agricultural decline, deindustrialisation and the 1991-1995 war events. On the other hand, the growing popularity of Croatia as a tourist destination and investments in several highly visited sites (e.g. Plitvice Lakes) have increased the population’s awareness of tourism potential and their perception of tourism as a key element of socio-economic revitalisation._x000D_
This research was conducted as part of the Ruralika project, funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. The study aims to determine the community’s level of awareness of tourism potential and how realistic they are about tourism development. In order to gain a deeper insight into the actual impacts and limitations of tourism and community awareness, the results were obtained using a mixed methods approach consisting of field observation, interviews and analysis of statistical data. Interviews were conducted in 2022 with more than 100 participants who have a connection to Lika. They were divided into four groups: (1) those who never left Lika, (2) those who left Lika for good, (3) those who left Lika and returned, and (4) those who moved to Lika. They were asked to explain the factors that had the greatest influence on their decision to leave or stay in Lika, as well as their views on current and future economic development. The answers from the interviews were compared with statistical data on tourism and population to identify the discrepancy between actual and perceived tourism development and to identify areas with different stages of tourism, its socio-economic impact and community awareness.
Ivan Šulc (1), Anita Bušljeta Tonković (2), Slaven Gašparović (1)
(1) University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science, Department of Geography, Marulicev trg 19/II, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, (2) Institute Of Social Scineces Ivo Pilar, Regional Centre Gospić, Trg Stjepana Radića 4/I, 53000 Gospić, Croatia
ID Abstract: 957