Page 30 - Koderman, Miha, and Vuk Tvrtko Opačić. Eds. 2020. Challenges of tourism development in protected areas of Croatia and Slovenia. Koper, Zagreb: University of Primorska Press, Croatian Geographical Society
P. 30
challenges of tourism development in protected areas of croatia and slovenia
Introduction
Although they are not considered to be a basis of tourism attraction, trans-
port accessibility, transport connectivity, and transport infrastructure are
highly significant preconditions for creating and developing a tourism des-
tination (Prideaux, 2000; Kušen 2002; 2010; Čavlek et al., 2011). The inten-
sity of tourist flow is often proportionate to transport accessibility, quali-
ty of transport connectivity, and infrastructure in a tourism destination.
However, increasing traffic volume caused by the expansion of tourist trav-
el in popular tourism destinations leads to ecological and financial chal-
lenges. Although the concept of sustainable tourism development, which
facilitates spending leisure time in a clean and peaceful environment, is
currently imposed as an essential approach to tourism destination man-
agement, it is becoming practically unachievable for more and more tour-
ism destinations. Along with problems arising from high costs of transport
infrastructure construction and maintenance (e.g. motorways, modern
airports, quality rail network, cruise ship terminals, car parks), traffic in
tourism destinations today frequently has a negative impact on the envi-
ronment (Müller, 2004).
With the purpose of satisfying motives to spend leisure time in ecolog-
ically clean and peaceful surroundings and also learn about natural herit-
age, protected areas are becoming increasingly popular sights/destinations
in the modern tourism and recreation supply. The rise of popularity of pro-
tected areas in the tourism demand is concurrent with the increase in con-
flicts between their transport accessibility and connectivity as precondi-
tions for a higher number of visitors, and sustainable tourism development
imperatives that require special attention in managing protected areas. It is
noteworthy to emphasise that these areas are not characterised as protect-
ed for promotion of their most valuable parts of natural heritage, rather for
their protection and preservation for future generations.
National parks and nature parks represent one of the largest and most
visited categories of protected areas in Croatia in terms of surface area
(Bralić, 2000; Klarić and Gatti, 2006; Opačić et al., 2014), so the conflicts
between their transport accessibility as a factor of tourism flow and their
sustainable development are most pronounced (Fig. 1).
According to data from the Nature Protection Database of the Ministry
of Environment and Energy of the Republic of Croatia (2017), protected ar-
eas in Croatia encompass 7,528.03 km2 (8.54 % of Croatian territory, includ-
ing territorial seas). National parks (979.63 km2 in total) and nature parks
28
Introduction
Although they are not considered to be a basis of tourism attraction, trans-
port accessibility, transport connectivity, and transport infrastructure are
highly significant preconditions for creating and developing a tourism des-
tination (Prideaux, 2000; Kušen 2002; 2010; Čavlek et al., 2011). The inten-
sity of tourist flow is often proportionate to transport accessibility, quali-
ty of transport connectivity, and infrastructure in a tourism destination.
However, increasing traffic volume caused by the expansion of tourist trav-
el in popular tourism destinations leads to ecological and financial chal-
lenges. Although the concept of sustainable tourism development, which
facilitates spending leisure time in a clean and peaceful environment, is
currently imposed as an essential approach to tourism destination man-
agement, it is becoming practically unachievable for more and more tour-
ism destinations. Along with problems arising from high costs of transport
infrastructure construction and maintenance (e.g. motorways, modern
airports, quality rail network, cruise ship terminals, car parks), traffic in
tourism destinations today frequently has a negative impact on the envi-
ronment (Müller, 2004).
With the purpose of satisfying motives to spend leisure time in ecolog-
ically clean and peaceful surroundings and also learn about natural herit-
age, protected areas are becoming increasingly popular sights/destinations
in the modern tourism and recreation supply. The rise of popularity of pro-
tected areas in the tourism demand is concurrent with the increase in con-
flicts between their transport accessibility and connectivity as precondi-
tions for a higher number of visitors, and sustainable tourism development
imperatives that require special attention in managing protected areas. It is
noteworthy to emphasise that these areas are not characterised as protect-
ed for promotion of their most valuable parts of natural heritage, rather for
their protection and preservation for future generations.
National parks and nature parks represent one of the largest and most
visited categories of protected areas in Croatia in terms of surface area
(Bralić, 2000; Klarić and Gatti, 2006; Opačić et al., 2014), so the conflicts
between their transport accessibility as a factor of tourism flow and their
sustainable development are most pronounced (Fig. 1).
According to data from the Nature Protection Database of the Ministry
of Environment and Energy of the Republic of Croatia (2017), protected ar-
eas in Croatia encompass 7,528.03 km2 (8.54 % of Croatian territory, includ-
ing territorial seas). National parks (979.63 km2 in total) and nature parks
28
