Marko KOŠČAK, Lea-Marija COLARIČ-JAKŠE, Daša Fabjan, Staša Kukulj, Saša Založnik, Mladen Knežević, Tony O'Rourke, Boris Prevolšek

No one asks the children, right?

Abstract:
Modern tourism planning and development of a destination should include input from all levels of society, including different age groups and varying interest groups within a local community. However, it is very rare that, in the process of participatory planning, youths and school groups are invited to express their views on development plans or have the opportunity to take an active part in decision-making. In this study, a nonverbal semantic differential was used in order to learn about how children in Slovenian primary schools view tourists and tourism. A sample of students from three primary schools located in developed, semi developed and poorly developed tourist destinations completed an "activity book" containing questions and a methodology for drawing a picture of "tourists", "hosts", and "children's parents' perception of tourists". This study showed that children from regions where tourism is highly developed have significantly different attitudes toward tourists than children living in regions where tourism is not as developed. However, the study also takes a perspective of the importance of sustainability in the tourism offer and how this may affect the views of children & youth in general and in different regions in particular.