engleski

Methods and implications of tourism expenditure assessment in city tourism: Zagreb case study

This paper deals with the estimation of tourism expenditure within an open area, such as a region or destination. This paper presents and analyses the results of a study that aimed to determine the level of tourism activity within the city of Zagreb ; moreover, the aforementioned study also aimed to further broaden the information base required for strategic decision-making in the tourism sector. The impact of tourism on city economy is often overestimated (Ashworth and Page, 2011). However, Wöber (2000), points out that due to the focus on accommodation statistics, without taking into account daily visitors, total tourism expenditures in cities can also be greatly underestimated. In an effort to overcome different obstacles in the measurement of tourism activity within an open urban area, the assessment of tourism consumption within the city of Zagreb has been based on demand-driven TSA methodological framework that takes into account all segments of tourism demand (tourists and same-day visitors, inbound and domestic) whilst utilizing a ‘top-down’ approach to extract data on the city of Zagreb from secondary sources on Croatian internal tourism flows. Such an approach results in estimations that are compatible with the assessment of tourism consumption on the macro level for Croatia as a whole. In accordance with the increasing importance of city tourism in Europe, Zagreb registered an annual growth rate of tourism overnights in commercial accommodation facilities at 9.7% from the period of 2000–2008, making it one of the most dynamic increases in the region. The study estimates that tourism consumption in Zagreb during 2009 was 309 million Euros (4.1% of the total tourism expenditures in all of Croatia for 2009), of which 80% was realized by tourists and 20% by same-day visitors. International visitors accounted for 68% of the total tourism expenditure while 32% was contributed by domestic visitors. The analysis revealed almost the same share of four types of services in total tourism expenditures: (i) accommodation, (ii) food and beverage, (iii) shopping and (iv) culture, recreation and sport. The study implications refer to the development of a system for monitoring tourism expenditure as well as to the estimation of the impact of tourism on Zagreb’s economy. The conclusions should assist city tourism stakeholders with the increasing tourism consumption in Croatia’s capital city. By combining different data sources in the estimation of tourism expenditure, hidden tourism flows were also revealed, particularly in the area of private tourism accommodation, such as rented private rooms and apartments.

city tourism statistics; TSA; tourism expenditures; same-day visitors; domestic tourism

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