TOURISM CARRYING CAPACITY OF THE COUNTY OF SPLIT-DALMATIA
Research area : Sustainable tourism development
Performer :
Implementation period : 2018.
Client :
Contributors
Researchers: Hrvoje Carić, Larisa Dukić, Siniša Horak, Zoran Klarić, Lana Knapić, Zrinka Marušić, Dubravko Milojević, Renata Tomljenović
The concept of sustainable carrying capacity in this Study is based on the recognition of the key constraints or 'bottlenecks' of further increase of number of tourists in a particular area over a given period of time, taking into account the present state of the tourism product, existing technology and management practice. The maximum sustainable carrying capacity is set for the peak season, i.e. for July and August, when the pressure from tourism activity is the greatest. Sustainable carrying capacity is estimated through elaboration of the key indicators of tourism development. The invariable indicators taken into account are the spatial and ecological components of the area’s carrying capacity. Variable indicators, those that can be changed and/or modified to a greater or lesser extent, include communal and transport utilities / infrastructure and socio-cultural and political-economic components.
The sustainable carrying capacity is determined for seven County clusters: Split, Split Riviera, Makara Riviera, islands of Brac, Hvar and Vis, and Dalmatian hinterland. The estimation of carrying capacity is based on: (i) secondary data collected from existing and available sources, directly or through additional analysis, (ii) primary research (survey of local population attitudes towards tourism development conducted on a sample of 1,500 respondents; survey of local government conducted on a sample of 12 cities and 25 municipalities), (iii) in depth interviews with stakeholders of tourism development, and (iv) observation (capturing the state of the area during one-day airplane flight in August, the top season).
In addition to the assessment of sustainable carrying capacity that is based on the analysis of a number of indicators of sustainable development at the cluster level, separately for the high season and out of season period, the Study also encompasses recommendations and potentials for further development, given at the cluster level.