engleski

The Possibilities for Repositioning of the Opatija Riviera's Tourism Offer

The competition on the modern tourist market has been getting more harsh and unscrupulous which is very challenging for tourist destinations and 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 European and world tourist market. The Opatija Riviera is an important factor of the total tourism offer, not only in the County of Primorje – Gorski Kotar, but also the Republic of Croatia, taking into consideration that it is recognised on the European and world level. Pleasant Mediterranean climate, beautiful landscape, favourable geographical position and transport accessibility are only some of the factors of tourism development and of greater number of arrivals of domestic and foreign tourists. The tourism offer is mostly based on beach tourism, while other important selective forms of tourism are nautical and conference tourism. Regardless of the above- mentioned factors, their full potential has not yet been fulfiled. In order to achieve competitive advantages, 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 not only the number of tourists and realised overnights, but also the total level of tourist consumption. The paper will present the significance and role of the Opatija Riviera in tourism development of the County of Primorje – Gorski Kotar and propose guidelines for future development with the objective to achieve competitive advantages, uniqueness and recognisability on the European and world tourist market.

tourism offer of the Opatija Riviera ; preferences of tourist service consumers ; competitiveness ; recognisability ; repositioning

Rad je prezentiran na skupu 3rd International Scientific Congress "International Conference for Business, Economy, Sport and Tourism - ICON BEST 2013”, održanom od 04.-06.10.2013.g., Skoplje, Makedonija, u organizaciji University of Tourism and Management, Skoplje, Makedonija