Survey on local population's attitudes toward tourism development in 2018
Research area : Tourism market research
Project manager : Zrinka Marušić mag. math., univ.spec.oec.
Performer :
Implementation period : 2019.
Client : HTZ, TZ Istarske županije, TZ Primorsko-goranske županije, TZ Zadarske županije, TZ Splitsko-dalmatinske županije, TZ Dubrovačke županije, TZ Grada Zagreba
Contributors
Researchers: Larisa Dukić, Zrinka Marušić, Renata Tomljenović
The survey of the local population's attitudes towards tourism development in 2018 followed the methodological framework set in 2012, within the development of the Tourism Development Strategy of Croatia by 2020. In 2018, the survey was conducted on a stratified random sample of 2,535 respondents – Croatian residents aged 18 to 75, representative by region, sex and level of education. The data were collected by method of telephone interview, from June 19 to July 5, 2018. The results of the survey are presented in the report, at the country level and for each of the 10 tourist regions.
The results indicate that Croatian residents have mainly a positive attitude towards tourism, a relatively large share of population who, despite the lack of income from tourism, still report that they benefit from tourism. It is also positive that citizens are critically questioning the theses that are often and continuously being put into public discourse like tourism as an activity for poorly paid jobs only, which encourages unwanted labor force imports, visually pollutes an urban harmony etc. Finally, probably due to the expressed awareness of the economic benefits of tourism, residents are generally tolerant to the crowds and other negative manifestations of tourist activity. Nevertheless, the support to tourism is decreasing in comparison to 2012, the share of residents recognizing the positive effects of tourism is decreasing also, and the share of those recognizing its negative effects is growing. Also, there is a slight decline in support for various tourism development policies. Furthermore, a relatively large share of the population has no established attitudes on various aspects of tourism, and can therefore easily become promoters but, equally, opponents of tourism and tourism development. Based on these results, tourism policy makers at the national and regional level can devise quality strategies or plans to raise awareness of the importance and value of tourism, which is, by legislation, one of the key tasks of tourism boards.
Survey on local population's attitudes toward tourism development in 201 (in croatian language, and summary in english)