HEALTH TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN CONTINENTAL CROATIA

Vladimir Cini (), Natasa Drvenkar () and Mario Banozic ()
Additional contact information
Vladimir Cini: Faculty of Economics in Osijek
Natasa Drvenkar: Faculty of Economics in Osijek
Mario Banozic: City of Vinkovci Vinkovci

Interdisciplinary Management Research, 2015, vol. 11, 1052-1065

Abstract: Although the present position of the Republic of Croatia within European tourist capacities is favourable, it is necessary to increase the quality of overall tourism offer and overcome seasonal fluctuations. From a regional point of view, tourism in the Republic of Croatia has achieved varied development levels. More than 94% of tourism turnover in the Republic of Croatia is achieved in the Adriatic region, which is mostly based on seasonal tourism products. Geothermal potential of the Republic of Croatia can be one of the first steps in expanding the existing tourism offer and attaining all-season tourism. The analysis of previous research indicates that the biggest contribution in defining the geothermal tourism offer was provided by medical scholars (primarily physicians) rather than tourism specialists or economists. For this reason, this area has largely remained in the domain of medical tourism and development, and failed to be seen as new tourism potential. Different statistics and indicators show that there is growing investment in the health sector (mostly privately owned) as well as growing demand for this selective form of tourism, which should, in strategic terms, be linked to the trend of an increased dedication to the quality of life and European demographic trends. Th e analysis of this type of tourism offer in the neighbouring countries and benchmarking will yield conclusions about comparative advantages of these countries over Croatia. Although these countries in general have lower tourism potentials than Croatia, they are achieving remarkable results. A legal framework and mechanisms for enabling synergies between medical and tourism services is a precondition for the development of new tourism products in continental Croatia and their inclusion in the general development policy. Current legislation with a direct impact on exploitation of geothermal energy will be studied in order to formulate a model for eliminating the existing legal barriers, and to provide guidelines for future activities, with the general aim of attracting new investments.

Keywords: geothermal energy; continental Croatia; medical tourism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L83 Q26 Q56 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.efos.hr/repec/osi/journl/PDF/Interdisci ... tResearchXI/IMR11a76 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osi:journl:v:11:y:2015:p:1052-1065

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Interdisciplinary Management Research from Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Economics, Croatia Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Hrvoje Serdarusic, PhD ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).