engleski

Models of Heritage Tourism Sustainable Planning: The Case of the Island of Mljet

The paper examines the dialog between cultural and natural heritage and tourism, and advocates sustainable approach to tourism planning in cultural landscapes. The study is based on the theory models of heritage tourism sustainable planning that act as a catalyst for tourist attractiveness and the recognisability of the destination. From the spatial-planning point of view, the competitiveness of the destination is based on the cultural experience of unique spatial units and on the regional quality of the environment and landscape, which recognize how the interaction between tourism and heritage can promote quality of the destination as a place to live, work and invest. Models of heritage tourism sustainable planning imply the harmony and balance between the global tourism standards and the preservation of the cultural identity of the destination. They are comprised of two main components: an autochthonous place and its cultural and socioeconomic characteristics and viable tourism scenario and its sustainable cultural product. A case study is carried out on the Croatian Island of Mljet, the oldest National Park in the Adriatic, the island which combines myths, legends and cultural historical processes from the stone age, the periods of Illyrians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Slavs, Republic of Dubrovnik, Austro-Hungarian empire, up to the present times. The research, based on the all stakeholder visual perception questionnaire, proves that the heritage tourism sustainable planning models must support the development of tourism without jeopardizing the spatial and socioeconomic characteristics of both natural and anthropogenic features of the area and without creating social or economic difficulties for the local community. At the same time, they must be possible to regulate the visitor capacity which is consistent with the image of the destinations’ lifescape and with the quality of the cultural tourism experience of the visitors. This work has been supported by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project HERU-2032.

heritage tourism, cultural landscapes, sustainable planning, lifescape

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