Urban Heritage Tourism A Case Study of Dubrovnik

Bournemouth University, UK
M.A. European Tourism Management

(ETM)
Urban Heritage Tourism

A Case Study of Dubrovnik
Rolf Pothof
September 2006
ABSTRACT
In the eighties and nineties heritage tourism has been entitled as a mayor new area in
consumer demand. Heritage tourism was considered as a mayor growth area and a
vital opportunity for planning authorities to develop. It could be employed to promote
local cultures to fulfil the need for new economic activities and as a motive to
regenerate and revitalise urban centres (Richards 1996; Law 1993). Apostolakis
(2002) indicates that the boom of heritage tourism springs from the shift from a
production-driven to a consumption-driven tourism industry which induced a human
demand for differentiation and unique experiences largely to be supplied towns and
cities.
Cities, being important heritage centres, have faced a spectacular increase of visitor
numbers during the last decades making tourism for many cities a significant
economic sector.
However the favourable economic impacts that tourism
development may cause to cities and towns, disadvantageous effects of the tourism
industry as congestion, damage of the cultural heritage, and problems caused by its
often seasonal character and sensitivity to macro-economic developments has made
local and national governments aware of the need for integrative tourism planning and
management.
For Dubrovnik, tourism has been a crucial economic sector since the 1930s. After the
aggressions on the city in the beginning of the 1990s, Dubrovniks conventional
industries have disappeared with the consequence that nowadays the city is near to
completely oriented on tourism. This study will investigate the current developments
in Dubrovniks tourism industry. It will analyse and assess the effects of tourism
developments on the natural and cultural heritage and on the way of life of the local
population. Moreover, the study will investigate the future perspectives of tourism
development in the city and suggest a number of recommendations which may be
transferable to other heritage cities that face the challenge to sustain the tourism sector
for the future.
Research findings are largely collected through personal
communication of the researcher with the people working in the tourism industry of
Dubrovnik.
List of contents
ABSTRACT...................................................................................................I
LIST OF CONTENTS................................................................................. II
LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................V
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT........................................................................... VI
DECLARATION............................................................................................VII
Chapter 1: Introduction
Introduction to the research topic......1
Research aim and objectives..2
Methodological approach3
Case study of Dubrovnik.3
Applied methods..3
Structure of dissertation..4
Chapter 2: Literature Review

Introduction6
Heritage..6
Heritage and history..8
Definition of heritage tourism...8
The heritage tourist.11
The rise of heritage tourism11
Heritage and post-modern tourism consumption12
Urban heritage tourism14
Heritage cities15
Global and local forces in the urban environment...15
Global forces..18
Local forces19
Tourism in historical cities...21
A Typification of the tourist historic city 21
The concept of historic-city tourism22
The City tourist product24
The users of the tourist-historic city...26
Tourism management of the tourist-historic city...27
II
Tourism development and the destination lifecycle 27

Sustainability..30
Sustainability in urban heritage tourism.31
Stakeholder collaboration and partnerships..33
Visitor management .35
Planning policies for urban heritage37
Conclusion..39
Chapter 3: Methodology
Introduction....40
Research....40
Methodology and methods..41
Aim and objectives...41
Secondary data collection and the literature review...43
Sources for secondary data analysis43
Advantages and limitations of secondary data analysis44
Primary data collection45
Qualitative research methods.46
Mixing methods: triangulation 46
Case studies..47
Interviews...49
Types of interviews...49
Questionnaires..50
The questions51
Observation. .52
Sampling54
Limitations. ..55
Conclusion.56
Chapter 4: Case Study of Dubrovnik

Introduction...57
Dubrovnik..57
The Dubrovnik Summer Festival58
History Post-war trend.58
Recovering of the tourism industry60
Hotel capacity61
Elite tourism...62
Extension of the season..62
Future planning.....62
III
Conclusion.63
Chapter 5: Main Findings

Introduction64
The importance of tourism for Dubrovnik..64
The impacts of tourism.65
Cultural identity..69
Atmosphere70
Job satisfaction..72
Relations between residents and tourists..74
Attitude towards mass tourism....75
Economic gain and mass tourism...77
Responsibility for tourism development.79
Sustainability..80
Stakeholders involvement...81
Partnerships...82
Competition....83
Research.83
Human resources..84
Tourist capacity..85
Visitor management..85
Future tourism development....86
Conclusion..87
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions.89
Recommendations.91
Visitor management.........92
Diversification92
Service improvement93
Extension of the season...93
Collaboration..94
Research.94
Bibliography.95
IV
Appendices
Appendix A: Examples of questionnaires and interview questions101
Appendix B : Interview 1...109
Appendix C : Interview 2...116
Appendix D : Interview 3...123
Appendix E : Interview 4...129
Appendix F : Interview 5...135
List of figures
Figure 2.1: The commodification of the past....10
Figure 2.2: Old and new tourism compared.17
Figure 2.3: Some tourisms .23
Figure 2.4: Some tourism cities.24
Figure 2.5: Principal relations in the urban tourism system..25
Figure 2.6: Functional areas in the tourist city.26
Figure 2.7: The vicious circle of tourism development...29
Figure 2.7: Approaches to the past...38
Figure 2.8: The elements of a tourism plan.....39
Figure 4.1: Tourists Arrivals to Dubrovnik...60
Figure 4.2: Overnights in Dubrovnik 61
Figure 4.3: Growth rate of tourist arrivals to Dubrovnik.61
Figure 5.1a: Damaging effects of tourism on the urban environment........66
Figure 5.1b: Improving effects of tourism on the urban environment.66
Figure 5.2: The effects of mass tourism on the cultural identity.....69
Figure 5.3: The effects of mass tourism on the atmosphere in the city.....71
Figure 5.4: Job satisfaction of tourism employees72
Figure 5.5: Relations between locals and tourists....74
Figure 5.6: The attitude towards mass tourism.75
Figure 5.7: Economical profit and the burden of tourist...77
Figure 5.8: Suggestions for future tourism development...87
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I wish to thank those who cooperated in this research study: the people of
Dubrovnik. Without their help this research study could never have been realised.
The citizens of this wonderful town proved to be very obliging and gave the
researcher the opportunity to experience the world of urban heritage tourism trough
the eyes of the experts.
Furthermore, I am particularly appreciative to the suggestions made by my supervisor

Dr. Jon Edwards who guided me in the right direction. Jon, you not only made this
dissertation for me an interesting and instructive project, you have brightened the
taught part of the ETM-course for which I am sincerely thankful.
VI
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the dissertation submitted is wholly the work of Rolf Pothof.
Any other contributors or sources have either been referenced in the prescribed
manner or are listed in the acknowledgements together with the nature and scope of
their contribution.
Bournemouth, August 2006
VII
Introduction to the research topic
Heritage and Tourism are inextricably connected.
However heritage exists
independently from tourism, it is hard to imagine tourism without heritage. During

the past decades, the tourism industry has undergone a tremendous growth and
cultural and heritage tourism are considered, according to the WTO (Richards, 2000),
as very important segments of the total tourism demand, representing 37% of
international tourism. Furthermore, tourism analysts indicate a continuous growth
rate of the demand for these specific types of tourism and heritage is often described
as one of the most relevant and fastest expanding components of tourism (Prentice
1994; Richards 1996a). Boniface and Fowler call tourism the greatest show on earth
(1993, p.11) and state that its principal ingredient is heritage.
Recent worldwide trends seem to justify this growth estimation of tourism and
heritage tourism. Particularly the continuous ageing of the population in developed
countries and the foreseen improvement in the quality of life of potential tourists all
over the world are primary factors contributing to an increase in the demand for
heritage tourism. Recent advances as the European integration process, the creation
of the internal market, the Schengen agreement, and the development of the European
Monetary Union with the introduction of the Euro are considered to contribute to the
development of European heritage tourism by providing competitive advantages to
the area. Competition between heritage cities has risen significantly and new tourism
management strategies have to be developed continuously to secure a sustainable
development. However the concept of sustainability has mostly been applied to the
natural environment, many contemporary writers point out that the concept can and
needs to be applied to the urban heritage environment as well (Ashworth and
Tunbridge 2000).
Many popular heritage cities have showed evidence of unsustainable tourism
development and are facing severe negative impacts caused by an unbalanced and
uncontrolled rise of the tourism industry (van den Berg et al. 1995). More cities
become aware that the lassez faire attitude can no longer be tolerated and that a
more integrative tourism planning and management is required within the broader
context of the urban forms and functions (Page 2005). This dissertation will discuss
the basic principles of heritage and more specifically, of urban heritage. Furthermore
it will narrow down to evaluate the different management and planning strategies
offered in the prevailing tourism literature. The case study will, as mentioned before,
analyse the current situation in the historic tourist town of Dubrovnik in order to gain
an insight in the management implications that need to be undertaken to sustain the
tourism sector for the future.
Research aim and objectives

The aim of this study is to investigate and evaluate the positive and negative aspects
of contemporary urban heritage tourism development and to identify opportunities for
sustainable management, focussing on the tourist-historic town of Dubrovnik.
The objectives of the dissertation are:
To gain understanding of and provide a theoretical framework for heritage

tourism focused on urban destinations.
To evaluate trends and prevailing issues in the urban tourism industry and to
indicate the role of tourism in historical towns.
To discuss the problems which heritage cities face in their attempts to build a
viable and manageable tourism industry and evaluate the existing
opportunities to place sustainability on a higher level.
To identify the attitudes and motivations from the different stakeholders

involved in the Dubrovnik tourism industry towards tourism development in
their city.
To determine the opportunities for Dubrovnik to develop and manage the

tourism sector in a more sustainable way and to elaborate a number of
propositions for sustainable tourism management in the city that may prove
valuable for and transferable to other heritage tourist cities.
Methodological approach
This dissertation has been performed on the basis of primary and secondary data
resources. The secondary data is mainly constituted of information extracted from
tourism journals and books available at the library of Bournemouth University.
Primary data collection has been carried out in February 2006 in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Case study of Dubrovnik

For this dissertation the researcher has made use of a case study enquiry focused on
tourism development and its impacts in Dubrovnik. A case study is the study of an
example of the phenomenon under research using the investigation of a single case to
understand and illustrate the phenomenon under enquiry (Veal 2006). The case study
approach permits and encourages the researcher to deploy a variety of sources, data
types and research methods for the investigation with the main purpose to gain a more
complete understanding of the many issues related to the research topic and to
enhance the validity of the findings (Denscombe 2003; Veal 2006).
Applied methods
The different research methods employed for this project are semi-structured and
structured interviews, a questionnaire survey and participant observation.
All
research techniques focus on collecting information from people involved in the

Dubrovnik tourism industry, permanently as a resident or employee, or occasionally
as a tourist.
Structure of dissertation
This dissertation contains 6 chapters:
This chapter provides an introduction to the research study. It describes the aim
and objectives of the study and shortly explains and motivates the research
methodology applied. An outline of the dissertation structure is included.
Chapter 2: Literature review
The literature review discusses and analyses a selection of theories and issues
related to the research topic. A detailed examination of academic publications
concerned with development issues in urban heritage tourism will form the basis
of this chapter.
This chapter thoroughly explains and assesses the selected research methods
employed for the research study.
Different methodological approaches are
assessed for their effectiveness and applicability in the study and the limitations
that the researcher encountered are indicated.
Chapter 4: Overview of the actual situation
This chapter presents a short overview of the past and current situation of the
tourism industry in Dubrovnik. It will be based upon investigation of secondary
and primary data research and show the relevant aspects of the present conditions
and developments in the heritage tourism industry of Dubrovnik. This chapter
will function as an introduction to the following chapter.
Chapter 5 Main findings and discussions
This chapter presents an analysis and discussion of the primary findings collected
by means of the different primary data collection methods explained in chapter 3.
The main findings will present an overall image of heritage tourism in Dubrovnik,
discussing comparisons and contrasts between the viewpoints and perspectives of
the people that have participated in the study.
Chapter 6 Conclusions and recommendations
This last chapter presents summaries and discussions of the findings drawn from
both the secondary and primary research. Recommendations for further research
based on the topic area and this specific dissertation will be included.
Chapter 2: Literature Review

Introduction
This chapter introduces the concepts of heritage and heritage tourism. It discusses the
rise of the heritage tourism industry and the relations between heritage tourism and
post-modern consumption patterns. Furthermore, tourism in heritage cities will be
discussed with a focus on the global and local forces impacting on the urban heritage
industry. The concept of the tourist-historic city will be discussed and finally a
number of important management related principles as sustainability, stakeholder
collaboration and urban tourism planning are elaborated.
Heritage
Heritage is a very broad concept. The Oxford English Dictionary specifies heritage as
valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings and cultural traditions that
have been passed down from previous generations. Many different definitions of the
term heritage are used in literature and the notions of cultural tourism, heritage
tourism and art tourism are often interchangeably employed (Richards, 2000). It is
generally agreed that heritage is part of the broader concept of culture which has
proved even more difficult to define than heritage, given that it is an all-encompassing
concept representing everything that relates to the immeasurable variety in ways of
life (Richards, 1996a, Millar 1995). Howard (2003) regards heritage as everything
that people want to save. The author argues that all heritage is pervasive and that it
concerns to everybody. Nuryanti describes heritage as a part of the cultural tradition
of a society and carrier of historic values of the past (Nuryanti 1996 p 249). Porter
and Salazar describe heritage as a sense of the self in the past (2005, p. 362). This
self relates to the broad spectrum of individual, community, national and global
factors and perceptions, which genealogical, biological or community motivated,
create the link between the present heritage experience and the past. Hitchcock
(1996) however notes that heritage is not just the past but that the past provides raw
material for heritage which is appraised differently from generation to generation.
Millar puts that heritage is about a sense of belonging and continuity that is different
for each person (1995 p. 120 in Orbasli 2000). Millar states that:
Heritage is part of the fabric of peoples lives, consciously or unconsciously accommodating
aspirations and providing symbols of continuity, icons of identity and places of pleasure,
enjoyment and enlightenment in the fast-changing world of global communications..... In its
raw state heritage is simply the natural, cultural and built environment of an area (Millar
2005, p.3).
Miller orders the distinctive generic resources of heritage visitor attractions in an

overall classification model (see table 1.1). The table moves from the macro to the
micro within three main heritage categories: built heritage, natural heritage and
living heritage.
Generic classification of Heritage visitor Attractions

Built heritage
Natural heritage
Living heritage
Nation / Region Cities
Landscape / Sea
People
Area
Historic towns
National Parks
Traditional food
Seaside resorts
Heritage coastline
Festivals
Conservation areas
AONBs
Markets
Museum
Town and country parks Public houses / cafes
Art galleries
Botanic gardens
Craft centres
Historic buildings
Historic gardens
Farms
Site
Historic
sites
and Nature reserves
monuments
Countryside centres
Heritage centres
Country parks
Heritage theme parks
Forest
Transport
Table 2.1: Generic classification of Heritage visitor Attractions, adapted from Millar (1995).
Ashworth and Larkham (1994) consider heritage principally as a contemporary

commodity purposefully created to satisfy contemporary consumption. However,
Millar (1995) claims that although heritage provides great flexibility and opportunities
for commercial exploitation and is malleable enough to support the interpretations and
viewpoints of significant groups at international, national and local levels, it remains a
mysterious thing.
Heritage and history

Nuryanti (1996) points out that heritage expresses the past in the present. Urry (2002)
describes heritage as past and dead and associates it with social and spatial disparities,
history on the other hand, as ongoing and per definition more authentic. Heritage, he
states, is phoney history. With a more critic view, Hewison (1987) comments that the
heritage industry proffers a history that stifles, since it aims to preserve history
against any change. However the great efforts of contemporary society to preserve
and conserve heritage, Orbasli (2000) puts forward that heritage is consumed and
therefore finite.
Hewison (1987, p.9) states that history has become a commodity called heritage.
History is transformed in commercial products that can be marketed, sold and recreated. The author comments that we are manufacturing heritage, a commodity
which nobody seems able to define, but which everybody is eager to sell. Although
commercialisation of heritage generates enormous income, Gaffar (1996) explains
that it can not be merely considered as a tourist product as heritage represents the
legacy and symbol of our ancestry.
With regard to the heritage of the urban
environment, Ashworth and Tunbridge (2000) explain that history has transformed
into heritage, heritage into urban resource. This resource shapes the basis of the
history/heritage industry which shapes not only the form but also the functioning
and purpose of the commodified city.
Definition of heritage tourism

The National Trust defines cultural heritage tourism as travelling to experience the
places, artefacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the
past and present. Millar (1995) indicates that the heritage experience is different and
unique for each person. Experience is widely recognised to be the mayor value
outcome of heritage tourism but also, the core of heritage tourism is often explained
as an experimental activity. Uzzel (1989) points out that interpretation of heritage has
traditionally been merely dominated by a resource-based approach (Ashworth and
Larkam 1994; Millar 1989; Nuryanti 1996) concentrating on defining the material and
intangible components of culture and heritage. However, a shift can be noticed
towards integration of tourists needs and motivations into the equation (Richards
1996a; 1996b; Moscardo 2001; Poria, Butler and Airey 2000; 2001a; 2003; Silverberg
1995; Millar 1995). Definition of heritage tourism has resulted in multiple distinct
interpretations of the concept and led to miscommunication and dispute in literature
(see Garrod and Fyall 2000). The ingrained debate whether consumption should be
contemplated rather from the supply- or demand side approach has occupied many
analysts in the heritage field.
Poria, Butler and Airey (2000; 2001a; 2003) decry heritage assessment from the
inheritance perspective founding heritage qualities on the historic properties of the
attraction (Garrod and Fyall 2000). They claim that heritage tourism should be
clarified through the motivation and perceptions of consumers in relation to the
specific features of experienced heritage, and to consumers percipience of personal
heritage which is likely to be a combination of both a global heritage and a local or
national heritage (Boniface and Fowler 1993).
Poria, Butler and Airey (2001a)
therefore define heritage tourism as:

A subgroup of tourism in which the main motivation for visiting a site is based on the place
heritage characteristics according to the tourists perception of their own heritage.Historic
tourism may be defined as a subgroup of tourism in which the motivation for visiting a place
is based on its historic attributes (2001a, p.1048).
In line with other authors (Poria et al. 2000; 2001a; 2003 Richards 1996a; Silverberg
1995; Moscardo1996; 2001; Titmothy 1996) Ashworth and Tunbridge (1996) argue
that heritage consumption is demand-driven (the focus should lie on the user, not on
the object) and that the commercial heritage product ensues from a commodification
process. The authors suggest that the actual mercantile heritage product exists in its
interpretation rather that in its resource (figure 2.1). Different products can be created
through different interpretations of same resources. Therefore, heritage recourses can

be nearly unlimitedly exploited and sold, differently interpreted and to different
markets (Ashworth 1996; Millar 1995).
Moreover, the values impacting on the
interpretation and commodification process are conditioned by fashion-subjective

trends in consumer demand. Heritage consumers do not buy whatever product is
offered. On the contrary, they are the deciding factors in the heritage production
process (Moscardo1996; 2001; Titmothy 1996; Millar 1995).
VALUES
HISTORICAL
RESOURCES
HISTORICAL
AGENCIES
S
E
L
E
C
T
I
O
N
ASSEMBLY
Interpretation
Packaging
T
A
R
G
E
T
I
N
G
HERITAGE
PRODUCTS
HERITAGE
INDUSTRIE
Figure 2.1: The commodification of the past (Ashworth, 1997, p.179)
Poria et al. (2000) postulate the importance and effectiveness of a demand-led and
unambiguous definition of heritage tourism for management implications. Garrod
and Fyall (2001) recognise the merit of tourists motivation and expectation
perspectives in the definition of heritage tourism, yet, they suggest that in particular
studies, definitions more open towards personal perception of the concept are
desirable. Absence of- or use of more loose definitions are preferred in cases where
strict ones can confound and disillusion research participants: in qualitative research
the absence of precise definitions can often be a virtue rather than a vice (Garrod and
Fyall 2001, p.1051). Furthermore, the authors comment on a number of weaknesses
of Poria et als definitions. They state that the predominantly demand side definitions
loose functionality in practise where often product-driven heritage curators do not
emulate full customer satisfaction. Moreover, the demand side definition proposed by
Poria, butler and Airey implies that tourist motivation is based on heritage features. If
so, it suggest that supply actually represent the origin of heritage consumption making
the authors efforts to differentiate useless.
Furthermore, Garrod and Fyall (2001)

10
question the possibility and benefit of dividing tourists motivations in those rested on
historic attributes and those underpinned by heritage sites characteristics. In practice,
distinction of motivations into these two often overlapping categories may be
problematic: visitor motivations are unlikely to enable the researcher to differentiate
clearly between heritage and historic tourism (2001, p.1051).
Following these
discussions in literature, it soon becomes evident that heritage tourism should be

considered from both demand and supply side perspectives.
The heritage tourist

Poria et al. has classified heritage tourists into three categories, according to the
heritage status of the visited side, visitors awareness of this status and relation of the
site with the visitors personal heritage. Garrod and Fyall uttered critics since
motioned classification implies that a tourist who visits a place not recognised as
heritage by him or an institution is not a heritage tourist. However, this tourist could
be very well visiting unclassified heritage of someone else (Garrod and Fyall 2000,
p. 1050). This position, as the authors state, makes little sense from the management
perspective.
Irrespective of official classification and personal perceived heritage value, all visitors
impact on the heritage (Millar 1995). It is the experience satisfaction level of all
visitors, including those without personal heritage relation and recognition that
matters to attraction managers. Furthermore Garrod and Fyall make clear that the
Buzzword heritage is over exploited and illegitimately employed by marketers.
Tourist attraction through spurious heritage marketing would enclose false heritage
tourists into their definition. Garrod and Fyall (1998 in Garrod and Fyall 2001) repeat
that the real danger of concentrating on definitions is that one rarely transcends
rhetoric (2001 p.1051). Time to spend on the denotation of a theoretic term might be
more purposively applied when studying its practical implication.
11
The rise of heritage tourism

In the eighties and nineties heritage tourism has been entitled as a mayor new area in
consumer demand. Heritage tourism was considered to be a mayor growth area and a
vital opportunity for planning authorities to develop. It could be employed to promote
local cultures and resolve typical mayor tourism problems as unequal seasonal and
geographic dispersion (Richards 1996). Apostolakis (2002) indicates that the boom of
heritage tourism springs from the shift from a production-driven to a consumptiondriven tourism industry which induced a human demand for differentiation and
unique experiences.
The growth of the tourism heritage industry with its both
collective and unique nature has been a reactive development on the increasingly
sensitive customer tastes.
Hewison (1987) motivated the rise of the heritage industry by an increased
exploitation of cultural recourses in attempt to compensate for a perceived state of
economic decline. An attempt of no avail the author argues, since an improved or
altered reproduction of the past would undermine all capacity for creative progress.
However Hewisons critical, rather pessimistic viewpoint expressed in a period of
economic depression in the UK, the rise of heritage tourism is often explained through
a variety of social-economic changes. During the 1990s, academics (Wait 2000; Urry
1990; 2000) have increasingly focused on the changing conditions of the tourism
industry settled within the movements of global social-economic and political change
and the transition from modernism to postmodernism.
Heritage and post-modern tourism consumption

Postmodernism is difficult to conceptualise. Urry (1990, p.83) notes: it seems as
though the signifier postmodern is free-floating, having few connections with
anything real, no minimum shared meaning of any sort. Hewison (1987) states that
postmodernism is all that happens to contemporary culture now that the period of
modernism has ended. The author suggests that postmodernism is marked by a deep
societal uncertainty of the present and a broken culture.
Postmodernism is
modernism with the optimism taken out and features a rejection of the present:
12
Imaginatively deprived in the present, we turn to images of the past, either in reactionary
revivalism, or in a spirit of ironic quotation that emphasises the distance between the source
and its recycled imagery, while the micro ship is assembled in binary series, the
postmodernist format is the collage, an assembly of fragments without ruling pattern or
perspective. Narrative is deliberately broken or disrupted, special relations are subjective to
chance and a self-referring consciousness of medium is all (Hewison 1987, p.132).
Postmodernism and heritage are bonded in the sense that they subvert an in-depth
understanding of history and interact to produce simulacra of the latter. History is
reselected and rewritten, presenting the past more livelily than the present. Hewison
(1987) argues that although the past is a cultural resource which can serve as an
inspiration for new creation, the transformation of history into heritage and the
obsessive preservation of the latter have blurred a sheer conception of the past and
dulled real creativity.
Many other Authors however, explain the current manifestations of post-modern
tourism consumption as a feature of the more general post-modern consumption
patterns characterised by a highly fragmentised demand and the interweaving of
culture and commerce (Urry 2002; Ashworth and Tunbridge 2002; Richards;
1996a;1996b). Cities increasingly seize cultural consumption as an opportunity to
boost economic regeneration and development of cultural facilities is regarded as an
effective means to attract inward investment (Bianchini 1990 in Richards (1996a)
Furthermore, Ioannides and Debbage (1997) indicate that the technological
transformation of the tourism industry and the emergence of flexible production
strategies have enabled a largely differentiated product offer to satisfy a demand for
increasingly specialised products. However, Ashworth and Tunbridge (2000) argue
that supply of heritage and historic attractions should not be merely interpreted as a
response to post-modern consumer demand but be assessed in the light of broader
social needs. The authors denote that From the medieval pilgrimage, through the
eighteenth-century Grand Tour to the modern marketing of cities as heritage centres,
the historic city has been consciously used as an mayor tourist resource (2000, p.72).
However, Urry indicates that as modernism has been characterised as a process of
differentiation, postmodernism conversely implicates de-differentiation (1990, p.
84).
The author alleges that postmodernist culture is anti-auratic. He argues that
13
whereas modernist culture was separated from the social, original and unique,
founded on unity and creativity, postmodernism by contrast, is featured by an
amalgam of the aesthetic and the social and an emphasis on pastiche, collage,
allegory and so on (1990, p.85). Mordue (2005) remarks that Authenticity and
uniqueness of place is mixed with standardised, global products which appeal to the
cosmopolitan consumer: torn out of time and place to be repackaged for the world
bazaar (Robins 1991, p.31 in Mordue 2005, p.182). Given that in the post modernity,
commerce and culture are inextricably interlaced, the distinction between
reproduction and authenticity, fantasy and reality becomes more and more
indeterminate (Urry 1990; 2000; Ioannides and Debbage 1997; Nuryanti 1997).
Post modern tourism has been categorised on the basis of two different tourism forms
labelled by Munt as simulational tourism and other post-modern tourism (Munt
1994 in Uriely 1997). Simulational tourism as an answer to the de-differentiation
process refers to the consumption of hyperreal experiences, most apparently offered
by theme parks.
Other post-modern tourism centres on real, more authentic
experiences (Uriely 1997).

From the tourist-motivational point of view, the rise of heritage tourism has to be
linked with the increasing human desire to re-explore and re-experience elements of
the past (Porter and Salazar (2005). In contrast to the mass tourism of the 1970s,
contemporary tourists search for novelty-experiences in traditional cultures and
identities being these meaningful and authentic, artificial pseudo events or recourses
for tourists to create and structure their personal meanings from the experience
(Ashworth and Tunbridge, 2000; Richards, 1996; Nuryanti 1996). Silverberg (1995)
points at a movement away from escapism marked by luxury consumption in the
1980s, towards an emphasis on personal enrichment expressed by a growing demand
for historical and cultural experiences. Opposed to the typical sun and sea holiday,
there is a strong movement towards more sophisticated types where exclusivity,
differentiating and unique personal experiences are the norm of the day (Apostolakis
2002, p.798). Furthermore, Uriely (1997) indicates that post-modern tourism features
a multiplicity of tourist motivations and a preference for consumption of a variety of
different types of tourist experiences.
14
Urban heritage tourism

During the last decades urban tourism has appeared as a relevant and distinctive
research subject reflecting the increasing importance of tourism in cities (Pearce,
2001, Law, 2002). However, Page (1995) argues that the lack of an integrative,
holistic research approach is most evinced in the context of urban tourism. The
author underlines that although the significance of interdisciplinary perspectives has
been advocated by many, a great deal of urban tourism studies have proved to be
unapproachable due to their very specialistic and subjective character. Integrative
urban tourism studies can be complicated matters. Many agree that urban areas are
distinctive and complex (Ashworth 1990; Pearce 2001; Blank 1994; Page 1995).
Pearce (2001) points at the complexity of urban tourism and the need to untwine the
tourist function from the other urban functions.
The author explains that the
complexity is inalienably interwoven with the texture and character of urban tourism
and reason for the specific features that make urban tourism so different from other
forms of tourism. Pearce has set out the following four peculiarities of cities: high
physical densities of structures, people and functions; social and cultural
heterogeneity; an economic multifunctionalism; and a centrality within regional and
interurban networks (2001, p.927).
Heritage cities
Cities are often claimed to be the worlds most important tourist destinations (Page
1995; Pearce 2001). Nuryanti states that Build heritage is the heart of cultural
tourism (1996, p.249). Boniface and Fowler note that every town is an assemblage
of heritage and that some cities are among the greatest heritage sites in the world:
The city and town, both as an idea and as a physical agglomeration, is clearly one of the most
important legacies of the past to the present a truism, but of central relevance to modern
tourism (1993, p60).
Ashworth and Tunbridge (1990) explain that, to a certain extend, all urban spaces are
tourism-historic attractive. However, cities are heterogeneously structured and exert
diverse functions and attractions. On the other hand, Orbasli (2000) notes that urban
15
heritage may represent a more concrete and comprehensive value of the past than
displayed in single large and important monuments, it may provide a social
understanding into the life of a previous or foreign era and more often a sense of
identity and of belonging within physical surrounding responding to the human scale
(2000, p. 29). The author indicates that:
Urban heritage is an interpretation of history by a wide range of users the core of urban
heritage lies not just in the historic features of the build fabric and the morphology of the
townscape but as well in the cultural lifestyles of the residential community (Orbasli 2000).
Deindustrialisation and economic restructuring have boosted urban heritage tourism

(UHT) in developed and developing nations around the world.
Ashworth and
Tunbridge (1990) indicate that to fortify their competitive position, many urban areas
have capitalised on culture and heritage.
Urban authorities have come up with
distinct UHT strategies shaped in accordance with the specific local attributes,
picturesque historic-important architecture, social cultural identities and unfavourable
circumstances as for instance negative image and politic or social- economic
instability (Chang et al. 1996). However, the convergence of urban heritage and
tourism often causes problems of contradictive interests between conservationists and
tourism developers (Shackley 1995).
Global and local forces in the urban environment

Poon (1994) argues that international tourism has evolved through the combination of
both global and local trends resulting in a form of new tourism. Standardised mass
tourism prevailing between the 1950s and the 1970s has evolved into a new form of
tourism marked by high flexibility, super segmentation and diagonal integration.
16
Old Tourism
New Tourism
Consumers
Get sunburnt
Inexperienced
Security in numbers
Keep clothes on
Mature
Want to be different
Technology
Unfriendly
Users limited
Stand alone
Talk to each other

All players are users
Many integrated technologies
Technolog
Production
Competition through price

Economics of scale
Vertical & horizontal integration
Competition through innovation

Economies of scale and scope
Diagonal integration
Management
Labour is a cost of production

Maximise capacity
Sell what is produced
Labour is key to quality

Manage yield
Listen to customers
Regulation
Economic growth
Uncontrolled growth
Deregulation
Restructuring
Limits to growth
Frame
conditions
Figure 2.2: Old and new tourism compared, adapted from Poon (1994)
The impacts of global-local interaction has been a mayor issue in urban research
studies stressing the need to investigate tourism in individual cities in a broader
economical, political and geographical context.
Whether the effects of tourism are expressed in terms of the economy, culture and heritage or
the environment, understanding the global-local nexus credits local players with more control
and enables a better understanding of the forces underpinning change and hence
sustainability (Teo 2002, p.459).
In a similar vain, Pearce (2001) denotes that to gain a more complete insight of urban
heritage tourism, urban destinations are to be considered within the context of
regional, national and international dimensions.
Chang, Milne and Fallon (1996) point out that analysis of urban heritage tourism
development usually happens either in a top down or the bottom up perspective.
The top down perspective underlines the power of global and external forces, the
bottom up perspective concentrates on local factors and influences. Literature often
describes the relation between global and local as imbalanced:
Metropolitan corporations and market conditions determine the pace and form of tourism
development of destinations around the world with local actors playing only peripheral roles
17
in the process (Chang et al. 1996, p.285).
Notwithstanding the force of globalisation (identified by Edensor (1998 in Evans

2002) as imperialism empowered through implementation of long lasting bourgeois
philosophies), tourism analysts emphasise the significance of local factors for viable
tourism development and stakeholders ability to mediate in global developments
(Law 1993; Boniface and Fowler 1993; Poon 1993; 1994; Butler 1996); Evans,
(2002). Tourism is seen as a transaction process between the exogenous forces of the
world market and international corporations, and the endogenous powers of the local
stakeholders (Teo 2002).
Global forces
Law (1993) discerned four main factors that have pushed cities to exploit UHT: a
decrease in manufacturing activities, the need for new economic activities, the fact
that tourism is considered a growth industry and a motive to regenerate and revitalise
urban centres. Law indicates that these factors have led to two distinct types of
tourism-urbanisation: reconstruction of manufacturing areas into tourism districts and
development of complete new resorts.
One of the mayor outcomes of the impacts of globalisation on the tourismurbanisation processes is the emergence of more and more homogenised products
(Fainstein and Judd 1999, Pearce 2001; Urry 1990; 2002; Boniface and Fowler 1993).
duplication of such features as waterfront zones, festival marketplaces, downtown malls and
tourism-historic districts in a diverse array of cities has been highlighted as evidence of a
convergence in market demands, global cultural trends and urban planning theories( Chang
et al. 1996, p.258). music and entertainment industries are valued by global sales only, hotel
rooms become identical and restaurant chains offer the same fare on the same chairs in
London, New Delhi or Istanbul (Orbasli 2000, p.4).
In relation to the revitalisation and touristfication of waterfront redevelopments,

Pinder, Hoyle and Hussain (1988 in Chang et al. 1996) assume that it would be safer
to imitate similar projects carried out in others cities rather than to aspire for new,
creative approaches. Conversely, Van den Berg et al. comment that imitation of
successful developments in others cities risks to fall flat. The authors argue that
18
originality is a major strength since curiosity is what drives most tourists (1995, p.
14). Britton (1991) and Jameson (1984 in Richards 1996) argue that multiplication of
tourism products engenders a waning effect where tourism attractions need to be
reproduced on a more rapid rate to comply with a consumer demand for novelty.
However, Russo and van der Borg (2002) put forward that in order to remain
competitive, tourist cities need to build a tourist infrastructure of international
standards which consequently wipes out distinctive and original peculiarities. In
addition, Butler (1996) comments that the increasingly homogenised tourist offer
amplifies the appeal of authentic and unique environments.
Indeed, although
resemblance of tourism sites has given many cities a post-modern anywhere feel, it
is not to state that local identity is disregarded. Orbasli (2000) argues that historic
cities link heritage consumers to an idealised past providing dimensions not to be
found in the rapidly globalising market.
Local forces and bottom-up approaches

Chang et al. (1996) add that in the present climate of global competition and change,
local-level involvement is an economically viable model for tourism development and
control. Poon, (1989; 1993; 1994) puts forward that as a result of rapid global change
featured by the improvement of transportation and communication networks and the
growth and internationalisation of the service sector, local tourism organisations have
been forced to adapt their management styles. The author indicates that the shift from
mass- towards segmented tourism has stimulated local stakeholders to engage more
actively in the tourism industry. Urry (2002) denotes that global trends have pushed
many countries to specialise in particular types of tourism. Moreover, Boniface and
Fowler (1993) indicate that urban tourist destinations increasingly pursue the
exploitation of local resources to emphasise their unique heritage assets in a scene of
globalisation recognizing the potential of local distinctiveness. Additionally, Judd
and Fainstein (1999) indicate that many cities aspire to accentuate particular local
heritage themes to create their own cultural identity and to differentiate from
competitors, often through the formation of specialised heritage themes. Robertson
19
(1995 in Dredge and Jenkins 2003) defines this tendency with the term glocalisation
which refers the strengthening of local identity pushed by global forces.
Mordue
(2005) states that glocalisation may ensure a quality product from the universal
perspective, however, it forces the staging of original local attractions. Thus, urban
heritage can be employed as a vehicle to emphasise and promote unique local culture
enforcing identity within a globalising setting (Teo 2002; Maitland 2005).
Bottom-up approaches concentrate on local urban structure and morphology of urban
sites with minor consideration of global forces and influences and tend to focus on
either to the role of the users (tourists) or the actors (stakeholders).
Studies centring on the actors in the UHT setting investigate the specific roles of
residents, local entrepreneurs and pressure groups, portraying the power relations
between these different stakeholders. However, in attempt to understand
developments in the UHT sector, investigation of the local alone is not effective. The
integration of both local and global factors and study of the interaction between these
is vital. The local environment should not be opposed to the global since locality
implies a vigorous cultural interaction with the dynamic structures of global politics
and economy (Chang et al. 1996).
20
Tourism in historic cities
A Typification of the tourist historic city

The historic city is not the totality of preserved artefacts from the past. It is a contemporarily
created phenomenon, like the study of history itself, can be recreated anew by each generation
according to the prevailing attitudes towards the past (Ashworth and Tunbridge 2000, p.51).
Ashworth and Tunbridge (1990) typify the tourist-historic city in the following ways
a specific kind of urban morphology and activity;
a specific type of city and a city district dedicated to a particular

morphological function;
a history-specific use as tourism resource and an use of tourism as a vehicle to

support the preservation of historic fabric and to legitimise and ensure heed to
the historicity of cities.
Ashworth and Tunbridge point out that the term historic city signifies not just that a
town is old or has a history. It refers to an urban property possessed, to varying
degrees, by basically any town or city similarly as such extents as fun city, work
city or cultural city and can concern the entire city including both modern and
historic morphology and functions or a distinctive historic district in contrast to more
modern areas (2000, p.42). Furthermore, Pearce (1981 in Pearce 2001) points out that
in cities, tourism occupies just one of the many functions and tourists and residents
need to share or compete for space, service and facilities. Moreover, the author
denotes that cities may host numerous and overlapping tourism functions including
gateway, staging post, destination and tourist source (2001, p.928).
Ashworth and Tunbridge (1990) indicate that the exploitation of historic towns for
tourism purposes has brought tremendous economical profits. The Authors base the
rapid development and success of tourism in heritage cities on three universally valid
conditions. Firstly, heritage tourism exploits already available resources. Secondly,
during the first stages of the destination lifecycle, the extra costs engendered by
tourism are marginal and thirdly, through tourism-development generated
21
employment demands a much smaller amount of financial investments than other

economic sectors.
However, it should not be assumed that tourism development in tourism-historic cities
always yield steady economic benefits. Hewison (1987) asserts that the heritage
industry consumes an increasing portion of urban recourses. The Author argues that
heritage industry supersedes the real productive industry and accrues in an
imbalanced manner in proportion to the general growth of urban economies. In
addition, (Law (1993) argues that only certain destinations benefit from the expansion
of tourism since local site factors as quality of service, transportation, information and
competition are decisive for successful development.
Ashworth and Tunbridge
(1990) indicate the importance to distinguish the different tourist-historic cities to

answer the question of how and how much a tourist historic economy should be
encouraged. Factors as the citys available economic alternatives, the fragility of
existing sustainable economic structures and the competitive location of the city with
regard to the generating markets and complementary tourist resources need to be
appraised (Pearce 2001). In addition, Russo and van der Borg (2002) note that not
every city possesses sufficient cultural recourses to develop a virtual tourism industry
and that the available assets need to be promoted conjointly with other tourist
attractions as events, gastronomy and high quality infrastructure.
The concept of historic-city tourism

Ashworth (1995, in Ashworth and Tunbridge 2000, p.56) argues that the concept of
historic-city tourism is best explained on the basis of a number of overlapping
categories of often vaguely defined tourisms with heritage tourism placed at the
central overlap of these tourism categories. The Author discusses four principal
overlapping groups of tourism, eminent in the tourist historic city (figure 2.3): One:
special interest tourism described as holiday pursuit of plausibly chronic specific
interests, boosting a demand for highly diversified products. Two: specific place
tourism, based rather on the uniqueness of the site conveyed through its unique
atmosphere than on the more concrete features of place. This type of tourism centres
on the sense of place, based on a large variety of cultural attributes. Three: urban
22
tourism which encompasses the entire tourist-historic city within its broader urban
environment, and four: cultural tourism which includes many different types of
cultural attractions as for example: music, crafts, language, archaeology, sculpture,
religion and literature.
It is important to note the very tight overlapping between heritage and cultural
tourism, terms that are often equivalently applied in literature (Prentice 1996;
Richards 1996a). In a similar vain, Ashworth and Tunbridge suggest that art can be
considered to be heritage or at least become a heritage resource in future.
Urban
Tourism
Special
Interest
Tourism
Heritage
Tourism
Place
Specific
Tourism
Art
Tourism
Figure 2.3: Some tourisms, adapted from Ashworth and Tunbridge 2002.
Although it may be useful to provide a classification of the prevailing forms of

tourism in historic cities, Ashworth and Tunbridge favour a classification based on
types of historic cities rather than types of tourism or heritage. The authors point at
the difficulty to separate the tourist activity from the urban form and function of cities
and therefore argue to delineate the heritage tourism city as a complex of overlapping
tourism cities (figure 2.4). Ashworth and Tunbridge comment that although the
large show-case cities (often capitals) attract the largest amounts of heritage tourists,
it are the small gem cities which only represent a slight proportion of the touristhistoric cities that are incontestable tourist-historic.
23
Festival cities
Art
Cities
Business,
Entertainment
Sport etc
Tourist cities
Historic &
Cultural
Show -case
Cities
TouristHistoric
Cities
Heritage
Gem
Cities
Figure 2.4: Some tourism cities, adapted from Ashworth and Tunbridge (2000)
The City tourist product

Pearce (2001) cites Karski (1990) and Ehrlich and Dreier (1999) who state that the
success of an urban attraction is decided by the quality of the overall urban tourist
product. It is the variety and completeness of available attractions and activities that
draw visitors to a particular city.
Van den berg, Van der Borg and Van der Meer (1995) have structured the deciding
factors of urban destinations competitiveness in an analysis of the principal
relationships in the urban tourism system and a model of the general attractiveness of
the destination. The authors distinguish five main components of a citys tourist
product (figure 2.5). The first relates to the quality of core tourist products which
sustains the primary reason for tourist visitation. The second represents the quality
and completeness of the complementary facilities. The third component portrays the
destinations image on the tourist market and de last two factors consider the external
(convenience of reaching and entering the destination) and internal (passableness and
ease of movement within the destination) accessibility of the destination (Van den
berg et al. 1995). The primary and complementary tourist products form the base of
the overall tourist product, yet, the citys image through the perception of the market,
24
as well as the quality of the intern and extern accessibility are decisive factors (system
I). The figure demonstrates the influences that the public and private sectors exert on
the individual elements of the tourist product and thus on the attractiveness of urban
tourism (system II).
System II
System I
Primary
tourist
product
Government
- Organising
capacity
- Strategy
Complementary tourist
product
Image
External
accessibility
tourist city
Internal
accessibility
tourist product
Tourist
industry
policy
Attractivity
tourist
product
Figure 2.5: Principal relations in the urban tourism system, adapted from Van den Berg et al. (1995)
The users of the tourist-historic city

Ashworth (1989) associated the user approach with four questions: Who are the
tourists?; what activities do they undertake in the city?; why do they visit the city and
what are their perceptions of they city?
Site specific studies focussing on these questions certainly provide crucial data to the
local urban authorities. However, Richards (1996a) stresses the need to go beyond
the separated case study and execute more methodical and comparable research
studies to generate general legitimate conclusions.
25
The multifunctional character of tourist cities as discussed before complicates a

typification of its users. Most tourists visit a city for more than one purpose. Figure
2.6 indicates the demands of users and a category of resource-uses. The figure
demonstrates the relationships between the multifunctional uses (of city residents;
city-region residents; pleasure seekers; conference visitors and employees in the city)
and the multi-resourced urban setting classified, by Burtenshaw (1991) in
overlapping cities: the historic city; the culture city; the night-life city; the shopping
city and the all comprising tourist city.
Users
(Demand)
City resident
City-region
resident
Pleasure
Visitor
conference
Work
Functional
Links
Users
(Resources)
Historic
Monuments
Museums
Galleries
Theatres
Concert halls
Nightclubs and
Red-light area
Cafes
Restaurant
Shops O Offices
The historic city

The culture city
The night life city
The shopping city
The tourist city
Figure 2.6: Functional areas in the tourist city, adapted from Burtenshaw et al. 1991.
26
Tourism management of the tourist-historic city

There exists no clear concept for tourism management in historic cities. Every city is
managed in a distinctive way irrespective of equivalence in geo-political and urban
climate (Ashworth and Tunbridge 2000; 1990).
Maitland (2005) remarks that
deployment of management strategies in tourist-historic cities has just very recently

been initiated. Van der Borg et al. concluded in 1996 that from the seven heritage
cities under investigation, all in urgent need of tourism regulation, only one had
implemented a strategic tourism policy (Van der Borg et al. 1996).
Russo, Boniface and Shoval (2001) point out that in their attempts to preserve their
heritage from the detrimental effects of tourism, cities prefer to focus less on
straightforward preservation methods of the heritage itself and more on management
and monitoring of the quality of complementary products, service and accessibility.
The prevailing tourism literature puts forward that post-modern urban heritage
tourism management should focus on sustainable development in which the
involvement of many different stakeholders and notably the involvement of the local
population in the decision making process is required. Furthermore, the destination
lifecycle theory initially described Butler in 1980 is applied on the urban heritage
tourism environment to chart potential developments and determine the required
management actions. Sustainability, stakeholders collaboration and the destination
lifecycle in the context of urban heritage tourism will be discussed in the following
sections.
Tourism development and the destination lifecycle

Russo (2001) discusses the cyclic character of tourism at heritage sites and historical
towns.
The author points out that literature describes the life cycle model
predominantly with regard to beach resorts and new products and that the model is
less appropriate for application to urban-historic environments.
However, the
different stages of the life cycle can be clearly identified and serve as a strategic tool
27
to analyse and assess the different periodical development stages that urban heritage
destinations go through.
Nevertheless, Moore and Whitehall (2005, p.112) denote that one should bear in mind
that there does not exist a common lifecycle relationship, which is applicable to all
source markets, therefore management practices intended to boost or rejuvenate
visitor growth to a specific destination should act according to the characteristics of
the different tourist segments. Lundtorp and Wanhill (2001) add that when applied to
resorts, the lifecycle model can prove to be unrepresentative in the long run and no
more than a caricature of the real world. Gale (2005) criticises the simplistic concept
of life cycle models and their exorbitant concentration on destination-specific factors.
The author states that explanations based on such models should integrate cultural
concerns as change in fashion, style and taste.
However, the model has been extensively applied and proved useful to distinguish the
different stages of tourism development. Every stage of the lifecycle is characterized
by a particular spatial dispersion of the costs and benefits produced by tourism.
During the first stage of the lifecycle the benefits of tourism are generally gained in
the area that equally bears the costs. With the enlargement of the tourism destination
area (when hotels are developed outside the core destination for instance) negative
impacts appear when a class of false excursionists emerges. False excursionists are
tourists that avoid high prices and the restricted offer of tourist facilities in the main
destination by staying in a nearby community. The replacement of overnight visitors
by excursionist induces a loss of profit for the central tourist location that continues to
take the costs of tourist visitation (Butler 1996; Russo 2001).
The result is a lower disposable budget for maintenance of heritage attractions, public
facilities and marketing which will ultimately cause a deteriorating of the tourist
appeal (Butler 1996). Beside this, the danger exist that tourism becomes an over
represented economic activity, a mono culture emerges with makes the destination
more vulnerable in a period of declining tourist demand (Hewison 1987).
Russo (2002) clarifies that the impacts of the different life cycle stages are most
severe in middle-sized European heritage cities (see figure 2.7) Medium sized cities
28
do not possess enough resources to spread tourism over the city and are not small
enough to develop a self-contained business (Russo 2002). Therefore, growth of
tourism demand will cause a threat for other urban activities (van der Borg et al.
2002).
Only central attractions

are visited; congestion
increases
C
Poor return of
cultural system
High share of ursionists, shorter visits
Down grading
of quality
products
Expansion of tourist region

(increase of divergence
between area of cost and area
of benefits)
Figure 2.7: The vicious circle of tourism development in heritage destination, adapted from
Russo 2002.
Excessive growth of tourism saturates tourist facilities in the city centre.

Subsequently, auxiliary facilities continue to develop in a more dispersed pattern and
the tourism region (the area that accommodate tourist visiting the central attractions),
enlarges and expands beyond municipal- or even regional or national boundaries in
the case of very popular tourist cities.
As stated before, the share of excursionists becomes more significant. Butler (1996)
puts forward that the type of tourist is equally important as the number, given that that
the visitor profile determines undertaken activities, length of stay, and interaction with
the local population.
Russo (2002, p.169) indicates that these commuting tourists exacerbate the seasonal
character of tourism since daytrips are more sensitive to weather conditions and
special occasions.
Furthermore,
one day visitors have less time and desire to
consume the cultural and auxiliary products and tend to concentrate around the most
29
famous and central attractions causing congesting that complicates ones more a
qualitative cultural experience. Tourists become less and less aware of the cultural
meaning of attractions and the quality of complementary products. Tourist businesses
in the city centre can permit themselves to offer low quality, standardised goods and
services to increase their market share exacerbating the decay of the overall touristproduct, often typified as McDonaldisation.
Not only is the capacity of products to match the demand of a certain market segment is
compromised, but the whole aesthetic quality of the landscape and the system of cultural
values embodied in the city is at stake (Russo, p.172).
Sustainability
The concept of sustainable development has become a focus point in tourism
literature since the late 1980s.
One of the best know definitions of sustainable
development stems from the Brundtland Commission Report of 1987 in which it was
defined as: developments that meet the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Swarbrook (1999, p.36)
defined sustainable tourism as tourism which is economically viable but does not
destroy the resources on which the future of tourism will depend, notably the physical
environment and the social fabric of the host community.
Garrod and Fyall point out that defining sustainable development in the context of
tourism has become something of a cottage industry in the academic literature of late
(1998, p.199). Indeed, an endless variation of more and less similar definitions of the
concept has been produced. Mckercher (1993) puts forward that the vagueness and
subjectivity of the definition facilitate multiple interpretative use of the term by
involved parties, promoting their own specific interest and benefits, rather aggravating
than solving existing conflicts.
Garrod and Fyall (1998) add that definitions of
sustainable tourism development need to be converted in practical and feasible

methodological formulas. Liu denotes that the sustainable tourism debate is patchy,
disjoined and often flawed with false assumptions and arguments (2003, p. 459).
30
However the wide spread critique on the concept, sustainability is viewed by many as
a hope-giving means to take hold of negative impacts caused by tourism and as a
possible guarantee for long term viability of the industry. Therefore, sustainability
has become the key notion and central focus point in many tourism development
strategies.
Wall indicated that sustainability is directly related with changes caused in the local
environment and defined sustainability as acceptable change (Wall, 1994, in Van
der Borg et all. 1996). Van de Borg et al. indicate that sustainability becomes
unfeasible
when costs exceed the benefits (1996, p. 306). Hunter (1997) argues
that sustainable tourism must be concerned with an adaptive paradigm adaptable on

the large variety of distinctive situations. In a similar vain Teo (2002) points out that
sustainability is an ongoing exercise of discovery. It is not so much about balancing
the good with the bad, the negative against the positive. Rather, it is about
responsiveness of the tourism system to the multiple inputs that comprise its
constitution. Only then can sustainable tourism take on the broad brush approach it
was meant to have from the beginning (Teo 2002, p.471).
Godfrey (1998) points out that sustainable tourism should not merely be regarded as
the crucial goal itself, not as a one and only, separated formula, but rather as an interrelated function in a broader, continual development process. The author indicates
that with regard to towns and cities in the UK, the most evident support for
sustainable progress originates from communities already engaged in a more
proactive and comprehensive approached experiencing and appreciating the wider
impacts and vantages of the concept.
Sustainability in urban heritage tourism

Though little research has been carried out to assess sustainable heritage tourism,
Garrod and Fyall (1999, p.683) estimate the importance of the correlation between
heritage management and sustainability since these two share a common theme.
The central ideology of both concepts exists in exploitation of heritage for economical
31
profit while protecting and conserving it for next generations. Literature sustains the
conviction that heritage tourism needs a different approach then general tourism.
Heritage need to be preserved in the first place and access to tourists is often regarded
as a second concern, especially when decay and negative tourist impacts matter. Here
the issue rises: For who is the heritage preserved?
Garrod and Fyall analysed heritage managers perception towards admission pricing
and heritage conservation funding.
The outcomes affirm managers reservation
towards the employment of higher admission fees to achieve funding necessary for
maintenance and conservation:
while the user pays principle is now widely recognized as an potential vehicle for promoting
in the context of other mayor forms of tourism many managers are apparently wary of
adopting this principle ( 1998, p.206).
The authors point out that heritage mangers have difficulties to translate heritage into
commercial values. Managers assess the value of heritage first of all by its social
cultural and educational meaning for present and future societies and are reluctant to
determine or express the worth of heritage by the price of admission fees (Millar
1995, Garrod and Fyall 2000, Shackley 1995). Moreover, heritage mangers support
the belief that heritage property should be accessible for everybody and that elevated
admission pricing disrespects the ideology behind heritage attractions. Admissions
fees should therefore be kept at a minimum (Garrod and Fyall 2001).
However managers aversion towards economic consumption of heritage,
representative prices could be of great benefit in the attempt to direct the heritage
sector toward a more sustainable level. Garrods and Fyalls study indicates that
unlike mayor sustainability philosophies, the heritage sector emphasizes the
importance of conservation and education above contemporary use and prosperity for
the local community (Millar 1995).
Garrod and Fyall (2000) argue that serious problems may arise when visitors are not
charged with sustainable prices. Admission fees under the price of costs generate
higher demand levels which exacerbates exceeding of the carrying capacity.
Moreover, underestimation of the heritage value might lead to underinvestment in
32
conservation. Alternatives to higher admission fees were found in attempts to boost

secondary spending of visitors and in the form of restrictive access.
However,
Garrods and fyall question the effectiveness of both alternatives since accessrestrictive measures would contribute less to a higher level of sustainability than
strategic admission pricing. Moreover, investment in complementary facilities such
as restaurants and gift shops would result in a less authentic heritage experience for
the visitor and attract investment that otherwise could have been employed for
conservation and restoration.
Furthermore Garrods and Fyall put forward that a greater variety of stakeholders
should join the decision-making progress to decrease the risk of heritage loosing it
relevance and meaning. The introduction of new management theories and practices
is required since heritage management is predominantly occupied with its curatorial
role which does not strictly correspond to the more widely accepted meaning of
sustainable development (Millar 1995; Garrods and Fyall 2000).
Stakeholder collaboration and partnerships

Selin (1999) points out that in the current era of increasing competition, ironically,
more tourism stakeholders turn to joint decision making and resource sharing. A
large number of authors (Evans; 2002; Hal 1999; Morais et al. 2005; Aas, et al., 2005;
Bramwell and Lane 1999; Hunter 1999) have highlighted the need for dialogue and
partnership collaboration between conservationists, tourism developers and the local
community, the term partnership has become a mantra for the politicians of most
parties, a formula for public and private sector dialogue (Bramwell and Lane 1999,
p.179).
Indeed, stakeholder collaboration through partnerships is an increasingly popular
topic in current tourism research described as a crucial tool to manage tourism
recourses and destinations in a more sustainable way. Bramwell and Lane (1999,
p.179) describe partnerships as regular, cross-sectoral interactions between parties
based on at least some agreed rules or norms, intended to address common issues or to
33
achieve a specific policy goal or goals. Hall (1999) points out that contemporary
emphasis on collaboration and network concepts is linked with a changing role of the
state in western society and the tendency to find market solutions to resource and
production problems (1999, p.274). Furthermore, van der Borg et al. argue that:
The numerous components of the tourism product make it necessary to coordinate the
decisions and actions taken by all of the entities operating in the sector......The tourism offer
should be the fruit of an comprehensive agreement between all the operators, public and
private, of the city (1996, p.319).
Bramwell and Lane (1999) put forward that stakeholders engage in partnerships are
established to improve efficiency. Moreover, the authors state that partnerships help
to create more fair-minded policies and reduce frictions and conflicts (Nuryanti1996;
Morais et al. 2005; Easterling 2004). Hall and McArthur (1998) agree that a great
deal of conflicts in the heritage tourism sector arise from a lack of interaction.
Conflicts often spring from stakeholders inability to manage their unique and non
replicable heritage resources being forced to surrender heritage control to
governments and national and international organisations. Porter and Salazar regard
the lost of control over precious heritage as the very source of conflict. It is when
value is disproportionately high compared to stakeholders role in Stewardship that
we find ourselves on the verge of heritage tourism conflicts (2005, p.363).
Furthermore, Hall (1999) remarks that partnerships often rely on corporatist forms of
collaboration which may defeat vertical integration and sustainable development.
Selin denotes that tourism partnerships are still underdeveloped due to many
geographical, organisational, and political constraints (1999, p.271). Furthermore,
Jamal and Getz (1999) argue that consensus of stakeholder partnerships does not
guarantee the implementation of recommendations and plans of participating parties.
The authors remark that power relations and legitimation act upon decision making
processes and strongly affect decisions and outcomes.
Therefore many writers
advocate the fundamental need to implicate the local community in the decision
making process (Aas, et al., 2005; Jamal and Getz 1999).
Hunter (1999) finds it extremely difficult to imagine the formulation and
implementation of any approach to sustainable tourism in the absence of strong local
34
(including regional) authority planning and development control, and without the
involvement of the local communities in the planning process to some degree
(p.864). Furthermore, Gezici (2006) denotes that without sufficient involvement of
the local residents in the development process the corollary would be detriment the
host community in the first place.
Visitor management
Russo and van der Borg (2002) argue that is if sustainable consumption of cultural
heritage is not ensured, investments in urban heritage capital could result in vain. The
authors believe that a lack of proper management of hospitality and visitor flows may
counter tourism development. Parkin, Middleton and Beswick (2000) argue that the
core of heritage business lies in providing visitors a memorable, high quality
experience which is the only guarantee to prolong visitor stays and induce precious
mouth to mouth promotion.
Parkin et al. underline the importance of a visitor
management strategy to ensure total visitor care: each element is important and a
lack of caring, weather it be in the signing, car parking, quality of catering, or the
cleanliness of the toilets, can destroy the overall visitor experience (2000, p.108).
Parkin et al. indicate that many of the management actions address the hardware of
build fabric rather than the software aspects of management as interpretation and
services. Moscardo (1996, p.372) points out that effective interpretation can play a
central and critical role in sustainable tourism and in the effective management of
visitors to build heritage sites. Interpretation is by many regarded as a powerful
management tool. The author argues that interpretation at build heritage sites should
create mindful visitors which will contribute substantially to a proper conservation
and management of the site. The author argues that mindful visitors apprehend the
consequences of their behaviour, have greater appreciation and comprehension of not
only the visited site but also of the associated region and nation and are therefore
more inclined to lessen negative tourism impacts (Moscardo 1996).
35
Van den Borg et al. (1995) state that few municipalities involve in tourism related
issues. The authors argue that municipalities should focus at visitor management,
monitoring and controlling the flows of tourist to the city and special attention should
be paid to the excursionists. Butler (1996) acknowledges the need for better visitor
management and puts forward that the great difficulty in tourism development is not
to attract tourists but to control them.
Shackley (1995) considers the service operation problem which, as the author argues,
should be a focus point in managing visits to heritage attractions. Visitors buy an
experience which should not be overshadowed by the negative feelings evoked by
such things as long queuing and waiting times, congestion and overcrowding, lack of
personal attendance etc. (Parkin et al. Shackley; 1995; Van der Borg et al 1996).
Visitor management in heritage attractions is complicated by historical, architectural
or financial complexities which hinder an optimal service delivery. Shackley (1995)
underlines the need to control visitor demand according to the attractions fixed
capacity and service management should focus on pre-visit issues as parking access
and welcome, interpretation and on the arrivals process, managing queuing and
special ticketing.
36
Planning for urban heritage tourism

In order to make heritage tourism in cities a profitable and sustainable business,
providing an optimal visitor experiencing without deteriorating the quality of life of
the local population, integrative forward planning will be a crucial matter (Page 1995;
Ashworth and Tunbridge 2000; Orbasli 2000).
Ashworth and Tunbridge (1990; 2000; Ashworth 1996) distinguish three periodical,
however contemporarily co-existing public-sector planning approaches in historic
cities: preservation-, conservation- and heritage planning (figure 2.7). Although the
terms are often synonymously used in literature, according to Ashworth (1996) each
of these approaches is essentially different, based on distinctive objectives and values.
Preservation planning stems from the late 19th century with the main goal of building
survival. Subsequently, conservation planning has emerged in the 1960s as a result of
the success of the preservation planning and was based on the conservation of entire
districts or historic cities including forms and functions. Heritage planning has been
developed since the 1980s out of the necessity to manage contemporary heritage
consumption (Ashworth 1996).
DEVELOPMENT OF CONCERN
APPROACHES
(Western
Europe)
Preservation
Conservation
Heritage planning
TIME
1850 +
1960 +
1980 +
Figure 2.8: Approaches to the past, adapted from Ashworth (1996)
A decade ago, Richards (1996) pointed out that many tourism policies suppose that
tourists can be served with a generalised cultural or heritage product considering
37
that basically every destination could possibly be developed for tourism. However, as
many writers suggest, heritage tourists often deliberately decide which place to visit.
The traditional and better-know heritage destinations still gain an important advantage
over the recent new developed sites because of their accumulated symbolic and
aesthetic value (Richards 1996 p., 262). Nevertheless, many cities have become
tourist destinations without much stimulating efforts and Ashworth and Tunbridge
underline that:
Much urban tourism planning has been a reaction to a situation over which urban
governments felt they had little control, therefore it was only sensible to profit from what
could not be prevented (1990, p.260).
Pearce (2001) points out that recent established urban tourism policies tend to
conform to two types. One originates from the reaction on emerged problems of
higher visitation levels, the other reflects the increasing positive and active attitude of
urban governments towards tourism development, recognising its potential to
revitalise the urban sector.
Furthermore, tourism planning literature indicates that a lack of forward planning is a
mayor reason for unsustainable tourism development.
Orbasli (2000) states that
sustainable development planning for tourism in historic towns is of great importance.

However, the author indicates that:
the complexity of the urban decision-making mechanism, the bureaucracy of the planning
system and the short term goals of finance continue to hinder forward-looking decisive
planning and the active implementation of core objectives (Orbasli 2000, p.150).
Russo and van der Borg (2002) state that city planners should focus more on the
intangible elements of the tourism product since these intangible elements make a
vital difference to the attractiveness of a destination. Orbasli cites Dower (1974,
p.963) who underlines that tourism planning in historic towns needs to be based on
the capacity of the locality and the interests of the local population. Page (1995)
summarises the elements that should be integrated in the formulation of urban tourism
planning policies (figure 2.9). Page (2005) puts forward that the planning of urban
tourism is intertwined within the wider concept of urban planning. Tourism planning
should be an integrated factor in the overall urban planning policy given that a
38
sustainable, high-quality environment for a citys population to live in provides the

basis for the development of an attractive and sustainable urban tourism environment.
Domestic/international tourism markets
Tourist attractions
and facilities
Accommodation
Transportation
Other
infrastructure
Natural and
socioeconomic
environment
Institutional
elements
Other tourist
facilities and
services
Residents use of tourism infrastructure
Figure 2.9: The elements of a tourism plan, adapted from Page (1995)
Conclusion
This chapter has introduced the reader to a number of elemental concepts and issues
in the urban heritage tourism literature. It has indicated the importance of heritage
tourism for urban destinations and the implications that urban heritage tourism
development engenders. The next chapter describes the methodology process wielded
for this dissertation.
39
Introduction
This chapter illustrates the methodology of the dissertation. It presents the aim and
objectives of the research project, discusses the types of data collected, and clarifies
and rationalises the data collection methods used in the study. Furthermore, sampling
techniques and limitations will be evaluated.
Research
The practise of research is a messy and untidy business which rarely conforms to the
models set down in methodology textbooks (Brannen 2003). Research implies a
discovery of something previously unknown and aims to increase human knowledge.
Carrying out research enables us to understand, interpret or predict phenomena that
are of importance and interest to us (Elias 1986 in Veal 2006; Clough and Nutbrown
2002).
Research is a creative process involving the systematic gathering and
interpretation of information, leading to advances in knowledge (Finn et al. 2000,

p.63) and different methods can be used to collect data on the same thing
(Denscombe, 2003, p.132). Many different strategies to carry out research projects
are described in literature and most of these are applied in the tourism field.
Clough and Nutbrown (2002 p.3) indicate that Research is methodology. The
authors put forward that the entire research process is methodological and that
methodology buttresses the whole of the research. The task of methodology is to
explicate the selected research methods. Methodology demands the researcher to
justify the chosen research decisions throughout the research process. Clough and
Nutbrown (2002, p.29) add that A methodology shows how research questions are
articulated with questions asked in the field and that its effect is a claim about
significance. Methodology forms the basis for the assertions and justifications in the
research study.
40
Methodology and methods

Selecting the appropriate research methods is crucial (Veal 2006; Hakim 2006).
Clark et al. (1998) point out that the choice of topic can concurrently determine the
methods to be followed, yet a variety of methods may prove suitable. Bell (2005)
puts that a clear idea of what needs to be discovered, and for which purpose, is vital
for selection of the proper research approaches and indicates that the number and
features of the selected research techniques will be determined by the scope and time
limits of the study. Although the many different methods described in the research
literature may appear to conform to strict rules and fixed techniques, Clough and
Nutbrown (2002) indicate that in practice, most researchers do not experience
methods as indifferent instruments.
Often, theoretical methods need to be
scrupulously adapted from other drafters cast-offs which whilst providing a general
guidance were not made for this particular job (Clough and Nutbrown 2002, p.27).
The authors argue that it is effectively this case-specific character of the research
methods that needs to be clarified through methodology.
41
Aim and objectives

The aim of this study is to investigate and evaluate the positive and negative aspects
of tourism development in contemporary urban heritage tourism and to identify
opportunities for sustainable management, focussing on the tourist-historic town of
Dubrovnik.
The objectives of the dissertation are:
To gain understanding of and provide a theoretical framework for heritage

tourism in urban destinations.
To evaluate trends and prevailing issues in the urban tourism industry and to
indicate the role of tourism in historical towns.
To discuss the problems which heritage cities face in their attempts to build a
viable and manageable tourism industry and evaluate the existing
opportunities to place sustainability on a higher level.
To identify the attitudes and motivations from the different stakeholders

involved in the Dubrovnik tourism industry.
To determine the opportunities for Dubrovnik to develop and manage the

tourism sector in a more sustainable way and to elaborate a number of
propositions for sustainable tourism management in the city that may prove
valuable for and transferable to other heritage tourism cities.
42
The research project has been carried out on the basis both secondary and primary
data collection, to be discussed in the following sections.
Secondary data collection and the literature review

Research literature commonly distinguishes between primary and secondary data
resources, both representing distinctive forms of information and substantiation.
Secondary data collection involves a review of previous research which forms a
significant and in most cases indispensable step in research projects as it serves as a
fundament and a framework for the research questions (Punch 2006; Veal 2006; Bell
2005). Veal (2006) points on the different functions of secondary data which can
vary from being the whole basis of the research to being a vital or incidental point of
comparison. The author indicates that secondary data are existing data collected for
some other (primary) purpose but which can be used a second time in the current
project (Veal 2006, p. 147). In this case, the researcher is the secondary user of
information that has already been examined and structured by someone else. Hart
(1988 in Bell 2005) points out that a researcher will not have a good understanding of
his research topic without the verification of what and how information has already
been produced on it, therefore the collection of secondary information related to the
research topic is likely to be an important first and ongoing stage (Denscombe 2003).
Bell (2005) ads that the researcher needs to demonstrate his study of relevant
literature and his insight in the topic area. Furthermore Veal (2006, p.121) adds that
the literature review is a source of, or stimulant for, ideas, both substantive and
methodological and that it is vital in the formulation of research projects.
However, it should not be assumed that all secondary data is true or valid and a proper
selection of appropriate information is required for the particular research case
(Preece 1994).
Sources for secondary data analysis.

Secondary data is mainly extracted from documentary sources. Its analysis, often in
the context of a literature review, is a major method for social research (Mason,
1996, p. 104). Documents can be treated as a source of data in their own right
(Denscombe, 2003 p. 212) and refer to any type of material that provides information
43
on a given phenomenon and that exists independently of the researchers actions

(Corbetta, 2003, p. 306). Within the wide variety of documentary sources that can be
employed for social research, Denscombe (2003) mentions the examples of books,
journals, websites, diaries, newspapers and magazines. Moreover he clarifies that
visual sources such as pictures, artefacts, video recordings and also music and sounds
come under sources of documentary data.
Advantages and limitations of secondary data analysis

One advantage of secondary data analysis as stated by Hakim (1982 in Finn et al.
2002) is that it encourages the researcher to cogitate about theoretical aims and
relevant issues.
Moreover, the author values investigation of secondary data
resources for its broader analysis of social conditions and change (Finn et al. 2002,
p.57). Veal mentions that secondary data may ground on larger samples than feasible
in the actual primary research and that its analysis may yield specific serendipitous
findings. Furthermore, secondary data resources offer some very practical advantages
given that its collection demands less time and efforts and is therefore much cheaper
than primary data collection. Another mayor practical advantage is that secondary
data collection analysis can generally been done at the moment that suits the
researcher (Veal 2006). However the advantage, Veal indicates that secondary data
may not always prove ideal or appropriate for the current research project since the
information may have been collected for a different purpose and in a different context.
Furthermore the author points at the possible limitations to secondary data analysis
when inaccessibility of raw data impedes re-analysis or manipulation of the data for
current study.
Analysis of secondary data in the form of a literature review has allowed the
researcher to realise and identify the many key issues on the selected research topic.
Moreover, secondary data analysis helped to construct new and better relationships
between the existing body of theory and the researchers personal ideas and
viewpoints (Dale et al. 1998 in Finn et al. 2000). The secondary data used for the
composition of a literature review for this dissertation (chapter 2) is largely extracted
from academic journals and books consulted in the library of the Bournemouth
University (UK).
44
Primary data collection

Primary research involves the collection of first hand, original data, and should occur
in a structured and methodological manner (Clark et al. 1998; Jennings 2001; Veal
2006). According to Preece (1994) the crux of a primary data sources is its empirical
character and the personal involvement of the researcher through straightforward
experience and observation of the actual and real situation. Primary data collection
can prove expensive and time consuming (Veal 2006). As mentioned, the selection of
employed research methods for data collection should happen in conformance with
the research topic and questions. Primary research methods are generally divided into
qualitative and quantitative techniques to be discussed in following sections.
Denscombe (2003) indicates that, according to the research aims and objectives, the
most apposite research strategy needs to be selected to ensure a collection of
valuable data. Execution of primary research for this dissertation has taken place on
the basis of three distinctive data collection methods; interviews, observation and
questionnaire survey, integrating both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The
researcher decided to make use of different research techniques for a number of
reasons. Firstly, he esteemed the importance of a holistic approach to gain a more
complete insight of tourism development in Dubrovnik. Participant observation was
selected as an appropriate method to experience directly many of the issues that
reflect the past, current and future tourism development in the city. It provided the
researcher the opportunity to analyse the situation with own eyes and interact with a
large number of people, all differently involved in the Dubrovnik tourism industry
and all conveying their personally unique perspectives of tourism development in the
city. Secondly, questionnaires have proved to be a helpful tool to gather standardised
information from a large number of respondents and thirdly, in-dept interviews with a
number of identified key persons with a high involvement in and/or knowledge of the
citys tourism industry have produced a great amount of specific and rich information.
The fieldwork undertaken for this study has been carried out during a two weeks
sojourn in Dubrovnik in February 2006.
The nature of qualitative research, the concepts of triangulation and the case study,
and the key features of the applied research methods for this academic work will be
discussed in more detail in the following section.
45
Qualitative research methods

Qualitative research methods is a complex, changing and contested field a site of
multiple methodologies and research practises. Qualitative research is an umbrella
term which encompasses enormous variety (Punch 2005, p.134).
Veal (2006)
indicates that qualitative research methods generally concern the collection of large
amounts of rich information about a limited or small number of cases and are ideal
to examine attitudes, meanings and perceptions of individuals. The most commonly
used qualitative methods in leisure and tourism research include in-depth interviews;
group interviews; participant observation; textual analysis; biographical methods; and
ethnography (Veal 2006).
Qualitative methods rely on the involvement of the
researcher during the research process (Flick 2002).
Hakim (2006) argues that
qualitative research is concerned with individuals own accounts of there attitudes,

motivations and behaviour. Therefore, qualitative research methods can be subjective
and observer bias may occur (Bell 2005).
Mixing methods: triangulation

Brannen (2003) points out that the combination of both qualitative and quantitative
research methods is most frequently expressed in the concept of triangulation.
Triangulation is based on the principle of multiple operationism which embraces the
idea that deployment of more than one method will enhance the validity of the
research findings (Denscombe 2003). Clark et al. (2002) recognise the force of
triangulation to improve understanding of the research phenomenon which could not
be achieved by use of single methods and Denscombe argues that using multimethods allow the researcher to see the thing from different perspectives and to
understand the topic in a more rounded an complete fashion (2003, p.132).
However, the author denotes a cost of triangulation since there will almost certainly
exist a need to sacrifice some areas of the investigation which would have been
included using one method in order to free up the resources to a multi-method
approach. Furthermore, Clark et al. (2002) comment that a wider range of collected
data can induce confusion and disrupt focused research. Moreover, they state that
there exists no logical and rationale assumption that a multi-method approach
enhances validity and the integration of both quantitative and qualitative approaches
46
may complicate the comparability of the findings. Brannen (2003) denotes that when
findings from both approaches do not match, the researcher often tends to regard
qualitative evidence as more trustworthy than quantitative results since the former
entails a closer contact to the research subject and a greater senstitivity to the context
which engenders a greater confidence in the validity of the findings. However,
Brannen (2003) argues that qualitative findings should not simply be justified as more
legitimate but inconsistency between both data forms should be interpreted as a
suggestion for new focus of investigation. For the current study project the author has
decided to combine three distinctive research methods. The principal rationale fir this
decision is that the researcher esteemed qualitative data collection from a number of
key persons, but simultaneously wished to gain an insight of the opinions and
attitudes the larger population, formed by the people of Dubrovnik and the tourists at
the destination.
Case studies
As indicated before, for this dissertation the researcher has made use of a case study
enquiry focused on tourism development in Dubrovnik. The case study approach will
be discussed in the following section.
A case study involves the study of an example - a case - of the phenomenon being
researched using the investigation of a single case to understand and illustrate the
phenomenon under enquiry (Veal 2006, p.108). As triangulation, the case study
approach permits and encourages the researcher to deploy a variety of sources, a
variety of data types and a variety of research methods as part of the investigation.
Therefore
observation,
collection
of
documents,
informal
interviews
and
questionnaires can by effectively combined (Denscombe 2003, p.31; Veal 2006).

Yin (2003 in Veal 2006, p.108) defines a case study as an empirical investigation that
enquires a contemporary phenomenon within its actual, real-life context, where
boundaries between phenomenon and contexts are not clearly evident. However,
Punch (2005) puts forward that that the researcher needs to determine and indicate the
boundaries of the case as accurate as possible. Yin states that a case study enquiry
involves many more variables of interests than data points and that it depends on
47
multiple sources of evidence structured in a triangulating fashion (2003 in Veal

2006, p.108; Punch 2005). Furthermore, Hammersley and Gomm (in Gomm et al.
2000) indicate that in a case study approach quantification of data is not the crucial
issue and qualitative data may be treated as superior. Moreover, the authors point out
that the approach may not focus on theory integration or infer empirical
generalisation. Inaptitude to produce generalisable findings forms a mayor source for
critic on the case study approach. It is often stated that a case study just applies to the
particular situation and that its findings are not legitimate or applicable in a broader
context. Nonetheless, Punch (2005 p. 146) puts that:
Clearly every case that can be studied is in some respects unique, but every case is also, in
some respects, similar to other cases. The question is whether we want to focus on what is
unique about a particular case, or on what is common with other cases (Punch 2005) .
Punch (2005) advocates the benefits of an in-depth understanding of the unique and
particular case for knowledge advancement and argues that only an in-depth case
study can lead to understanding of the relevant factors in a new or persistent research
phenomenon. Furthermore, Stake (in Gomm et al. 2000, p.19) points out that case
studies are helpful in the investigation of human affairs because they are down-toearth and attention-holding.
The author argues that case studies are often the
preferred research method since the may be epistemologically in concordance with

the researchers experience and so, for the researcher, a legitimate basis for
generalisation (Stake in Gomm et al. 2000).
In respect to this study of tourism development in the tourist historic city of
Dubrovnik, the unique character of the case is evident in many aspects, but
simultaneously many issues and problems feature great convergence with those
persistent in other urban and natural tourist destinations. On basis of the case study of
Dubrovnik the researcher will elaborate a number of propositions as a representation
of the ultimate outputs of the research. These propositions can be examined for their
applicability and transferability to other cases and can suggest generalizability by
indication of ideas and suggestions for investigation in further research (Punch 2005).
Within the context of a case study enquiry, the researcher has integrated three
distinctive but complementing research methods: Interviews, questionnaires and
48
participant observation. The different techniques will be appraised in the following

sections.
Interviews
An important advantage of the interview is its adaptability (Bell 2005). An adroit
interviewer can elaborate and comment on the interviewees ideas and identify
motives, values and feelings which would be impossible in the case of a questionnaire
survey (Clark et al. 1998). Although interviews are often typified as a conversation
between the interviewer and the interviewee, Denscombe (2003) and Silverman (1985
in Denscombe 2003. p. 163) state that interviews involve a set of assumptions and
understandings about the situation which are not normally associated with a casual
conversation. Denscombe points at important issues as obtainment of consent from
the interviewee which should be fully aware of the purpose of the interview and the
manner in which the words of the respondent may be reproduced. Moreover the
author points at the implied agreement that the researcher is entitled to control the
procedure and direction of the conversation.
The researcher has tried to pose identical questions following an interview scheme.
However, certain questions have been omitted in particular interviews since they may
have been answered already in the preceding part of the interview; the answer clearly
emerged out of the context or because the particular answer proved unsuitable in the
given context. On the other hand, many additional and distinctive questions have
been posed to elaborate interesting and relevant issues raised during the
conversations.
Types of interviews
Three main types of interviews are distinguished: structured interviews; semistructured interviews and unstructured interviews. The structural interview features a
strict control over the proceedings of the interview and the questions and answers
involved (Punch 2005). Since all interviewees face identical questions and answers
may be pre-coded, findings of structural interviews are relatively easy to analyse and
suitable for collection of quantitative data as they resemble spoken questionnaires
(Crabtree and Miller 1992). Semi-structured interviews also involve a list of issues
49
and questions, however, the interviewer will allow greater flexibility in the procedure
and direction of the interview. Answers may be open-ended and the respondent will
have space to speak in a broader and more detailed manner over the issues addressed,
involving his personal points of interest (Veal 2006; Crabtree and Miller 1992).
Unstructured interviews give the interviewee full opportunity to elaborate on his
thoughts. The interviewer only introduces one or several topics and avoids intrusion.
Unstructured interviews are likely to produce valuable and rich data but these may
result in a more complicated and time consuming analysis (Bell 2005; Punch 2005;
Crabtree and Miller 1992).
For the primary, qualitative research of this dissertation the researcher has carried out
a substantial number of semi-structured interviews. The researcher esteemed a
collection of qualitative data which would reflect the close relation of the interviewees
to the research topic.
Semi-structured interviews were considered to be an
appropriate tool since these allowed the interviewees to express and clarify personal
attitudes and feelings enabling an in-depth and simultaneously broad discovery of the
many complex issues involved. The personal relationship with the interviewees and
the space for larger answers is likely to provide profound and unexpected information
of great value to the aim of research (Denscombe 2003). However, as Punch (2005)
indicates not everything can be investigated and research issues need to be focused
and limited.
Questionnaires
Information obtained by questionnaires differs from data collected through interviews,
observation or documents since questionnaires produce written information which is
directly supplied by people in response to the questions selected by the researcher
(Denscombe 2003). Veal (2006) points at out that the researcher needs to be very
exact about the data requirements from the starting point given that, in contrast to the
use of qualitative techniques, a questionnaire survey implies fixed and irrevocably
questioning. Questionnaire-based surveys generally rely on the respondents personal
justification of his answers. Validity of the answers needs to be taken into
consideration since the researcher is unable to esteem accuracy and honesty of the
50
responses. Questionnaires surveys generally involve considerable number of subjects

(respondents) and presentation of findings in numerical terms (Veal 2006).
Some of the advantages of a questionnaire survey are that through quantification,
questionnaires enable the researcher to present complex information in a compendious
and comprehensible manner.
Moreover, questionnaires permit the collection of
straightforward information about the frequency of meanings and perceptions of the

population as a whole (Veal 2006; Bell 2005). Furthermore, questionnaires generally
follow manifest research procedures which facilitate verification of the collection
method and interpretation of the findings.
For the purpose of this study, the author has collected data of a total of 76
questionnaires which have been conducted both by means of interviewer- and
respondent completion.
The researcher has conducted interviewer-completed
questionnaires to increase responds rates (Several respondent proved more willing to

participate with help from the researcher), to collect fuller and more complete
answers and additional information (Interview completion often led to in-depth
discussions concerning the phenomenon under study), and because language barriers
necessitated the assistance of the researcher (Though almost all approached potential
respondents could speak and understand basic English, a substantial number appeared
unable to read and or understand written questions).
The research questions

Questionnaires have basically been distributed to two main groups of respondents:
tourist and residents. Although both target groups have been principally addressed
with identical questions, a number of questions has been omitted or altered according
to the characteristics of respondents. The researcher has endeavoured to match the
questionnaire questions as much as possible with those posed in the in-depth
interviews.
The questionnaire used for tourists comprises a total of 18 questions of which 6 are
fact-based and 12 are opinion-based questions. The fact-based questions are simple
questions to identify the social-economic/demographic profile of the respondents and
51
the intensity of the respondents relation to the research questions. (length of

stay/residence, first/repeated visit, occupation etc.).
The opinion-based questions
basically tend to identify the respondents attitude towards the implications of tourism
development in Dubrovnik. The questionnaire designed for residents consists of a
total of 12 questions of which 2 are fact-based.
The opinion-based questions are constituted of 9 closed and 3 open ended questions.
The closed questions were mainly structures according to semantic differential
method using a numbered scale ranging from 1 to 6. Pairs of contrasting descriptors
(for instance: poor/excellent; destroys/protects) have been provided to frame the
answers.
The descriptors intend to word the negative/positive attitude of the
respondent towards the particular phenomenon in question. In this sense, number 1

represents the most negative attitude, number 6 the most positive. Furthermore, the
questionnaire includes 2 Likert-scaled questions (with a scale limited to 2 response
options: yes and no), equally designed to identify the respondents opinion.
The questionnaire questions have been pilot-tested during the initial stage of the
fieldwork in Dubrovnik. Questionnaires have been distributed to a small number of
respondents and filled out in the presence of the researcher to determine possible
complications. Except from the fact that some questions forced certain respondents to
reflect on issues that they had not considered before, no mayor difficulties in
articulation or meaning of the questions have been detected. It should be mentioned
that in the great majority of the questionnaire fill-outs the researcher has remained in
attendance of the respondents to assist in case of difficulties.
Observation
Crabtree and Miller identify observation as the most available and presumably the
most time intensive and demanding of the collection techniques (1992, p.14)
Observation techniques are used on a small scale in tourism research and are mostly
applied in ethnographic studies (Finn et al. 2000). Gordon (1999) distinguishes two
basic types of observation methods: simple observation and participant
observation. Simple observation, also referred to as non participant or systematic
observation, is characterised by the principle that the observer avoids himself
52
disturbing the persons in the field by making himself as invisible as possible

(Merkens, 1989 in Flick, 1998). The research occurs from an external perspective
which, as a result, constrains the interpretation of the obtained information (Bell
2005).
Participant observation on the other hand is described by Finn et al. as a technique of
ethnographic research, best suited to projects which emphasise interpretations of
events between actors and the importance attached to language and meanings
(2000, p. 71).
Scandiford and Ap (1998 in Finn, 2000) state that ethnographic
research provides insight into planning issues and community attitudes and can be
very useful to put a planning model into practice.
The participant observation
method, which may well be supplemented by interviews, studies of records or

conversations, implies a high or total involvement of the researcher as the research
method examines a given phenomena from the inside as well as the outside
(Gordon, 1999). It involves the researcher in the daily life of an individual, group or
community and listening, observing, questioning and understanding (or trying to
understand) the life of the individuals concerned (Bell 2005, p.186).
For the current study the researcher has conducted unstructured participant
observation. Veal (2006, p.216) indicates that this research technique induces a need
for a creative eye which can perceive the significance and potential meaning of what
is being observed in relation to the research question. Veal comments that accurate
observation of the happenings in a given leisure or tourism situation can prove to be a
more apposite research method than the use of questionnaires and interviews. The
researcher receives a continuous flow of information which may turn out to be more
valuable and contributing to a holistic explanation of the relationships between the
various facets of the examination than a series of structured surveys which are likely
to only reflect the surface reality (Mason 2002; Punch 2005).
The researcher has observed the daily life of employees/residents and tourist in
Dubrovnik and engaged in manifold meetings and informal talks with a large range of
people all playing a different role in and carrying different perspectives of the
Dubrovnik tourism industry. Although the participant observation has occurred in an
unstructured and possibly little scientific manner and has merely been used to back
53
up and complement the findings from interviews and questionnaires, the researcher
highly esteems the particular research method since it has been precisely the
observation of and participation in the tourism-business life of the city that provided
the researcher with the most holistic understanding of the phenomenon under study.
Sampling
In very large surveys, like the census, sampling techniques will be employed in order to
produce a small sample which is, as far as possible, representative of the population as a
whole. Generalisations can be made from the findings. In small studies, we have to do the
best we can (Bell 2005, p. 145).
Sampling refers to the selection of a proportion of the population for a study (Veal
2006). All research involves sampling since not everyone and everything can be
studied (Punch 2005). Denscombe (2003) puts forward that probability sampling,
which follows statistical laws and suits large scale surveys represents the standard
technique for social research. However, small-scale and qualitative researchers often
encounter difficulties with the principles and procedures of probability sampling and
tend to make use of non-probability sampling techniques.
Veal (2006) cites
Henderson (1991) who states that the qualitative researcher is not concerned with
adequate numbers or random selection but tries to coordinate a working picture of
the broader social structure from which the observations are drawn. Non-probability
sampling techniques stem form the viewpoint that the research process is a discovery
in which the sample emerges as a sequence of decisions based on the outcome of
earlier stages of research (Denscombe 2003, p.25).
In respect to the in-depth interviews undertaken in the current project, the researcher
has made use of snowball-sampling which enabled him to identify new appropriate
interviewees according to other interviewees recommendations (Denscombe 2003).
Furthermore, the researcher used non-probability judgmental sampling to select a
heterogeneous sample. Given the broad spectrum of respondents, the researcher
suggested that such sample would enhance the representativeness of the findings
(Finn et al. 2000). However, to a certain agree, the questionnaire survey has been
carried out according to the principle of convenience sampling (sample selection
according to whoever is available) since unfavourable weather circumstances and
54
unwillingness to participate has forced the researcher to address receivable tourists

and address to possible participants in in-door locations (Clark et al. 1998).
The population identified for the current study could be broadly defined as all people
involved in tourism in Dubrovnik. Obviously, in more specific sense, this represents
a much too general definition of the population given that basically anyone who lives,
visits or communicates with Dubrovnik involves in tourism. Therefore, convenience
and judgemental sampling has focussed on people which, as the researcher assumed,
were likely to contribute valuable information to the study. Given that the researcher
attempted to identify the different viewpoints of those involved in tourism in
Dubrovnik, a rather large variety of respondents has been involved in the study. That
is: representatives of tourism planning authorities, managers of tourism businesses,
employees in the tourism sector, tourism students, residents of Dubrovnik and
tourists.
Limitations
The most severe limitation of this research project has been the limited amount of
available time (or money) which hindered study of the numerous variables in greater
detail and in the context of a more representative sample of the population. The
author has experienced the importance to analyse tourism development from a holistic
perspective but equally became aware of the enormously time consuming and
therefore costly character of such research (Veal 2006; Bell 2005; Denscombe 2003).
The three research methods employed have all produced valuable data but with a
limited validity and representativeness given that the restricted samples involved.
Furthermore, the fact that the researcher has conducted the fieldwork during low
season has determined the composition of the sample which may have yield
distinctive findings than a similar study during high season. Also the entire ambiance
and happening in Dubrovnik may be described as contrary to the situation during high
season which may have influenced the findings. Furthermore, the amount of both
primary and secondary data collected in Dubrovnik has been overwhelming, however,
due to word- and time limitations, the researcher has been forced to limit the analysis
55
to a selection of the semi-structured interviews, the questionnaires conducted with

those living and working (or studying) in Dubrovnik and the findings gathered
through participant observation. Ultimately, the researcher has refrained from
inclusion of the questionnaire-data collected from tourists since these too often proved
unable to produce complete and thought-out answers. The researcher considers the
opinions of the tourists as rather unrepresentative given the high number of
unanswered questions and their confirmations of actually having no idea about the
issues under investigation.
Furthermore, the researcher admits that most of the
questions were rather related to the situation in the city during high season and not to
the situation during the most quiet weeks of the year when there are hardly any
tourists to be found in the city. Moreover, the researcher learned that except form
little complaints about lack of service, tourists generally do not contemplate over
issues as sustainable management or future perspectives of the citys tourism industry.
It needs to be repeated however that this could have been completely different when
research would have been carried out during the high season period.
Finally, language barriers have been a mayor obstacle which has turned out to be most
persistent in the communication with the tourists. Besides this, English is neither the
first nor the second language of the researcher.
Conclusion
This chapter has described the methodological approach of the research study. It has
indicated the aim and objectives of the study and explained the characteristic,
advantages and disadvantages of the different data collection methods applied.
Furthermore, limitations which largely ensued from the lack of time and money have
been indicated.
The following chapter will discuss the tourist-historic city of
Dubrovnik and serve as an introduction to chapter 5 in which the main research

findings will be presented.
56
Chapter 4: Case Study of Dubrovnik
Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to provide the reader with the minimum of background
information about the city of Dubrovnik, necessary to enable the reader to place the
research findings discussed in the following chapter in the right context. The main
characteristics of Dubrovnik, a brief description of its history, current trends and
developments and the planned development priorities by the government of the city
will come up.
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a historically important town with an enormous tourist appeal. The city
is located in southern Dalmatia on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. Dubrovnik
is unique and many claim it is more unique than other tourist cities. Locals often refer
to their city as the most beautiful in the world and pearl or jewel of the Adriatic are
commonly used synonyms for the city. When the researcher asked the people of
Dubrovnik why their city is so attractive for tourism these often replied that it is the
mixture of natural and urban beauty that appeals to everyone. The rich culture and
history gives the town the special atmosphere which makes tourist return to the
destination (Milovi 2006). The old town of Dubrovnik is constructed on the rock
formation that juts out in the crystal clear Adriatic Sea. The town is surrounded by
vast walls with fortresses and towers which form the mayor monument and tourist
attraction of the city. The city possesses well preserved Gothic, Renaissance and
Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains, museums and art collections
but it is definitely de overall beauty and picturesqueness of its entire urban
morphology and landscape in combination with its turbulent history, still very
perceptible in many aspects, its natural scenery and its location half embedded in the
sea that decides the charm of the destination and the very strong attraction of its
heritage.
57
The Dubrovnik Summer Festival

Dubrovnik performs many cultural and artistic and often traditional events and
celebrations. However, the mayor celebration of Dubrovniks cultural heritage is
expressed in the traditional Dubrovnik Summer Festival. This largest cultural event
in Croatia is world famous and a very important yearly returning event for the city as
it forms a crucial element for attracting and amusing the tourists in the city. The
Summer Festival lasts for one and a half month during which the entire city is turned
into a performance stage were opera and classical concerts, theatre performances and
many other artistic performances take place in the picturesque setting of the old town.
History
The city of Dubrovnik was originally named Ragusa and has been founded in the 7th
century. Massive city walls which form the most important feature of the city have
been constructed from the first settlements until the 19th century to protect the
residents from invasions from many different empires. Ragusa expanded quickly and
gained influence over the Dalmatian coast. Trading was flourishing and the city
developed into an important and prosperous economic, politic and cultural centre in
the region, especially during the 15th and 16th century when Dubrovnik was a mayor
rival of Venice. However, the fact that the city has been attacked and occupied by
foreign empires, Dubrovnik mostly succeeded to maintain its own sovereignty which
has largely contributed to the creation and protection of its unique cultural heritage
(Bender 2005).
An enormous earthquake destroyed the entire city in 1677. From the Renaissance
architecture has little survived and the city has largely been reconstructed in the
baroque style. In the beginning of the nineteenth century Dubrovnik was annexed by
Napoleon and belonged to Austria for more than a century till 1918. Development of
Dubrovniks tourist industry started by the end of the 19th century and the city became
a mayor tourist destination after the Second World War (Letcher 2005) In 1979 the
old town of Dubrovnik was inscribed on the list of world heritage sites of UNESCO.
Dubrovnik was seriously damaged by the aggression on the city by the Yugoslav
Army, Serbs and Montenegrins from December 1991 till June 1992.
The shelling
58
caused enormous damage to the roofs, the streets and renaissance sculpture of the
city. The total war damage in Dubrovnik was estimated at $ 2.5 billion. With Help of
UNESCO and funds raised by the World Federation of Travel Agents and other
international organisations large reconstruction projects have been realised during the
1990s. By the end of 1998 the World Heritage Committee has moved Dubrovnik
from its List of Endangered sites and by the year 2006 the city has near to completely
been restored to its former glories (Turistika Zajednica Grada Dubrovnika 2006).
Post-war trend
The period after the aggression on the city has been extremely difficult. Local
factories had ceased to function, tourism business has come to a complete halt and the
image of Dubrovnik as a tourist destination had been ruined. However, already
during the war, the people of Dubrovnik started to register all the damages which
concerned the total infrastructure including more than 5725 private houses and
apartments and most of the hotels that were destroyed by the war and by the 25.000
refugees who have lived in the hotels for 5 years (Milovi 2006 interview). From
1995, the citys tourism industry started to recover slowly. In 1998, the strikes over
Kosovo brought another crisis to the citys recovering tourism industry, however from
the year 2000, the industry has performed very well and the tourist arrivals to the city
have more than doubled in 5 years time (figure 4.1/4.2). However, the total amount
of tourist that entered the city in 2005 does still not reach the 1990 levels and the total
number of overnights is still 35 % less than before the war (Turistika Zajednica
Grada Dubrovnika 2006). Mr. Market, responsible for the department of tourism puts
forward that the economy of Dubrovnik has recovered steadily during the first years
of the millennium (except from the minor depression in the year 2002 due to the
effects of the terrorist attacks of September the 11th). The budget of the Dubrovnik
tourist board grew from 100.000 Kunas in 2002 to 291.000 Kunas in 2006.
59
Tourists in Dubrovnik (2000-2005)

500000
Tourists
400000
300000
tourists
200000
100000
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Figure 4.1: Tourists Arrivals to Dubrovnik between 2000 and 2005

(Turistika Zajednica Grada Dubrovnika 2006).
Overnights
Tourist overnights Dubrovnik (2000-2005)

2000000
1800000
1600000
1400000
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
0
Overnights
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Figure 4.2: Overnights in Dubrovnik between 2000 and 2005

(Turistika Zajednica Grada Dubrovnika 2006).
Recovering of the tourism industry

Tourism in Dubrovnik is booming, or rather exploding (see figures 4.1 and 4.2).
Professor Agutsay (2006 interview) points out that the current tourism development is
a volcano. As many others, Agutsay indicates that visitor numbers are increasing
dramatically and that especially in the United States Dubrovniks popularity as a
holiday destination is growing rapidly:
There is a lot of hope. The numbers are increasing so dramatically and I mean, it is
not just from Amsterdam, you come in 2 hours. No, they come all the way from the
United States to see Dubrovnik (Agutsay 2006, interview).
60
Growth rate of tourist arrivals and nights (2004-2005)

25
20
Croatia
15
Dubrovnik county
10
Dubrovnik
5
0
Arrivals
Nights
Figure 4.3: Growth rate of tourist arrivals and nights 2004-2005 (TZGD 2005)
Mister Market proudly indicates the growth figures of the year 2005 (figure 4.3)
which manifests the enormous tourist potential of the city but also of the Dubrovnik
country which tourism sector is growing rapidly. The growth rate of the tourist
arrivals to the city of Dubrovnik in 2005 has been 14% above the average growth rate
of Croatia.
More over, the average length of stay of tourists in Dubrovnik is
exceptionally high: 4.8 nights for international tourists and 3.2 nights for domestic
tourists.
Hotel capacity
However, the enormous demand for Dubrovnik promises a rise in income for the town
and its people, the urban morphology of the old town and the lack of a proper tourist
infrastructure are likely to cause problems. Dubrovnik still copes with a serious lack
of hotel capacity. There are currently 15.000 beds available in the town including
those in the hotels, marinas, private apartments, camping and a hostel. However, this
capacity is far from sufficient (Market 2006, interview). There are still 3.500 beds
still unavailable in the destroyed hotels. The government of Dubrovnik attempts to
force hotel owners to invest as much as possible in capacity enlargement and
encourages privatisations of all hotels and investment in private accommodation.
Furthermore, the city is engaged in many different development projects to upgrade
and adapt its infrastructure in order to receive the increasing amounts of tourists
(Milovi 2006, interview).
61
Elite tourism
Another important tendency in Dubrovnik concern the rapidly increasing of the city as
a Holiday destination for the rich and famous and the city is currently promoting itself
as a destination suitable to host elite tourists. Dubrovnik is more and more becoming
a traditional destination for the musical elite and the two international film festivals
held in the city every year are attracting increasing numbers of famous and important
people. Tom Cruz, Roman Abramovi, Roger More are just a few among of the
famous and rich people which visited Dubrovnik during the 2005 summer and were
cleverly asked by the Dubrovnik Tourist Board to assist in the tourist promotion of the
city (Bender 2005).
Extension of the season

Given that Croatia and so Dubrovnik is still regarded as a summer holiday destination
the city has to contend with the strong negative effects of seasonal tourism.
One of
the most interesting initiatives concerns the introduction and development of a winter
program titled Dubrovnik In Winter which offers cultural activities and events for
tourist visiting the city during the winter period. The program is an initiative from the
Dubrovnik Tourist Board, the government of the city and 66 different businesses in
the city. The program offers a Winter Card with many discounts and free entrances
to cultural spectacles to tourists that remain a minimum of two nights in the town
(Skvrce 2006, interview; Bender 2005).
Future planning
Mr. Market, responsible for the Department of Tourism of the Dubrovnik government
and president of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board points out that that there exist 8
priorities with regard to the future infra-structure developments. The most important
priority concerns the reconstruction of the hotels. The second priority will be the
construction and completion of the highway from Dubrovnik to Zagreb which will
yield a very important improvement for the tourism industry in the country since the
road connections are in a very bad condition. Other priorities concern the support for
62
the small entrepreneurs in the city, the construction of parking garages and the
reconstruction of the port which will be a project involving a total amount of $ 500
million. This very large project concerns 3 mayor sections: the cruise liners and
cruise industry, the yachts and nautical tourism, and the local transport, the ferry
liners will be the third part of this development project. Furthermore, shopping
facilities and a conference centre are planned to be constructed. Another important
development concerns the low-cost carriers flying to Dubrovnik. The government
tries to attract more low cost airlines and regards this as an opportunity to expand the
amount of city-break holidays spent in the city both in summer and in winter season.
Mr Market also indicates the importance of supporting the development of the Human
resources. He indicates that Dubrovnik is more and more recognised as a university
city.
A new campus is planned to be build and Dubrovnik will be able to
accommodate 5000 students which is a very large number for a small community and
regarded as a very positive development for the tourism industry since most of the
studies will focus or be related to tourism (Market 2006, interview).
Conclusion
This chapter has introduced the reader to the tourist historic town of Dubrovnik. A
brief overview of the destinations history, current and planned developments have
been provided to familiarise the reader with the case study. This chapter serves as an
introduction to chapter 5 which will present a selection of the main findings of the
research study.
63
Chapter 5: Main Findings
Introduction
This chapter will manifest the findings extracted from the questionnaire survey, the
interviews and the observation undertaken in Dubrovnik.
As explained in the
methodology chapter, due to time and word limitations the author has not been able to
use all recorded interviews for data analysis and has therefore selected the 5 most
valuable interviews which have been conducted with a total of 8 persons.
The
different issues that will be discussed in this chapter are selected to analyse the current
situation of Dubrovniks tourism industry and its perspectives for future developments
assessed by people responsible for tourism management and by employees, students
and residents, all directly involved in the tourism industry of the city.
The importance of tourism for Dubrovnik

Tourism is of extreme importance to the city of Dubrovnik. Mr. Skvrce, director of
the Dubrovnik Tourist Board states that everything is based and focused on tourism
and that the industry is very important for the entire picture of the economy of
Dubrovnik.
The researcher has got the impression that tourism is actually too
important for the city since virtually every person the researcher met in Dubrovnik is
working in the tourism industry and many citizens claimed that tourism was the only
source of income available in the city. Professor Agutsay from the American collage
for management and technology affirms that the economic overdependence on the
tourism industry is an issue that needs to be seriously addressed:
It is very risky, it is too risky and I even think that here is the moment where the City
Council, the Mayor of Dubrovnik, the entire local government has to think about those things.
I always asked myself and I never got an answer: What do people in Dubrovnik actually live
from, what are the revenues generators? Okay, it is tourism, but what else? (Agutsay 2006).
Agutsay argues that other types of industries need to be developed in Dubrovnik.

According to Agutsay industrial or agricultural production would not be feasible but
64
service related industries that would not serve only this micro location but rather
spreading the knowledge and attracting some other markets, that would be the real
challenge for the city (Agutsay 2006).
The impacts of tourism

On the questions whether tourism development improves or rather deteriorates the
urban environment of Dubrovnik, the researcher has received many contrasting
answers. Mr. Skvrce points out that the consumption of the old town is very high and
that there exists a huge pressure on the old town. However, he believes that there is
still space for growth. In addition, Professor Agutsay puts forward that Dubrovnik
has not yet reached its carrying capacity and that this capacity can be enlarged
through proper management:
There is still room for growth, especially if you manage, if you manage traffic, if you
manage infrastructure. There are places available north and south of Dubrovnik that you can
actually develop, there are many plans of what actually can be done. But is it is going to be
tough? Yeah. But that is management, that is exactly if you sit down and think about the
numbers, think about what is the flow, where are the bottlenecks? Than you can actually
create better solutions and make the people in the city feel more comfortable (Agutsay 2006).
When we consider the mayor impacts of the tourism industry from the point of view
of the local population it appears that a minority (37.5%) of the respondents thinks
that tourism damages the urban environment of Dubrovnik (Figure 5.1a).
65
Do you think tourism damages the urban

environment of Dubrovnik?
yes
no
62,5%
no
37,5%
yes
Figure 5.1a: Damaging effects of tourism on the urban environment

(Source: own elaboration).
However, figure 5.1b indicates that just 1/3 of the respondents believes that tourism
improves the urban environments. Slightly more people perceive rather negative than
positive effects of tourism on urban life. By far the largest group of the respondents
believes that tourism doesnt damage (62.5%) nor improve (66.7%) the urban
environment.
Dou you think tourism improves the urban

environment of Dubrovnik?
yes
no
33,33%
yes
66,67%
no
Figure 5.1b: Improving effects of tourism on the urban environment

(Source: own elaboration).
66
Mrs. Menalo, Chief Curator of the archeological museum points out that physical
damage to the monuments caused by tourism is a relatively small issue. However, the
large groups of tourists seriously damage the total tourist and urban environment:
they damage the view; they damage the experience you know. It is like in Venice
(Menalo 2006).
Mrs. Bender, Chief Curator of the Rector Palace museum and
member of Friends of Dubrovnik, the organization responsible for the reconstruction

and restoration of the city heritage, heavily criticizes the enormous amounts of tourist
passing through the museums:
Too many people who pass through the museum. Too much people for our space, for our
exhibitions, for our Palace. Can you imagine that in two or three hours through the
exhibitions all over the museum pass more than three thousand people. There are too many
people, there is too much humidity because they breathe, it is normal they breathe but is
brings too much humidity, especially during the summer when the temperature is very high
(Bender 2006).
Mr. Zustra, Reception manager of hotel Puci Palace hotel believes that the cultural
heritage exists to be used and should be accessible to everyone. Zustra argues that
tourism brings in sufficient money to for investments and reparation. The researcher
himself has not experienced any form of congestion or over crowding since he visited
Dubrovnik during the quietest period of the year. Nevertheless, irritation problems
caused by oversized visitor numbers and badly controlled visitor flows proved to form
a mayor source of frustration for many citizens. Some residents explained that they
had to develop special skills and techniques to move trough the tourist crowds and
others declared to avoid certain parts of the city to minimize their frustration of
congestion and inability to move forwards. A shopkeeper working in a jewellery shop
at the Stradun, the main tourist street in the old town assured that she would remain in
her shop at moments that the old town was over flown afraid to get stuck between the
tourists.
As far as the life of the local population is concerned, it are clearly those living or
working in the historical centre that suffer mostly from tourism. Occupation of their
living space by foreigners, noise, high prices and congestion are mentioned as
negative consequences of tourism. Mrs. Bender also explains the problems of the
group-sizes since groups contain often 50 people or more.
You know, we are
shouting, one guide is shouting here, the other is shouting there, and it is very.the
67
acoustics are very good here, so it is really a circus (Menalo 2006).
The
overcrowding by mass tourists also negatively affects the individual visitor who pays
a much higher fee than a group tourist but can not move through the museum or hear
the telephone guide because of congestion and noise. Ms Bai, personal assistant of
the general manager of Hilton Imperial believes that tourism can damage Dubrovnik
when it is too much oriented on mass tourism. Bai explains that Dubrovnik has a
basic limit of 15.000 people, exceeding this limit would and damage the quality of the
city.
68
Cultural identity
Figure 5.2 which indicates the impacts of mass tourism on the cultural identity of
Dubrovnik, shows a rather equal dissension in the opinion of the local population. It
is a fact that the concept of cultural identity is differently explained by every person.
The researcher has engaged in little discussions with several respondents about
precise meaning of the concept concluding that it may concern the entire way of
living of a population. About half of the respondents kept a rather negative viewpoint
towards the effects of mass tourism on the cultural identity of the city.
Do you think mass tourism destroys or protects Dubrovnik's

cultural identity?
30,0%
25,0%
Percent
20,0%
15,0%
26,56%
10,0%
18,75%
18,75%
14,06%
10,94%
5,0%
10,94%
0,0%
destroys
protects
Figure 5.2: The effects of mass tourism on the cultural identity (Source: own elaboration).
Mr. Skvrce believes that tourism does not negatively impact on the cultural heritage
of Dubrovnik given the very strict regulations and the protection by the UNESCO.
Both Mr. Zustra and Mrs. Menalo argue that it is not tourism development that
changes Dubrovniks cultural identity but rather the general globalization process.
69
Zustra indicates that the revenues made by tourism are crucial to protect Dubrovniks
cultural identity since these financial means enable a proper maintenance of the
cultural heritage. Furthermore, he argues that the dependence on tourism encourages
everybody to care about the tourist resources. On the other hand, Ms Bai states that
more money should come available for heritage protection: The cultural thing in
Dubrovnik is the most important; it is the most unique thing that Dubrovnik has.
There is no lack of willingness to protect Dubrovniks cultural identity but theres is a
lack of money, we need more money (Ms Bai 2006).
Atmosphere
When we consider the atmosphere in Dubrovnik, figure 5.3 Shows that 61% of the
respondents holds a rather positive attitude towards large amounts of tourists in the
city. The author perceived that the more negative attitude towards the many tourists
in the town was shared by the residents in the higher age groups and those living in
the old town. On the other hand, there are a substantial number of citizens who wish
there would be more visitors, especially during the winter period. Wishes to attract
more tourists are merely motivated by a desire to boost the economical profit to and
spread the tourism business more equally over the year.
A negative consequence of the increasing popularity of Dubrovnik as a tourism
destination is the fact that more and more residents sell their homes to foreigners and
move out of the old town. Therefore the houses are only inhabited during certain
periods of the year leaving an empty atmosphere during low season. The author
experienced this intensively. He got the impression that the only people still present
in the old town were tourism employees trying to survive the winter period. When the
researcher attended a cultural spectacle organised for the tourists as part of the Winter
Program, it appeared that the majority of the visitors was constituted by elderly
residents who were still living in the old town. Many citizens have expressed their
worries concerning the departure of the residents out of the old town and some people
have assured the researcher that they were shocked to see that the town was
completely empty at moments that used to be animated with people in the recent past.
70
Professor Agutsay however explains that the crowding out of the old town could be
seen as a natural process and a logical development as people simply do not want to
live in discomfort anymore: narrow streets, no sun, no gardens, no space, no parking
space etc. A lady who had recently moved out of the old town and had adapted her
previous home for holiday renting informed the researcher about the discomfort in
many of the old houses and the difficulty to make the places more comfortable,
especially due to the very strict regulations of the UNESCO which allows only minor
alterations on the monumental buildings. However, although professor Agustsay
admits that an inhabited town with children and clothes hanging in the little streets
contributes to a positive, lively atmosphere, he believes that local inhabitancy of the
old town is not crucial for the success of the tourism industry in Dubrovnik.
Do large amounts of tourists contribute to a positive

atmosphere in the city?
30,0%
25,0%
Percent
20,0%
15,0%
27,03%
21,62%
10,0%
16,22%
13,51%
5,0%
12,16%
9,46%
0,0%
not at all
very
much
Figure 5.3: The effects of mass tourism on the atmosphere in the city (Source: own elaboration).
71
Job satisfaction
Although figure 5.4 shows a fairly equal dispersion between those who believe that
tourism employees are satisfied with their job and those who believe they are not, it
also appears that only 8.2 % of the respondents thinks that tourism employees in
Dubrovnik are entirely satisfied in their work. The author has learnt great amounts of
complaints about the working conditions in Dubrovnik. These mostly concern the low
wages combined with very long working hours and hardly or never any day off during
the summer season.
Are tourism employees in Dubrovnik satisfied with their jobs?
25,0%
Percent
20,0%
15,0%
24,59%
22,95%
21,31%
10,0%
18,03%
5,0%
8,2%
4,92%
0,0%
unsatisfied
satisfied
Figure 5.4: Job satisfaction of tourism employees (Source: own elaboration).
Mr. Skvrce believes that tourism employees are generally satisfied with their jobs
since they receive higher wages than those working in some other industries in
Dubrovnik. Mr. Zustra on the other hand explains that it is very difficult to keep the
employees satisfied. You have to keep them happy when working which is really
hard, and you cant do it even with the money anymore (Zustra 2006). Ms Bai
72
believes that people working in tourism are generally not satisfied with there jobs
because of the unequal distribution of the work over the year:
We have too many visitors in summer and almost none in winter. So basically the concept in
Dubrovnik and the rest of Croatia is that for 6 months you kill yourself and than you do
nothing for the remainder of the year which is very bad because people get too frustrated.
Because they have no day of they are too tired and when they are too tired my opinion is they
cannot deliver the service in the right way (Bai 2006).
The correlation between unfavorable working conditions and imperfect service

delivery is evident.
The Researcher experienced himself that tourist service in
Dubrovnik needs to be improved. In some cases, the friendliness of catering staff

needs to be provoked and information can be frankly poor as was the case at the main
bus station for example. However, the positive point for this matter is that not only
the tourists perceive a lack of quality service as a negative point of Dubrovniks
tourism product, both government and residents regard improvement of the service
levels as an crucial obligation to develop their tourism industry in the right direction.
73
Relations between residents and tourists

Figure 5.5 shows that about 2/3 of the respondents are rather positive about the
relations of the local population with the tourists.
How is the relation between the local population and the

tourists in Dubrovnik?
Percent
30,0%
20,0%
30,23%
25,58%
10,0%
18,6%
13,95%
9,3%
2,33%
0,0%
poor
excellent
Figure 5.5: Relations between locals and tourists (Source: own elaboration).
The author perceived that the negative attitude of the local population towards the
tourists is chiefly directed towards the cruise tourists given that these tourists come in
overwhelming large groups. A waiter working in restaurant at the Stradun typified
the cruise tourists as less friendly, less interested and more demanding. But, most
importantly, cruise tourists were negatively perceived since many locals were
convinced that these tourists spend much less money in the town as they eat and sleep
on the ship and do not want to buy the same type of souvenirs in every destination
that they embark as one student wrote on the questionnaire: From my perception,
tourism here is based on cruise ships, but those tourists dont spend money as normal
tourist do, so we dont like them. However, Mr. Zustra relates the problem to the
lack of diversity in Dubrovnik. It is remarkable that most of the restaurants and shops
74
in the old town offer the same type of food and souvenirs. Offer them something
they like and they will spend the money (Zustra 2006).
Attitude towards mass tourism

Figure 5.6 shows that the attitude of the local population towards mass tourism in
Dubrovnik is not very positive. Less than 3 % of the respondents clearly favours
mass tourism. 50 % of the respondents holds a rather negative attitude. As has been
mentioned before, many locals relate mass tourism directly to the cruise tourists who
are often negatively perceived. Understandably, these types of tourist are especially
blamed for the negative impacts on the cultural heritage since cruise tourists arrive in
massive, often uncontrollable numbers and appear to be the least interesting target
group from the economical point of view.
How is the attitude of the local population towards cultural

mass tourism in Dubrovnik?
40,0%
Percent
30,0%
20,0%
34,29%
28,57%
10,0%
17,14%
11,43%
5,71%
2,86%
0,0%
negative
positive
Figure 5.6: The attitude towards mass tourism (Source: own elaboration).
75
The researcher learnt that a great deal of the residents previews the solution in a
stronger focus on different markets, especially on the higher class and elite tourists.
Locals often indicated that the personal relation from the tourist with the local
population is rather good. However, the popularity of a tourist increases as he or she
spends more money at the destination. Dubrovnik is not capable to deal with massive
visitor numbers so the tourist that can afford to spend more is more welcome from the
point of view of the residents as Ms Bai puts forward:
Now we believe the money will come from a more elite tourism. Then we will also not have
such things as damaging the cultural heritage. Otherwise we would just have too many
visitors, imagine al these thousands of people coming with their cars. Dubrovnik is a small
town and we simply wouldnt have the space to put all these cars and peopleso yes, elite
tourism it what we should think about (Bai 2006).
76
Economic gain and mass tourism

Figure 5.7 indicates that the great majority of the respondents believes that economic
progress made by tourism developments is more relevant than the burden and
discomfort caused by high numbers of foreign people visiting the city. Some citizens
made clear to the researcher that one has to deal with the negative effects if one
wished to earn some money as a student indicated: You have to give something to
get something.
Does economical profit gained by tourism outweigh the burden

of the many tourists in the city?
40,0%
Percent
30,0%
20,0%
37,33%
30,67%
10,0%
16,0%
13,33%
0,0%
1,33%
1,33%
not at all
definitely
Figure 5.7: Economical profit and the burden of tourist (Source: own elaboration).
In this sense a lot of people feel that they have to give up a part of their privacy and
share their city with the foreigners. Some locals however admit that this has always
been the case and that many locals accept the situation as it is since they have only
experienced a different scene during the war and the first years after it.
77
Ms Bai does not believe that the people of Dubrovnik actually get wealthier of
tourism development. People earn good money during the summer season but all this
money is spend during the winter period since there is hardly any job available,
leaving little money at the end of the year for savings and investments. It is often
stated that the cruise tourist, who most strongly represent mass tourism with its
negative impacts to the city, brings in a relatively small amount of money.
78
Tourism management
The following section will discuss the findings related to a number of management
issues which formed the topics of separated research questions designed to evaluate
the current tourism management in Dubrovnik, again from the perspective of those
involved and working in the industry.
Responsibility for tourism development

Officially the government is entitled to plan and manage tourism development.
However, since most of the problems in Dubrovnik persist due to the incapability of
the town to attract sufficient investments for reconstruction and development, it is
understandable that many of the Dubrovnik residents believe that those who bring in
the financial capital represent the real power and decisive factor behind the mayor
developments as Ms Bai puts it:
The tourism strategy depends largely on the investments that can be attracted. There are
some positive developments with respect to the government and the mayor of Dubrovnik but
they cant do much (Bai 2006).
Though foreign companies and investors are responsible for many larger projects,
these are not able to do whatever they want and have to comply with strict
regulations. Mr. Market points out that the urban planning developed by the council
of Dubrovnik is conditioned by very strict rules and regulations. These regulations
need to be followed up by every investor and developer and if not it will not be able to
get any licenses and permissions from the local government. The determination of the
government to control development is well known as many locals pointed the
researcher at examples of investors who had to give up their plans to construct or
open a business in the city because the government would not grant the necessary
licenses. The locals remember very well the cases when entrepreneurs saw their
illegal business blow up by order of the government.
79
Agutsay agrees that regulations are very strict, sometimes too strict and that these
strict regulations push developers to find loopholes which often result in a lot of
trouble and hinder a healthy economic development. Professor Agutsay states that
overdevelopment is not an issue at the moment in Dubrovnik but that there exist an
overdevelopment in similar types of facilities.
In respect to the management of tourist flows to and through the city, it is clear that no
effective regulations have been established yet. Since tourist flows are uncontrolled
and unlimited, travel agencies and cruise operators decide when to bring in the
tourists which results in impressive congestions and deterioration of the tourist
experience. Bender explains that after the war, the cruise ships were very welcome
since they have brought the first tourists back to the city. However, now the cruise
companies occupy a monopoly position: They dictate to us and they come in four or
six hours all of them. Dubrovnik is too small for that (Bender 2006).
Sustainability
Mr. Skvrce puts forward that the sustainability concept in tourism development plays
a key role. As the following citation shows, convergence between sustainable
development and economical progress is the central, but a most complex and difficult
task:
The figures are pretty much interesting, I mean 20 percent increase (2004-2005). Of coarse
we are pretty much proud of it, of the figures but priority number one for us is sustainability,
how to keep the environment protected how to keep the old city itself protected how to keep
the cultural heritage protected. So we are not running for the money, for the figures. Of
coarse we are running for the money but the priority number one is not the money, the
priority number one is to try to work in compliance with the nature, in compliance with the
cultural heritage (Skvrce 2006).
Mr. Market, responsible for the Department of Tourism of the Dubrovnik government
and president of the tourist board emphasizes the importance of sustainable progress:
What we want is sustainable tourism. Tourism for the long period, for the next 20,
30, 50, 100 years. Not like in Spain, just 5, 10 years and finished. And responsible
80
tourism, that is very important, responsibility of what we are doing for the future
generations (Market 2006).
Indeed, the researcher has learnt that sustainability forms a focus point for many of
the current and planned tourism developments in Dubrovnik. Since nearly the entire
economy of the Dubrovnik region depends on tourism and since everybody is directly
or indirectly involved in the industry people look at the future and search for
opportunities to guarantee their source of income. Shortly, tourism is so crucial for all
habitants that unsustainable development will come across massive resistance of most
of the population. The difficulty however remains to assess which actions will further
or frustrate sustainable development. Many owners of little tourism businesses as
souvenir shops cafs and restaurants would theoretically support sustainable
development. However, often the desire to earn money as soon as possible is the
deciding factor as one tourism student from American College of management and
technology declared: the situation is very poor. People are focused only on shortterm profit and not on keeping their customers satisfied. Basically mass tourism is
developed here.
Stakeholders involvement
According to the statements of all interviewees it becomes clear that to a certain
degree, the local community participates in the decision making process. Mrs.
Milovi explains that the local population actively engages in the round tables,
discussions, panels and presentations.
Furthermore there exist many different
environment and ecological groups which make efforts to protect Dubrovniks natural
and cultural beauty.
Ms Bender is very positive about the relations with the
government as she puts forward that:

The opinion is very, very strong here in Dubrovnik. You know we are a very small town.
We have four journals and every journal writes the opinions of the people and now our mayor
listens to thatsometime there is a politic issuebut she is very, veryour mayor is a tough
person but she is very flexible and she wants to hear what the people have to say (Bender
2006).
81
Mr. Zustra believes that there are many locals involved in tourism management and
that the government is willing to listen and cooperate with everybody. Ms Bai
admits that people are informed, but to her point of view people do not have much
influence. She states that everybody is involved but through their own business or
job. According to Bai, hardly any people would participate in the development of
tourism development strategies. Furthermore, Mrs. Milovi however argues that the
Government of Dubrovnik is doing its best to involve many different parties in the
development process. Mrs. Menalo explains that the local residents can get involved
in the managements of small scale matters as protection and restoration and the
development of new entrepreneurial activities, more extensive developments are
generally decided by the government and the investors and according to Menalo,
these are larger projects are mostly well supported by the people of Dubrovnik.
Partnerships
Dubrovnik is engaged with different partnerships with other tourist cities. Dubrovnik
is a member of European Cities Tourism which has proved to be a very helpful
relation for the Dubrovnik Tourism Board (Skvrce, 2006). Moreover, there exist a
number of official friends of Dubrovnik as for instance Ravenna in Italia, Graz in
Austria, Badenburg in Germany which cooperate in tourism management.
Mrs. Milovi points out that the people in Dubrovnik learn form tourism
developments in other cities and countries and that partnerships with other cities are
important to become more involved and informed about the strategies but also the
difficulties and problems in other tourist cities. She confirms that in Dubrovnik
everybody is aware of the importance to protect the cultural heritage:
In general the protection of the cultural heritage in Dubrovnik on very high level, we want to
avoid the Spanish syndrome if you want. And we will try to skip and avoid the Venetian
problem, the problems that Venice actually has got, they are congested with people, with the
pollution, the sewage doesnt function you have an awful smell (Milovi 2006).
However the benefits of partnerships between governmental organizations in different

tourist cities, Mr. Skvrce puts forward that there is still no partnership between the
public and the private sector which he describes as a regrettable matter. Skvrce
82
blames the hotel organizations for their unwillingness to cooperate with the public
sector:
We are still in a procedure, so they dont have any power. They have to create the image of
their hotel and their services, their offer. They should do that on a base and a tradition of
tourism development in Dubrovnik. It is a hospitality. The city has its own brand so it is not
very hard for them but I think they might be much more involved in that and I dont know the
reason why they are not. I think they are pretty much closed, you know close the door, they
are not very open to the city (Skvrce 2006).
Competition
None of all residents who have taken part in this research study believe that
competition with other historical tourist cities is an important issue since everybody is
convinced that Dubrovnik is unique, not only in Europe but also in the entire world.
Mr. Skvrce indicates that although Dubrovnik is unique, it is important to observe
what other tourist cities are doing and acknowledges that the city needs to improve its
competitive position, especially with regard to enhancement of the tourist
attractiveness of Dubrovnik during the winter season:
We should maintain and even enhance and improve the quality of service , I am talking
about the whole year period, because what we are trying to do is to stimulate the winter
period, the programs in winter season in Dubrovnik are definitely very and very difficult, but
we are pretty much satisfied with the figures during the summer period but what is missing is
a winter period so this is the reason why we are pretty much focused on this particular period
and we are trying to create special programs for the coming winter which will be focused on
getting as many tourist as possible to Dubrovnik in winter (Skvrce 2006).
Research
Mrs. Milovi puts forward that the Dubrovnik Tourist board takes part in the general
research projects which are conducted at the headquarters of the Croatian National
Tourist Board. Furthermore there is the Institute For Tourism which is an official
institution trained to do certain research and the university that carries out a variety of
mostly small-scale research projects.
One of the examples explained by Mrs.
Milovi concerns an investigation of the impacts of the cruise liner industry on the
tourism of the Dubrovnik region. This kind of studies are crucial for tourism planning
83
and development as they chart the positive and negative impacts of the separated
tourism activities and will provide a better picture of the overall tourism products and
performances in the city (Milovi 2006). According to Skvrce, more research should
be carried out to guide and monitor the tourism industry in Dubrovnik. Agutsay does
not believe that that government and developers cooperate enough with researchers
and engages sufficiently in research projects. He indicates that some initiatives are
being made but that tourism research in Dubrovnik lacks an organized and systematic
approach (Agutsay 2006).
Human resources
The human resources that are currently available to function in Dubrovniks tourist
industry are quantitatively and qualitatively insufficient. A lack of staff at al levels
persists during high season which lasts from May till October. The lack of higher
skilled employees and managers is believed to reduce in the near future since good
investments are made in the citys education system and more and more students are
coming to Dubrovnik (Agutsay 2006). It will be more complicated to solve the
shortage of low-skilled employees. Professor Agutsay indicates that the understaffed
situation in the Dubrovnik tourism industry persists simply because the wages are too
low.
He argues that the government needs to reduce taxes on wages which are
disproportionately high in Croatia.
Furthermore he states that the hotels should
provide food and participate in the accommodation costs of their employees because
if that lower level position employee is going to pay for all the costs of living that
they have in Dubrovnik since they are not from Dubrovnik, they will end up working
for free (Agutsay 2006). Agustay puts forward that membership of the European
European Union may be a positive factor since free flow of work force may bring
more employees to Croatia and competition will force the owners of the large hotels
to put more efforts to retain and reward their employees.
84
Tourist capacity
The lack of hotel capacity as a result of the destructions of the hotels during and after
the war is generally regarded as the biggest problem for the Dubrovnik tourism
industry. The government is putting many efforts to encourage residents to invest in
private accommodation and to get all the destroyed hotels rebuild as soon as possible.
Mr. Zustra acknowledges that there should be invested in expansion of the hotel
capacity but he points out that investments should be focussed on quality
improvement to fulfil the needs of the higher class and elite tourists. Professor
Agutsay points out that Dubrovnik is a buzz world these days. He believes that the
tremendous popularity of the destination will be a positive factor in the future but he
is more skeptic towards the present situation since Dubrovniks infrastructure may not
yet be ready to receive and serve enormous amounts of tourists.
Are we ready to accommodate and serve all the people? Because service is experience and if
my experience was traumatic because of the crowd, because of not being able to walk, to even
get a bus or to eat, than it will be a nightmare(Agutsay 2006).
Visitor management
The researcher has experienced that many of the negative impacts of the tourism
industry are caused by the lack of an adequate visitor management. Moreover, it is
obvious that basically all attention is focussed on the old town. Most tourists only
visit Dubrovnik to see the old town and have no idea of or interest for other tourist
attractions in the area. According to Mrs. Milovi the visits to the town need to be
organised in a different manner to avoid congestion and unequal distributions of the
tourist over the town:
The travel agencies are supposed to redesign, reorganize the tours and they are just doing it
for a few years so they take the visitors from the cruise ships to the vicinities of Dubrovnik
for one or two hours, while another part of these tourists visit the old town, they have to come
and go in smaller groups and this is actually the only way to preserve the monument
(Milovi 2006).
The problems caused by bad visitor management do not only harm the quality of life
of the local population but also the experience of the tourists which will complicate
85
the effort of the town to attract high class and elite tourists as Ms Bender puts
forward:
We now want to make elite tourism but that is not possible with so many people because
somebody who comes here and pays a lot for accommodation and for food is in fact in a bad
position because since there are so many people he cant find a place at the beach, he cant
enter at the boat to visit the islands because there are too many people, they are all over. He
could not enter. You ask me for the bus: at the main entrance of the old town it is a complete
mess. Eleven, twelve busses, you could not pass through that mess (Bender 2006).
Beside the fact that a better distribution of the visitors over Dubrovnik and the
vicinities of the city and a rise of the entre fees is required to guarantee a quality
experience for the visitor, professor Agutsay states that expansion of the season could
be a way to accommodate more tourists more comfortably, spreading these tourists
more equally over the year. Ms Bai underlines the importance of developing
facilities to attract and amuse tourists during the winter period. She indicates that
there exist many different types of tourists and that for tourists who are oriented on
culture it can be more suitable to visit the city during the low season. Agustsay
acknowledges the need for development of innovative and more diverse facilities and
attractions combined with an intensive promotion of the winter season, but on the
other hand he explains the expansion of the season as a partly natural process:
What is happening is that the season is moving to April, it is moving to October. If you want
to book in may they will tell you: No, you cant, because it is full, so would you like to come
in April, than you say well okay you know. I have spoken to the marketing director of hotel
Argentina and he said that it is coming naturally, that the pressure from visitors is actually
naturally spreading throughout the year when they realize that they can not get
accommodation from May to September (Agutsay 2006).
Future tourism development

Figure 5.8 presents a survey of the suggestions for future tourism development given
by the local population.
Most of the issues behind the suggestions given can
simultaneously been considered as weaknesses of the destination and are often

equally mentioned as the negative outcomes of the tourism sector in Dubrovnik.
It has to be mentioned that all suggestions are interrelated and that an improvement of
one issue is likely to exert positive effects on the others. The figure shows that
86
discouragement of mass tourism combined with an increased focus on the target

groups of the higher class and elite tourists is the major suggestion. Development of a
proper infra structure, combat of the seasonality problem, a higher service level but
also the other given suggestions are directly related to a focus on the more wealthier
tourist and a development of Dubrovnik into a high quality tourist destination.
Dubrovnik is slowly developing into this direction. Since it is currently a very
fashionable destination, increasing numbers of rich and famous people are visiting the
city and the industry naturally anticipates on this process as Ms Bai puts it:
I think it is a natural process whether it is from the government or from the people that are
actually doing the tourism. We are all realizing that elite tourism will be the only solution for
Dubrovnik. Everybody says: Dubrovnik is like a new Monte Carlo (Bai 2006).
Suggestions for tourism development

14
Respondents
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Suggestions
Disencourage mass tourism
Focus on areas outside Dubrovnik
Development of nightlife facilities
Provide better service
Improve infra-structure
Increase wages
Spread the season
Development of high quality facilities.
Figure 5.8: Suggestions for future tourism development (source: own elaboration)
Conclusion
This chapter has presented a selection of the main findings largely extracted from the
conducted interviews and completed with the questionnaire and observation findings.
The chapter has manifested that the great majority of the participants has a good
confidence in the future developments of the citys tourism industry. However, there
87
exist many opportunities to improve the citys tourist product and its management
which will be necessary to sustain the industry and guarantee Dubrovniks heritage as
tourism resource for the future. In the following and last chapter overall conclusions
of the study and recommendations for urban heritage tourism development in
Dubrovnik and possible other tourist cities will be given. Moreover, options for
further research in relation to the research topic are indicated.
88
Chapter 6: Conclusions and

Recommendations
Conclusions
Page (1995) states that cities and towns form the words most important tourist
destinations.
Dubrovnik is an example of an urban destination that is near to
completely dependent on tourism and for which the tourism industry has boosted the
economic development of the city. However, overdependence on tourism, which is
actually the case in Dubrovnik, is a risky matter which needs to be taken seriously be
the governmental authorities given that tourism is a fragile business which can be
rapidly and heavily jeopardised by unpredicted locally and globally impacting
developments.
Russo (2002) points out that mass tourism development is cities may deteriorate the
quality of the urban environment both for visitors and the local population. The
tourism industry in Dubrovnik depends for an important part on mass tourism and the
negative effects of large visitor numbers in a small geographic area, especially in that
of the old town are obvious. Congestion, overcrowding, declining service levels etc.
are some of the detrimental impacts of mass tourism in Dubrovnik and harm the
visitor experience (Van der Borg et. al 1996).
However, since tourism largely
represents all economic activities in the city, governmental management can focus
intensively on improvement of the conditions of the tourist environment and
economic progress from tourism development will not be impeded by frictions
between different and competing industrial sectors.
The researcher has found that tourism can not be blamed for the negative effects on
the cultural identity of Dubrovnik. Tourism actually forms a part of Dubrovniks
cultural identity and has brought the economical means to protect the architectural and
cultural heritage of the city. Although international tourists influence the way of life
in the city, the impacts of world-wide trends and developments as the internet and
89
globalisation in general seem to be much more important than those caused by foreign
people in the city. Strengthening of local heritage and cultural identity both as a
reaction on the globalising forces and as a tool to distinguish from competitive tourist
cities is definitely the case in Dubrovnik (Maitland 2005).
Dubrovnik is an increasingly popular tourist destination and visitor numbers are
booming. However, partly because of the damages caused to the tourist infrastructure
of the city during the period of the Balkan Wars, the city is not ready to host and cater
for the rising visitor numbers.
This results in an enlargement of the share of
excursionists to the city, aggravating the traffic- and people congestion which
jeopardises the quality of the tourist experience. Distribution of the tourists over the
old town, but even more importantly, over the entire county of Dubrovnik is not well
organised which compounds the negative impacts of tourism for tourists and
residents.
Mayor developments in Dubrovnik as for instance the reconstruction of the large
hotels are mainly decided by foreign investors. However, the city manages to control
the new developments reasonably well since regulations are strict, construction
licences are difficult to obtain and illegal constructions are simply blown up when
discovered by the government.
Although the local population is invited by the
government to participate in tourism development, it seems that Dubrovniks

residents can merely influence on smaller scale matters as local restoration projects
for example. Due to the enormous damage to the citys tourist infrastructure caused
by the war, Dubrovnik has become dependent on foreign investments which has
resulted in a loss of power and control over tourism management by the local
population.
Nevertheless, Dubrovniks tourism industry has recovered exceptionally well since

the end the 20th century and the majority of the people involved in the tourism
industry proves to be well aware of the importance to proceed future developments in
the most sustainable way. The great challenge will be to give priority to quality
developments which may require greater human and capital investments and patience
90
for economic profits but which will surely prove more beneficial to the destination
and its people than attempts to profit on the short term.
Recommendations
The following section presents a number of recommendations that focus on future
tourism development in Dubrovnik and possibilities for further research actions.
Although these recommendations ensue from research findings that are purely related
to the circumstances in Dubrovnik, the researcher presumes that the following
propositions could prove valuable for and transferable to other heritage tourist cities.
Visitor management
A most crucial issue for Dubrovnik is the development of a strategic visitor
management system. Many of the current problems in the city arise due to a lack of
visitor control and these problems are likely to increase dramatically in the very near
future. Research has to be carried out to determine how the visitor flows could most
efficiently be distributed over the different attractions in the city and more attention
should be paid the tourist opportunities of the vicinities of Dubrovnik to release the
enormous pressure on the old town.
To protect and actually enhance the visitor experience, entre fees for museums and
other heritage attractions as the city walls for instance should be increased as a mayor
measure to limit the amount of visitors. Furthermore, the government should provide
a more stimulating and comprehensive program for the cruise tourists who are
regarded by the people of Dubrovnik as mass tourists that do not contribute
sufficiently to the cities economy. Limitation of visitor numbers appears to be an
unpopular action to take by both government and tourism businesses and attractions
which are still largely focussed on increasing visitor numbers and with that their
economic profit.
Nevertheless, if Dubrovnik wish to develop in the direction of a
quality destination and favourite spot for rich and elite tourists, stricter management
91
of visitor numbers and flows needs to initiated immediately before the destination will
land up in the same situation as Venice, providing a low quality cultural heritage
experience to an heavily oversized amount of tourists being of the least favourite
profile type, namely tourists that are the least attractive form the social-economic
perspective.
Diversification
However Dubrovniks core tourist product consists of an ideal and diverse
combination of natural and cultural heritage, the offer of complementary tourist
facilities and attractions is underdeveloped. Development of more, and particularly
more diverse facilities to amuse the tourist in the city are required. Solutions have to
be found to develop night-life facilities without disturbing the life of the local
population and a greater variety in type of restaurants and shops should be emulated
both to better serve the needs of the increasingly demanding tourists and to enhance
the competitive position of the destination.
Moreover, development of
complementary tourist products will provide new economic opportunities and

contribute to the efforts to enlarge the tourism season.
Service improvement
An increase of the service levels is required.
Although hospitality service in
Dubrovnik has slightly improved since the second half of the 1999s when it was
called the graveyard of hotel service (Agutsay, interview appendix III), it is still far
from sufficient. Even though tourism has become a part of Dubrovniks culture,
quality service has not. If Dubrovnik truly wishes to become and remain one of the
worldss most popular and esteemed tourist destinations as many citizens of the city
believe it will, high quality service adding an extra dimension to the overall tourist
product of the city will be a must. Training of employees should not only be provided
by the large hotel companies but become and integrated factor in the general tourism
planning and development and should concern to all working or otherwise involved in
92
the industry. Since this touches on nearly the entire population of Dubrovnik, a well
set-up, on going campaign of tourist-service promotion in the city would be
recommended.
Extension of the season

Although extension of the tourist season may happen partly as a natural process since
the popularity of the destination is skyrocketing and tourist wish to visit the city
anyhow, the researcher believes that much more efforts should be initiated to make
the winter period actually popular with the tourists.
Firstly, as the researcher
experienced himself, the winter is a very attractive and possibly even more attractive
period to visit Dubrovnik than the summer, a matter that has been confirmed by a
substantial number of residents and tourists who had, despite the unfavourable
weather conditions (which are not very common for the period of the year) a pleasant
stay in the city. Besides a more active development of tourist facilities and events for
the winter period, the low season should be much more aggressively promoted and
become a serious competitor of the summer period. The researcher has learnt that
Dubrovnik has great potential to develop tourism in the winter period since the
weather conditions are generally very good and since the more tranquil environment
proves convenient for the culturally motivated heritage tourist.
Collaboration
In order to guide Dubrovniks tourism industry in the right direction, a common
strategic development vision and its deduced planning policies should be
communicated to everyone involved in the industry. A mayor obstacle for integrative
and conjunctive tourism development may be the absence of public-private
partnerships in the city. It appears that the unwillingness of the large hotel companies
to collaborate with the governmental authorities is a mayor impediment, however
greater efforts to improve the relation between both sectors are necessary.
The
government of Dubrovnik should investigate the possibilities to perk up the
93
communication with private sector and research should be carried out to determine in
which ways government and businesses could work together more efficiently and
profit mutually from public-private partnerships.
Research
A last recommendation to be made concerns the need to enhance research activities
and with a more intense collaboration of governmental organisations, universities and
private businesses in this matter. Research findings into the needs of both future
tourists and the local population of the city are necessary to function as the basic
indicator for the decision-making in tourism development. As integrative forward
planning is a most significant requirement for sustainable development, planning
policies should be based on quality information concerning the many separated
components of the tourism industry. Therefore more extensive investment in tourism
research in Dubrovnik is a must.
94
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Appendix A: Examples of questionnaires

and interview questions
101
The following questionnaire is part of a dissertation research project carried out as final
assignment of the European Tourism Management master course at Bournemouth

University, United Kingdom. The Purpose of study is to investigate tourism
management in European heritage cities with an in-depth study focused on the
situation in Dubrovnik. Your collaboration is of great value and highly appreciated.
All obtained information will be treated confidentially.
1. For how many years have you been living in Dubrovnik?..........................................

2. Are you currently living in the old town?
Yes
No
3. What is your perception of the way tourism is developed and managed in

Dubrovnik?
....
3. Do you perceive any negative impacts caused by expansion of the tourism sector in
Dubrovnik? Which?
....
4. Do you think tourism damages the urban environment of Dubrovnik?
Yes
No
5. Do you think tourism improves the urban environment of Dubrovnik?
Yes
No
6. Do the large amounts of tourists during high season contribute to a positive

atmosphere in the city?
Not at all
Very much
7. Are people employed in the tourism industry generally satisfied with their Jobs?
Unsatisfied
Satisfied
PTO!
102
8. How is the relation between the local population and the tourists in Dubrovnik?
Poor
Excellent
9. What is the attitude of the local population towards cultural mass tourism in
Dubrovnik?
Negative
Positive
10. Dou you think urban mass tourism destroys or protects Dubrovniks cultural
identity?
Destroys
protects
11. Does economical profit gained by tourism outweigh the burden of the enormous
amount of tourists in the city?
Not at all
Definitely
12. What would you suggest for further tourism development in Dubrovnik?
(What should be improved or avoided?)
.
.....
.
.
.
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
103
The following questionnaire is part of a dissertation research project carried out as

final assignment of the European Tourism Management master course at
Bournemouth University, United Kingdom. The Purpose of study is to investigate
tourism management in European heritage cities with an in-depth study focused on
the situation in Dubrovnik. Your collaboration is of great value and highly
appreciated. All obtained information will be treated confidentially. The questionnaire
contains a total of 18 questions of which 7 are fact- and 12 opinion-based.
FACT - QUESTIONS:
Nationality
Sex:
Male
female
Age...
Occupation ..
Length of stay: (in nights)
Is this your first time in Dubrovnik?
3
Yes
6 -8
More than 8
No
OPINION - QUESTIONS:
1. Why are you visiting Dubrovnik?
....
2. What is your perception of the way tourism is developed and managed in
Dubrovnik?
....
3. Do you perceive any negative impacts caused by expansion of the tourism sector in
Dubrovnik? Which?
....
104
4. Do you think tourism damages the urban environment of Dubrovnik?

Yes No
5. Do you think tourism improves the urban environment of Dubrovnik?
Yes No
6. Do large amounts of tourists contribute to a positive atmosphere in the city?
Not at all
Very much
7. Are people employed in the tourism industry generally satisfied with their Jobs?
Unsatisfied
Satisfied
8. How is the relation between the local population and the tourists in Dubrovnik?
Poor
Excellent
9. What is the attitude of the local population towards cultural mass tourism in
Dubrovnik?
Negative
Positive
10. Dou you think urban mass tourism destroys or protects Dubrovniks cultural
identity?
Destroys
protects
11. Does economical profit gained by tourism outweigh the burden of the enormous
Not at all
Definitely
12. What would you suggest for further tourism development in Dubrovnik?
(What should be improved or avoided?)
.
.....
.
.
105
The follow interview is a part of a research project which I am carrying out for the
dissertation of the master course EUROPEAN TOURISM MANAGEMENT at
Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom. The Purpose of study is the
investigation of tourism performances and management in European heritage cities
with an in-depth study of the situation in Dubrovnik. Your collaboration is of great
value highly appreciated. All obtained information will be obtained confidentially.
Who are you?

1.
What is you involvement with tourism in Dubrovnik?
2.
How important is tourism for Dubrovnik?

Not important
3.
Very important
What are Dubrovniks top two:

Unique selling points (advantages)?
Opportunities?
4.
Could you mention two mayor developments in the Dubrovnik tourism industry
over the past 10 years?
5.
Could you mention two examples of developments that have gone wrong/ been
difficult?
6.
Does tourism damage the urban environment?

Yes / No
Two examples related to Dubrovnik:
7.
Does tourism improve the conditions of the urban environment?

Yes / No
8.
Does tourism conserve or damage physical heritage attractions in Dubrovnik?

Conserve Yes / No
Damage Yes / No
9.
Do large amounts of tourist contribute to a positive atmosphere in the city?

Yes / No.
Why / Why not?
10.
Are people employed in the tourism industry generally satisfied with their Jobs?
Yes / No.
Why / Why not?
106
11.
How is the relation between the local population and the tourists?
Poor
12.
Excellent
Positive
Very much
Has tourism brought negative / positive impacts to architectural and cultural

heritage?
(Which?) Top two:
Negative
15.
Dou you think urban mass tourism changes, destroys or protects Dubrovniks
cultural identity?
No at all
14.
What is the attitude of the local population towards cultural mass tourism in
Dubrovnik?
Negative
13.
Positive
Does economical profit gained by tourism outweigh the burden of the enormous
Not at all
Definitely
16.
Who is responsible for tourism development in Dubrovnik? (Structure of

power?) Who formulates the tourism development strategy?
17.
Is multi-stakeholders involvement encouraged and is it functional?

Could you give my one example?
Yes / no
Example:
18.
Is Dubrovnik involved in partnerships with other tourist cities / regions /

countries organisations?
Yes / no
Example:
19.
How severe is the competition with other European heritage cities in Europe?
Insignificant
20.
Severe
How can Dubrovnik maintain / enhance its competitive position?

Two examples:
107
21.
What research is undertaken with respect to the different tourism development

related issues prevailing in the Dubrovnik tourist sector?
Examples:
22.
Do tourism planners and developers cooperate with academic and professional

researchers in the tourism field?
Yes / No
Examples:
23.
How important is the Sustainability concept in tourism planning in Dubrovnik?

Not at all
24.
Very important
Does the sustainable development concept determine strategic planning and

development or does rapid economical gain undermine responsible
development?
Pl / Dev: not sust.
Pl / Dev: sust
25.
Are terms as limits of acceptable change and carrying capacity used tourism
planning?
Yes / no
26.
Are developments in other tourist cities studied and used as examples for how
tourism development in Dubrovnik should or should not happen?
Yes / no
Examples:
27.
Do tourists pay for heritage maintenance? Does Dubrovnik maintain costrepresentative admission prices for access to historical tourist attractions?
Yes / No
28.
Are there restrictive regulations to avoid overdevelopment?

Examples:
29.
What should be changed / encouraged in the actual tourism management?

Two examples for change
Two examples to encourage
30.
What are the 2 mayor developments in the tourism industry of Dubrovnik that
you expect to take place during the next decade?
108
Appendix B: Interview 1
Interview 1: Interview with Mr. Market, president of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, Mrs.
Milovi, responsible of public relations of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board and Mr. Skvrce, Director
of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board. Date 13 February 2006.
Interviewer: How important is tourism for Dubrovnik?
Mr. Skvrce: Well it is one of the main, it is actually the main industry, main branch of the
economy of the Dubrovnik county. Everything is focused and based on tourism and it very
important for the entire picture of economy of Dubrovnik.
Interviewer: What are Dubrovniks top two unique selling points (advantages)?
Cultural heritage is the first on and natural beauty is the second, the combination of sea and city.
Interviewer: And Opportunities for Dubrovnik?
Mr. Skvrce: I will go back to the previous.
Interviewer: Could you mention two mayor developments in the Dubrovnik tourism industry that
have taken place over the past 10 years?
Mrs. Milovi: Well it was very difficult, postwar period was the most difficult period. You have
to understand that there was a 2 billion damage. Most important damage concerned the
infrastructure. The streets, the electricity, the water supply and after that the airport and the hotel
industry. It was an enormous damage to start the reconstruction, as a new state Croatia had the
priority to reconstruct the villages, the houses in the villages, to return the vanished people which
were staying in the hotels, to return them home and than to start to rebuild the hotels. These were
devastated by the refugees who had stayed there for five years and there were the hotels that have
been destroyed by the war. Than there were many pilot programs, that was why we were actually
very successful because we already started in1991during the war to register all the damages, to
take photos of every damage and than, to do the classification of these damages in six different
categories. We are talking about more than 5 thousand houses and apartments and dwellings
shelled, so about 25 thousand people who were accommodated in the hotels for 5 years. We
started straight away beginning of 1993. By 1997, 27 hotels were put into function. 98 was a very
good season. And than in 1999 you had the strikes over Kosovo, tourism collapsed again and than
from 2000 it started to rise up, but we were prepared and many others would like to learn from us
about how we were able to recover.
Mr. Market: It was a very dirty war, it was a real war. A real war and a very dirty war. Here, in
the Dubrovnik region the war was started at the first of October 1991. Suddenly, there was no
water; no electric, the situation was catastrophic, full catastrophe for the city of Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik was surrounded. Dubrovnik was on only twelve quadrate kilometers. Surrounded by
the Serbian and the Montenegrin soldiers. I have to tell you: We had here, three hundred died
people. 33.000 refugees in whole this period from the first of October 91 till the end of June 1995.
33000 refugees and these refugees were mostly from the region of Dubrovnik and exactly 336
prisoners, my friends the prisoners in Montenegro and Herzegovina. You know the situation was
terrible, the people were very depressive, the first problem for us after the war after august 95. The
last person was killed here in Dubrovnik the third of august 1995. The first problem for us was,
for tourism, for economic depression, the people were very, very depressed. But, tourism was
started in 1995. Dubrovnik was surrounded by the soldiers, but tourism was already starting, just
little numbers but was starting. I have to tell you, because of the war we have in Dubrovnik only
8.500 beds available at the moment. There are still 3.500 beds in the destroyed hotels. And this is
the biggest problem for tourism in Dubrovnik. But, you can see the result is really excellent, very,
very, very good. We are expecting new beds, new hotel-beds and altogether for example in august
109
we have 15000 overnights but this is together with hotel beds private beds marina beds camping
beds and hostel, there is one hostel in Dubrovnik, and this capacity of 15000 is not enough. In
first position, we are expecting new hotel beds. The other problem for us is that the road
connections are very, very bad. We have very good air connection, by plane, we have good
connection by ships but our connections by road are, still today, very bad. We are expecting new
roads, to Split to Zagreb, to Holland, to England, to everywhere.
Interviewer: How does Dubrovnik attract the necessary funding for these developments?
Mr. Market: We are expecting capital, investment from Holland from England from Italy we are
expectating investment. But the economy in Croatia is growing quickly, you know the budget of
the Dubrovnik city board at the end of 2001 was 100 million Kunas, today, the budget is 291
million Kunas. The result is the economy is growing.
Mister Skvrce: The key issue is actually the privatization process: how to force the owners of the
hotels to invest money in the properties, hotels and buildings they have. I have to tell you that the
situation at the moment in Dubrovnik when talking about the investments and the hotels is
actually pretty good. Because each and every hotel owner is investing in the properties they have,
there are many examples starting from the Barbin Kuk hotels, not to mention Hilton imperial the
owners of the Hilton hotel own two other hotels in Dubrovnik and on the islands and they are
planning to invest there as well. Then there is the Libertad hotel with a capacity of 420 beds which
is owned by Turkish people and which will be in function for the season of 2008. We are forcing
the owners as much as possible to invest in their hotels. We are estimating an important increase
in the investment during the next couple of years because there are more hotels are being
privatized and the investments are pretty much obvious. So in general we have a very good
situation and the perspectives are also very good. So we think that within the next couple of years
each and every hotel which is not privatized will be privatized and rebuild.
Interviewer: Do you think tourism improves the urban conditions in Dubrovnik, in particular those
of the old town?
There is a huge pressure on the old city because of its beauty of course. So each and every guest
that arrives visits the old town, the consumption of the old town is actually very, very high.
Interviewer: Is it to much?
Mister Skvrce: It is not too much.
Mrs. Milovi: It is not too much but it has to be better organized, the visit to the city, the visit to
the attractions which is, the largest attraction is actually the city wall. But the travel agencies are
supposed to redesign, reorganize the tours and they are just doing it for a few years so they take
the visitors from the cruise ships to the vicinities of Dubrovnik for one or two hours because,
while another part of these tourists visits the old town, they have to come and go in smaller groups
and this is actually the only way to preserve the monument. And it was hard to determine who had
actually to take care of the monuments; the city government is not so rich that it can afford a large
budget for monument preservation. At the moment there is the decision that the association of the
friends of Dubrovnik will take care of the city walls and they are actually doing the mayor
reconstruction of the monuments and the pavements which are mostly affected because there are
huge numbers of thousands of people walking down these streets. But we cant talk about it to be
too much because before the war we had much more tourists and today we are only at a 60 percent
of the results we had in 1990. Not only the hotels but also the traffic over the Dubrovnik airport is
also a 40 percent less. We have to reach the point of 1990 to say we are completely back. But
maybe we cant cope with the cruise ships but we fight with them it is a global business and we
are doing the reconstruction of the port. The city of Dubrovnik guarantees to the European bank
that to all the debts of the credits will be brought back. So the city of Dubrovnik guarantees for
such a large and enormous investment. But in the future it is going to be much better because the
110
ferries will also be situated closer to the bridge, so it will be much easier to cope with the
problems of so many visitors to Dubrovnik.
Interviewer: The money to maintain the heritage, is the money coming from tourism?
Mrs. Milovi: Yes, but also the ministry of tourism, every year the ministry of tourism, the
creation government the have some money in their budget.
Interviewer: Is there enough money to maintain heritage?
Mrs. Milovi: It is not always enough, but slowly, you know, because we suffered very much,
still there are thing that has to be done.
Mr. Market: Rolf, you can see the monuments in Dubrovnik are in a very good condition, the
walls the church the museum everything, ok!
Interviewer: I agree that are in much better state then I have seen in many other historical tourist
towns.
Interviewer: Do large amounts of tourists contribute to a positive atmosphere in the city?
Mr. Skvrce: Definitely because they create, together with the locals a specific atmosphere.
Mrs. Milovi: of coarse and it improves actually the standard of life, the way of living, we are
returning slowly to the way of living we lived before, this is not something new, the new is that
we have a new state, we have our own state (Mr. Market: Yes thanks to god). We need more
places for the employment for the young people.
Mr. Market: That is the main problem, every where in Croatia.
Mrs. Milovi: They have to rebuild the hotels as soon as possible.
Interviewer: Do you think people working in tourism are satisfied with their jobs?
Mr. Skvrce: I would say in general yes because the wages the get in the hotels are actually higher
in comparison with the wages some people get in some other positions and industries that are
actually represented in Dubrovnik.
Mr. Market: Yes and actually the high schools and universities in Dubrovnik, it is all focused on
tourism; they young people are trained to work in tourism.
Interviewer: Does tourism negatively impact on the cultural heritage of Dubrovnik?
Mr. Skvrce: No, there are very strict regulations about how and where to construct and you dont
see very huge buildings near the old city, because the city is protected by the UNESCO so it
would be really stupid to build near the walls of the old town.
Interviewer: So all of you agree that new constructions and developments in Dubrovnik are in
style and harmony with the architectural environment?
Mrs. Milovi: Yes, and actually the government of Dubrovnik suggest the locals to invest more
in small family hotels, not the large ones.
Mr. Market: speaks in Croatian, translated by Mr. Skvrce: I dont know if I am gonna translate
very correctly but we are talking about the general urbanistic planning which has been accepted by
the council of Dubrovnik which give the directions in which way the city of Dubrovnik should be
developed in the future. So there are restrictions, there are rules and regulations which each and
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very investor needs to follow up, and if not it wont be able to get any licenses and permissions
from the local government.
Mr. Market: Very hard restrictions.
Interviewer: Who is responsible for tourism besides the tourism board and the government? Do
the owners of the big hotels have much to say?
Mr. Skvrce: No, there is still no partnership between the public and the private. We are still in a
procedure, so they dont have any power. They have to create the image of their hotel and their
services, their offer. They should do that on a base and a tradition of tourism development in
Dubrovnik. It is a hospitality. The city has its own brand so it is not very hard for them but I think
they might be much more involved in that and I dont know the reason why they are not. I think
they are pretty much closed, you know close the door, they are not very open to the city. They
forget sometimes that they should have a program for the wintertime when there are not many
tourists. The have to be more open and do more advertising otherwise you have nothing in those
hotels so Dubrovnik Tourism Board what we are doing, you know the winter program, is very,
very important.
Interviewer: Does the local community participate in the decision making process?
Mrs. Milovi: But in a way they participate of coarse, they do round tables, many discussions,
many panels, presentations or whatever, you know the environment, many ecological groups, they
are all involved in the development.
Mr. Market: Public opinion is very important.
Mrs. Milovi: But why I mentioned the hotels, the hotels have to live the whole year round with
the city, not only during the season time, that they experience and that they actually enjoy the
program that we offer for all the tourists and they benefit. They pay the fee according to their
membership to the tourist board, that money is invested in many different programs lets say but
that is not only a program that you are creating but also a get together, so you know, it is a process
that takes a time.
Interviewer: So, altogether the board is doing its best to involve many different parties in the
development process?
Mrs. Milovi: Yes, of course.
Interviewer: Are there any partnerships with other tourist cities?
Mr. Skvrce: Yes there are, we are a member of European cities tourism and of another association
of the cities (Bernadia).
Interviewer: Are they helpful these memberships?
Mr. Skvrce: Definitely.
Mr. Market: the official friends of Dubrovnik are: In Italy, Ravenna, Ragusa. Graz in Austria,
Badenburg, Germany, now Monaco, they would be in a few months, and Herzenborg, Sweden.
These are partnerships of Dubrovnik okay.
Interviewer: Do you think competition with other historical tourist cities is an issue in Dubrovnik?
Mrs. Milovi: No, no it is a unique.
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Mr. Skvrce: It is definitely unique we are pretty much proud of it to live in such a city but it is
good of course to see and observe the bench marketing, what the others are doing.
Interviewer: Although, Dubrovnik is unique, does the city need to improve its competitive
position?
Mr. Skvrce: It needs, it should maintain and even enhance and improve the quality of service, I am
talking about the whole year period, because what we are trying to do is to stimulate the winter
period, the programs in winter season in Dubrovnik is definitely very and very difficult, but we are
pretty much satisfied with the figures during the summer period but what is missing is a winter
period so this is the reason why we are pretty much focused on this particular period and we are
trying to create special programs for the coming winter which will be focused on getting as many
tourist as possible to Dubrovnik in winter.
Mr. Market: Rolf, there is a special winter tourist program here in Dubrovnik. We of the tourist
board are trying very hard to improve this program.
Mr. Skvrce: We launched this program this year. The feedbacks so far have actually been more
than positive. So we know now what we have to do for the next year in order to bring a much
potential clients as possible.
Interviewer: Is there any research undertaken to study tourism development in the city or in
combination with other heritage cities?
Mr. Skvrce: Yes we are part of the general research which is actually conducted at our
headquarters of the Croatian National Tourist Board. They perform research on a yearly basis. We
have the institute for tourism as well. Those are official institutions which are trained to do certain
research for us and the university as well. For example, one of the research projects they have
ordered already from the institute of tourism is actually the impact of the cruise liner industry on
the tourism of the Dubrovnik region. We are going to get the study, latest by the end of October,
so after having these results we will be able to see what the positive and negative results are from
these tourists coming from the cruise ships. These kind of studies as very important for us and
regarded also to the destination marketing that we do here at the tourist board but in order to get
an much better picture of what tourism in Dubrovnik is all about we have to have more
researchers like the ones I have just mentioned. And we have also some plans for future
researchers which will enable us to get some more information.
Interviewer: How important is sustainability for tourism development in Dubrovnik.
Mr. Skvrce: Very important. The figures are pretty much interesting, I mean 20 percent increase.
Of coarse we are pretty much proud of it, of the figures but priority number one for us is
sustainability, how to keep the environment protected how to keep the old city itself protected.
How to keep the cultural heritage protected, so we are not running for the money, for the figures,
of coarse we are running for the money but the priority number one is not the money, the priority
number one is to try to work in compliance with the nature, in compliance with the cultural
heritage, of course we have some goals for the future but that does not mean we have to build
hotels very fast, so we are coming back to the urban planning which you will be able a little bit
later to see.
Mrs. Milovi: Because every year you have a small hotel opened, you know, a hundred beds,
than the next year a hundred beds, than the private accommodation is very stimulated, you get
stimulation or support by the government, if you would like to rent your house or have an spare
apartment in your house then the government will give you the possibility to have a grace period,
you know on a credit in a bank. We try to increase the private accommodation sector and it is a
substitute to the missing hotel capacities.
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Mr. Market: Rolf, what we want is sustainable tourism. Tourism for the long period, for the next
20, 30, 50, 100 years. Not like in Spain, just 5, 10 years and, finished.
And responsible tourism that is very important, responsibility of what we are doing for the future
generations.
Interviewer: Are tourism developments of other cities studied to learn of how developments
should or should not happen?
Mr. Skvrce: The good thing about Dubrovnik and the people here is the fact that they are pretty
much aware of the fact that the cultural heritage must be protected and this is, I have to tell you,
priority number one. Of course here and there you have examples, you have situations which are
not in compliance with the things I have just told you but in general the protection of the cultural
heritage in Dubrovnik is on very high level, we want to avoid the Spanish syndrome if you want.
Which is very well know world wide which doesnt have to be necessarily bad but it appears to be
very bad which means overbuilding for example. And we will try to skip and avoid the Venetian
problem, the problems that Venice actually has got, they are congested, with the pollution, the
sewage doesnt function you have an awful smell. The most important thing is that the people
here are aware that without cultural heritage, the Dubrovnik culture and heritage we wont be
having a future lets say, we have to admit that tourism is actually the only industry that we have.
Interviewer: Is there anything that should be changed or encouraged.
Mrs. Milovi: Monitoring, the quality of monitoring could be improved, should be improved. If
you think back, ten years ago there was nothing. So to continue to be really a destination,
confirmed the best, or least say the most popular destination in Croatia we have to polish that
destination, you know, but I think not to change, more to encourage and improve on the quality
because if you look back to the eighties concerning the complaints, we dont have so much
complaints now, we dont even have complaints. In general, we have advices about that something
can be done better but most of the tourists are satisfied, they are satisfied also because not
everything is commercial. You can feel that the information of a person you get on the street is not
sold out, it comes from the heart. We stimulate the information from person to person you know
not call centre, call centre is a future. We are investing in young people here in Dubrovnik we
have 9 offices during the summertime so that every tourist has a touch you know.
Interviewer: Could you indicate your expectations for the future of tourism in Dubrovnik?
Mr. Market speaks in Croatian (translation by Mr. Skvrce): There are a couple of priorities for the
government which are stimulated by such an increase of tourism in Dubrovnik. There are 7 ore
eight priorities: reconstruction of the hotels will be the first one, than the construction of highways
and connections with northern Europe, than an improvement of the small entrepreneurs. During
the summer there are huge problems of traffic jams so in order to solve this problem the first
priority is to build the garages, construction of a new cruise port for the city, for the first phase the
investment is 25 million Euros and it will be an ongoing process actually. The total amount of
money which will be invested in the cruise bay and the harbour goes up to 500 million dollars
during the next couple of years. It is actually divided in three mayor parts, first there are the
cruise liners and cruise industry, than the yachts and nautical tourism and the local transport, the
ferry liners will be the third part of this development project. Furthermore there are plans for more
shopping facilities and a conference centre. Nautical tourism is very important especially for this
part of the Adriatic coast and there are plan to construct smaller marinas especially on the islands
which surround Dubrovnik. There are three possible locations for the future congress centre
selected and now one has to been chosen. And the last is not the last, but the last ( Mr. Market is
speaking in English now) We are expecting low-cost carriers. Low cost carriers could help to
extend the season over the whole year, stimulation city breaks to Dubrovnik. The last but not least
priority is the Human resources. Dubrovnik is becoming an university city because we have over
3000 students here which is a huge number for such an community and there are plan to even
increase this number because the plan is the build a new campus which will be able to
accommodation round about 5000 students in the very near future so this is also something very
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important when talking about the strategy of Dubrovnik which is of course very related the
development of tourism as well. This university will cover many sectors but they will be directly
or indirectly related to tourism.
Mr. Market concludes: Thanks to the geographical position, in the history Dubrovnik has always
been a politic economic and cultural centre and that is what we are now. Still.
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Appendix C: Interview 2
Interview 2: Interview with Besim Agutsay, Professor at the American College of management
and technology in Dubrovnik. Date 22 February 2006.
Interviewer: With regard to tourism planning and regulations, I have got the impression that
development regulations in Dubrovnik are quite strict, but on the other hand some people have
pointed me at the rapid expansion of the construction of small hotels and apartments in Lapad for
example so what is actually the case, is there a situation of overdevelopment or is development
kept under control?
Professor Agutsay: Well it is rather complex and you may go different ways. In one way it
isnot so much of overdevelopment but development of a lot of similar types of facilities, there is
no diversity in sense of the content. That is number one. Number twothe regulations are rather
strict that is true, in terms of how you build and because of these regulations that are so strict,
people are trying to find loopholes. If you apply for a construction permit, because of bureaucracy
you will wait for another 2 or three years and you will run out of business basically. So people
simply start building, and than the inspection comes and than they go to court and than it goes for
another 5, 6 years and this is where the problem is. So, if the local community or whoever issues
the permit would reduce the time to some reasonable amount than things would be clearer and
eventually better controlled. It is a game; it is a game between those who want to develop and
those who issues permits. I know that space is an issue because you dont have too much space to
build on and therefore rules and regulations are very strict, sometimes, for example in restaurant
business, ridiculous. I think in general tourism development is under control, some of the rest
parts of the country maybe not, but Dubrovnik is under control.
Interviewer: Is there any clear tourism development strategy?
Professor Agutsay: If you look for a clear written strategy created by governments these is not.
No, I mean they haven an idea, they maybe have two, three guidelines, or some two or three
coordinated marketing campaigns, they have a general idea where Croatia wants to go. You know,
even the main logo they created last year: Croatia, the Mediterranean as it once was, so you
know it is not something that we build and put concrete on the beaches and so, that is not the point
so they do have an general idea, they do have 2 or 3 guidelines, but now, whether they have the
real strong strategy that is being communicated to everybodyno.
Interviewer: In respect to the visitor management are there any attempts being made to control or
limit tourist numbers?
Professor Agutsay: I dont think that somebody actually sat down and have thought about the
numbers, we all know that is crowded and that the demand is very high for lets say May to
September, nobody is actually trying to spread and reduce tourist number is some kind of an
organised fashion., what they do sometimes and that happened actually last year is that they
increase the prices for the cruise ships to actually port and than to disembark the passengers. And
then they threatened: well we are not going to visit Dubrovnik anymore and people say well you
dont have to because basically we are overflowed, so come earlier and than you will have better
prices. So basically we are coming back to the idea that it is easy to fill accommodation from
may to September because the demand is so strong, but now, what is happening is that the season
is moving to April, it is moving to Octoberif you want to book in may they will tell you: No,
you cant, because it is full, so would you like to come in April?, than you say well okay you
know
Interviewer: If they wish to visit the place anyway.
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Professor Agutsay: Exactly, the weather is still okay so I may go. So that is essentially what it is.
And I have spoken to the sales and marketing director of hotel Argentina and he said that it is
coming naturally that the pressure from visitors is actually naturally spreading throughout the
year. When they realize that they cannot get accommodation from May to ..to..
Interviewer: If you really want to go you might even go in February when it is raining.
Professor Agutsay: Exactly.
Interviewer: Very positive actually..
Professor Agutsay: It is, it is but it is not done in some kind of organized uh
Interviewer: No tourism development remains very much a natural process and very difficult to
control
Interviewer: Is education in Dubrovnik playing an important role for tourism development?
Professor Agutsay: There are schools; there are vocational schools in Dubrovnik in particular.
There are even some university efforts like Dubrovnik University and the American college which
originally was planned to be a place for education of hospitality and tourism students. Out of the
people graduated here 50 % end up working in hospitably and tourism and 50 %, they go to other
services industries jobs, so it is a natural source of future employees for Dubrovnik. The question
that you basically have to ask yourself is: Why is there an understaffed situation? Now, the wages
are too low. Even, hospitality was never considered as a career, if you want to be a waiter you do
it for a few years you do it as a student, it is a part time job, it is a seasonal job, you help
yourself with that money through your studies but it is rarely considered as a long-term career. It
is very difficult to imagine a waiter starting at 20 and serving you when the guy is 65, his hands
shaking and stuff like that and you are always looking for people that are energetic, so in that
sense it has to be tackled from the perspective of the seasonality so how are you going to get the
best employees in the lower levels? The upper levels are, I think there is still a gab in
knowledge and skills, but we are moving towards that with schools like ours, we had an dramatic
increase in number of students from Dubrovnik here simply because of this high demand for this
kind of employees in Dubrovnik, in the Dubrovnik hotels in the Dubrovnik tourist offices and our
students from Dubrovnik looking for an job in Dubrovnik they get the job instantly. So that tells
there is a need but that there is also actually someone who provides the solutions for this kind
ofproblems. Education is essential.
Interviewer: People generally complain about they wages, they are much too low, especially
according to the rising price-levels in Dubrovnik. Many employees earn a month what a higher
class tourist spends in a day. Do you think that wages will rise, especially after joining the
European Union?
Professor Agutsay: My opinion is that wages will rise significantly because if you are looking to
fill even your basic needs that would not be enough first of all, and again, the wages in hospitality
and the lower level positions, wherever you go you will not earn much. What might be a solution
for Dubrovnik. The low wages are not the problem in itself: it is the benefit maybe that needs to
be provided to those people. You have to understand that the paying system in Croatia is a bit
different than in the States for example because here people mention their net income, but for the
employer is much more, almost double, so actually it is a lot more of cost for the employer. So
what the government may do is try to reduce taxes on wages and than use that to increase the net
for the employee. Again, talking about the younger population which are doing it just as an parttime job and as something that they would be satisfied with, with the wages that they have, and
thirdly with the benefits, because many times people, even our students, they would like to work
in one of the Dubrovnik hotels, but, if they say you will earn 6, 7 hundred euros a month which is
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an excellent pay comparing to the lower level employees, but than you have to pay your own
accommodation, you have to pay your own food and than you end up with 200 euros in your
pocket at the end of the month. It is a marginal cost for hotels providing either accommodation or
food, or food and than participate in a part of the accommodation costs because if that lower level
position employee is going to pay for all the costs of living that they have in Dubrovnik since they
are not from Dubrovnik, they will end up working for free. And this is something that hotel
organisations will have to face. Maybe that when hotels will become more effective and cost
efficient they will have more room for increasing the wages.
Interviewer: Yes and than we come back again to the seasonality problem.
Interviewer: Should, beside tourism other industries be developed in Dubrovnik, is total
dependence on tourism too risky?
Professor Agutsay: It is very risky, it is too risky and I even think that here is the moment where
the city council, the mayor of Dubrovnik, the entire local government has to think about those
things. I always asked myself and I never got an answer: What do people in Dubrovnik actually
live from, what are the revenues generators? Okay, it is tourism, but what else? And I never got
an answer, I, .. if I would be a mayor that would definitely be the first question that I would ask
myself, is it tourism 60%, 30 % or is it 90%?
Interviewer: They say it is 90%!
Professor Agutsay: Okay, I doubt that because there is a lot of governmentthere are schools
there are city agencies, government agencies, police force, so probably there is a lot of
government money actually coming in to the place. So, well, let us break down the revenue
generators for Dubrovnik and than think whether that is risky or not. If it is too risky, lets make
scenarios of how can we address the issue when tourism goes bad, how are we going to make this
place a sustainable place. Production? Not really. Some plants or whatever, that is not feasible.
But some service related industries that would not be provided only to this micro location but
rather spreading the knowledge and attracting some other markets, that would be the real
challenge for the city, for the people responsible for the future and that is, I think it is absolutely
likely, it is nice and it would be nice for everybody.
But on the other hand we had war, for 4 years here in Dubrovnik and people survived, with
no tourismand then people always tend to use the argument. well, if you survived 4 years of
war than we can survive anythingwhich doesnt make sense and is not sustainable. So do you
want to go back to that time? Noso please think about it.
Interviewer: But tourism will always rise and drop, it is such an extreme sensitive business.
Professor Agutsay: Yes, I mean look at Bali and that area there.. it really destroyed them
and.but, you see the signs of people moving on..
Interviewer: Tourism recovers actually very quickly
Professor Agutsay: Exactly so..but I agree, it is risky and absolutely there is somebody who has
to create a scenario of what if?
Interviewer: All right, coming back to the tourism development and the management in
Dubrovnik, I have got the impression that most people in this town know very well what should be
done and what should be avoided, they have definitely learnt form the mistakes other
destinations
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Professor Agutsay: And that is actually connected with education, all these ideas, even thinking,
contemplating about tourism is if you are uneducated, if you dont have other sources of what is
happening around you will never come up with new innovative things.
Interviewer: Right, to focus on another particular issue crowding out in the old town, people
leaving the old town, selling or renting their apartments. This is generally perceived as a mayor
problem and the government is trying to find ways to bring families back to the old town and to
keep this place alive. How do you think that the old town could be kept alive?
Professor Agutsay: It is really up to some general trend that we see around us. First of all, it is the
infrastructure, we are changing, as individuals, as families and am I willing to go and buy bread in
those local little shops? I dont think so. Do I have enough room in that little apartment? Do I
have the school were my child will go? So, the times are changing and not necessarily that will be
bad.
Interviewer: It is perhaps more of a natural process..
Interviewer: So the old town of Dubrovnik may become a museum and that would not be such a
problem?
Professor Agutsay: Exactly, it is my personal perspective.. maybe.there are arguments to keep
the city you know.. with.
Interviewer: Children running around and clothes hanging in the little streets
Professor Agutsay: Yeah, yeah.. it has its soul but.. But it is not crucial, it is not crucial for the
success.
Interviewer: When will Dubrovnik reach it carrying capacity?
Professor Agutsay: There is still room for growth, especially if you manage. If you manage
traffic, if you manage infrastructure there are places available north and south of Dubrovnik that
you can actually develop, there are many plans of what actually can be donebut is it is going to
be toughyeah. But that is management that is exactly, if you sit down and think about the
numbers, think about what is the flow, where are the bottlenecks? Than you can actually create
better solutions and make the people in the city feel more comfortable.
Interviewer: Is the government actually working well on these issues?
Professor Agutsay: Oh yeah... I mean. just imagine, in lets say in three, four, five years from
now you will have a highway, freeway coming all the way from Zagreb to here, now there is a
traffic isolation of Dubrovnik, the only comfortable way for you to come is by airplane, because
the road from split to here is rather twisty and.but in three, four years time from now it will be
very accessible which will greatly benefits all different types of investments and developments.
Interviewer: The tourist board is making efforts to stimulate excursions to the areas around
Dubrovnik and perhaps they should also stimulate the development of concentrations of
accommodation in these areas.
Professor Agutsay: Absolutelyand there are also so beautiful areas around it and you could
make some satellites with Dubrovnik as a focus point and that is also something that could get the
pressure of Dubrovnik and but still keep Dubrovnik as a central part of the destination.
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Interviewer: Tourist arrival numbers are increasing tremendouslya French couple ensured me
that Dubrovnik and Croatia have suddenly become extremely popular in France and that just in
one year French arrivals are expected to double.now , I wonder if isnt is going to fast?
Professor Agutsay: Dubrovnik is a buzz world these days. Is it going to be a good thing in the
future? Yes! Whether it is a good thing currently? I dont knowbecause. Are we ready? Are
we ready to accommodate and serve all the people? Because service is experience and if my
experience was traumatic because of the crowd, because of not being able to walk, to even get a
bus or to eat than than is will be a nightmare. They will have to receive these enormous
amounts of people.. it is doable. It is not something that cannot be done but it is a lot of
challenges that the city itself, with regard the infrastructure actuallythe city has come up with
solutions and help small businesses and hotels and service industries and maybe other industries to
grow, it is a huge responsibility.
Interviewer: How would the future EU membership of Croatia affect the situation of Dubrovnik?
Professor Agutsay: Positively, as much you know, in hotel business, before, the world it was
location, location, location. These days it is not that anymore, it is people, people, people and that
is what is say for Croatia entering the European Union: positive, positive, positive. Because,
simply because you will try to implement all the positive standards and positive regulations that
already exist in the western developed economies and this is something that we are lacking.
Maybe we do have laws that are pretty compatible with the western European ones but it is the
implementation that we sometimes lack. So, with entering the Union, even the implementation
part has to be in place, it will be a market that doesnt have boundaries. So today it is a rather big
issue with the hotel companies that there is the V.A.T. that we have to charge and not charge when
we export, when we do not export. That will all be the same, the cost may fall down, the suppliers
the tourists, the education, you may study anywhereyou can go to Bournemouth or you can go
to Dubrovnikit is all a huge potential for growth and this is why I dont understand why there is
so much resistance. I think it is lack of vision, basically.
Interviewer: Are you not afraid that too many students will move to other countries to study and
work as so many Polish or doing on the moment?
Professor Agutsay: Yes, but also there will be people coming from, from Portugal to Croatia as
wellso it is a natural.it is likethose economiesit is an invisible hand. And actually it will
be great because some people here will wake up and say AhaWhat am I going to do to actually
keep this people here, how am I going to retain them? If there is no competition, obviously, you
dont care. Once competition is here and with free flow of workforce this is exactly what is
happening. This is the Irish model, they open their borders to everybody, to the Polish to and they
grow like never. So in that sense, membership will only be positive, because of the standards,
because of the new ways to do business, because of the markets, because of the it is a totally
new.
Interviewer: What will be the types of tourist in the future?
Professor Agutsay: It is a tough one; it is a very tough question because with high demand
obviously the tendency with hotels, with some restaurants will be to raise the prices, to go towards
the elite, towards the elite part of business. So they will raise prices and obviously there wont be
too much people that will be able to pay. So again, naturally you are moving toward higher
classes, to the people with these yachts and stuff like that. But can you create and base your entire
strategy and revenues on that part? No! I mean there will be a mix. Actually you can predict
what will happen this summer, what will happen next year, two years maximum. What will
happen after year three and on is really something that you play all along, it is like dancing, you
take one step, then you see what is happening, you take the next step and you watch again. Of
coarse you may have a vision where you may end up dancing but.but in the end it is really
taking one step at the time, if for some reason the elite part is loosing ground, than you the would
stimulate excursionists and lower classes but it will always be a mix, with maybe two, three years
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it will be emphasize on one, than you move to another, the infrastructure is always the same, it is
maybe 20, 30% of the difference, accommodating one or the other. It are the hotels that are the
ones that move towards that or the yachts. You have to recognize what is the infrastructure
needed for the elite once you recognize it than you see how does that communicates to others.
Does 70% of what we already have, can we overlap that with elite. My opinion is yes.
Interviewer: If you had to judge tourism management in Dubrovnik in one word?
Professor Agutsay: Well, it is very subjective; I wont be objective because I am seeing everything
through my eyes. On a rate from one to tenlets say..four!
Interviewer: That is not very high!
Professor Agutsay: That is not high but do not confuse that with the demand, demand is there, if
you ask me for the level of service it is four. I dont mean to say that as a destination
Dubrovnik is four, as an destination Dubrovnik is 9, 10! But the service that the people because
the question was about management: that is still very low.
Interviewer: Yes and her education will have to play a key role
Professor Agutsay: Absolutely.We did some analysis some ten years ago and the human
resources were so neglected. For many years, not just for two or three years but for many years
that we even called it the graveyard of hotel service. So, as a destination: top destination, the
service is still lacking a lot, but I see it as an opportunity, not as something very negative.
Interviewer: Yes, but many people that I have been talking to here in Dubrovnik assured me that
tourism and working in tourism has become part of their culture as well as providing good service
and maintaining very positive relations with the tourists. But service levels really need to raise as
Goran Stork from GS Hotels stated in his hotel magazine: he would like to take his staff to Bali to
show them what hospitality really means
Professor Agutsay: Maybe that is the syndrome of high demand places, maybe, when you go to
Venice service there is not four it is two because they always fight with you, they want to steal
your money when you go for a gondola for 15 minutes, they take you for 10 and make you pay for
20 minutes so the serve there is even worse, so I dont know, maybe it is the disease of the high
demand destination, maybe, I dont know. Can it be done better, absolutely!
Interviewer: I believe that offering this high level service is a big problem because when you have
to work for five or six months, very long hours without even one single day of it must be
impossible to provide an excellent service. I mean you have to feel it. One has to be satisfied
oneself to satisfy the other.
Professor Agutsay: Oh yeah, definitely and also the management has to you knowit is a
mindset.so you have to change and to move forwardit is a lot of work. And I see it again as
something that is a challenge, an opportunity; there is a lot of reserve. So if we are making this
much money with this kind of service, imagine if we improve our management style, our
management practice we would be the world champions, as we are in sports.
Interviewer: Do you think that government and developers cooperate enough with researchers and
research projects?
Professor Agutsay: No, very shortly no there are some initiatives there but more sporadically
than rather in an organized, systematic approach. Research is an important way to move on
butas long as there is an application of the research. .not if it goes to just to another.
Interviewer: No it should be used, not like the dissertation I am writing at the moment.
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Professor Agutsay: Wellwho knows., maybe, maybe. You have a very, very interesting
topic I believeDubrovnik has huge opportunities. .It is still preserved and I think that is.that is
the top advantage of
Interviewer: If they succeed to manage well Dubrovnik might gain the award for best tourism
destination in the world?
Professor Agutsay: Oh absolutely..and there are so many Americans..I mean there is a lot of
hope.the numbers are increasing so dramatically and I mean, it is not just from Amsterdam.
you come in 2 hours, No, they come all the way from the United Stated to see Dubrovnik.
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Appendix D: Interview 3
Interview 3: The following interview has been conducted with Romana Menalo, chief curator of
the archeological museum and head of the guide association of Dubrovnik and Verdrana Bender,
chief curator of the Rector Palace museum and member of Friends of Dubrovnik. Date 17
February 2006.
Interviewer: How do you perceive the actual tourism developments in Dubrovnik?
Mrs. Menalo: It is a little bit too much sometimesbut we have money. On the other hand you
have to give something to have something. During the war we had nothing and it was really
impossible so we have the money but now it is the question: how do we employ this money? For
us, we are making exhibitions, restoring something perhaps, we have about six museums.we
have exhibitions in the Rectors Palace. So the money we all own. We make half. Half the
ministry of culture, half our selves or sometimes ourselves only. So we have the money to do
something that is true.
Interviewer: That is very positive, it seems
Mrs. Menalo: Well, but on the other site, for the monumentsI dont know, it is too much people,
but.
Interviewer: Do they damage?
Mrs. Menalo: Well they dont damage, they dont take a hammer and you know..
Interviewer: Especially compared to the damages caused by the war.And these walls they are so
strong, they seem not to suffer from half a million tourist walking them.
Mrs. Menalo: No, they can not damage, exactly, but .. it depends.. they damage the viewthe
damageyou know it is like in Venice!
Interviewer: Do tourists also damage the quality of life of the locals.
Mrs. Menalo: Our quality of life I dont know. I used to live inside the city wall and the people
who are living there are not very pleased of coarse, because they have a lot of people all night long
talking, music, coffeehouses
Interviewer: Is there some kind of visitor management, that they actually control the flows and the
size of the flows of tourist that enter the city?
Mrs. Menalo: But you know. Usually they all come at the same timeall right they have three in
the morning, three in the afternoon but it is. It is a lot of people and in the Pillar gateit is
really something you have to see.
Mrs. Bender: I may say you something about the museum. Too many people who pass through he
museumtoo much people for our space, for our exhibitions, for our Palace. Can you imagine
that in two or three hours through the exhibitions all over the museum pass more than three
thousand people. There are too many people, there is too much humidity because they breathe, it
is normal they breathe but is brings too much humidity, especially during the summer when the
temperature is very high. We havent any air-conditioning and we open all the windows but it
isnt enough and..
Mrs. Menalo: Sun is not good for the furniture of course.
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Mrs. Bender: Here at the main entrance of the museum we have our staff and the guard there has
to tell the guides that in one minute there can only enter 4 groups because there are more than 50
people in one group. And the agencies dont put enough money to pay more guides to make
smaller groups.
Mrs. Menalo: We are expensive, the guides, because I am in the guides association and we are
trying to do other tours. But that is the problem that the agencies, you know we have other
museums, the geographic museum, the maritime museum.so we want to divide the tourists more
over the museums.we are trying to do something..
Mrs. Bender: We have to make the limit of four groups because we have also the singular
customers who want to enter.
Mrs. Menalo: We have lots of people coming individually and so they cannot visit the town. That
is the problem
Mrs. Bender: And individual people pay more than the people from the group, individuals have to
pay the double entrance fee. There is too much people and they can not move. And moreover we
have a telephone guide, you know this guide talking about the history and, 45 minutes about
everything in the museum. The individuals could not hear the text because there are too much
people around.
Mrs. Menalo: You know, we are shouting, one guide is shouting here, the other is shouting there,
and it is very.the acoustics are very good here.so.it is. really a circus.
Mrs. Bender: And than to protect objects of art and exhibits we must put a rope and that is also an
problem because you will see upstairs the first one is one meter from the objects and every time
somebody falls and most of them are very old people, you know especially in spring and in
autumn, this is a very, very big problem. Only the Rectors Palace had last year four hundred and
ninety thousand people who pass through he Rectors Palace, and this is without all the people
from our region because they have free access, over half a million people we have passed this
year.
Interviewer: And most of these come during the summer months?
Mrs. Bender Not only summer, because the tourists start to come in spring with Easter, it is from
March until the end of October, November, maybe only during the wintertime the museum is
quiet, but, in fact more than eight months we are full.
Interviewer: Would it be an option toI wonder if it would be strange or unfair or but to put up
the entrance prices so you can reduce visitor numbers, protect the quality.the quality of the visit
and still earn a lot of money?
Mrs. Bender: Yes, yes, we think about that.
Mrs. Menalo: We should.
Mrs. Bender: Yes, because among those groups one part is not very much interested in the
museum, so in that case we will put up the prices for the groups, maybe next summer so that there
only enter people who really want to sea the museum.
Mrs. Menalo: The Franciscan monarchy, they are so full it was impossible. So they had to put up
the prices. Now, the other four very little museums, they are small collections in just a small
room, that didnt get any visitors before, do get some now as well. The Dominican was empty but
when the Francisco put up the prices, now they also have work.
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Interviewer: To find a balance.

Mrs. Menalo: Yes we have to find a balance. But we can not build another Rectors Palace.
Mrs. Bender: I think that maybe also the city can do something toYou know that these cruisers
arrived after the war when the town was emptyat that time there were just small numbers of
tourists who wanted to see Dubrovnik.. The cruisers came the first and for that reason we are very
happy because we were isolated, and we have always been used to have visitors in the town. But
these cruisers dont come in the winter, in winter you see a very small amount of people.
Mrs. Menalo: But there is also another reason. A lot of people have sold their homes to foreigners.
Interviewer: Yes that is also quite a big problem because the government is making efforts the
bring families back to the old centre and to encourage people to rent their house instead of selling
the property. But it is a problem when people are moving out of the old town no.
Mrs. Menalo: Yes, and during the republic there were six thousand, than before the war there were
tree thousand and a half, now a hear there are a thousand, a thousand, no more.
Interviewer: The government though believes there are still three thousand eight hundred people
living in the old townbut it will probably be difficult to determine exactly how many people are
living.
Mrs. Menalo: Yes but you know about the vote list.so. We dont have a lot of children in the
old town. Before, on Sunday I had a group, three weeks ago on Sunday and nobody was in the
main street, I entered the town at ten. So I looked at my watch and I said it is not possible because
everybody goes to the mess, to the town, to the church you know, to take a coffeenobody!
12noonnobody in the main street my husband and I could not believe you know, after I had
met the group. I couldnt believe, nobody was here. Yes it was wintertime but before in
winter..
Mrs. Bender: What I wanted to say was that at that time we were very happy that the cruisers
came, but now when so many of them come to visit the town maybe the city can make some
arrangements with the agencies of the cruisersthey have a monopolyall of them. And then
now it is the time that we give them our conditions.
Interviewer: Exactly!
Mrs. Menalo: Dictate them!
Mrs.Bender: They dictate to us and they came in four or six hours all of themDubrovnik is too
small for that!
Mrs. Menalo: Also because all the cruisers start at the same day! You know Venice was in the
same situation, I dont knowten years ago, there are too many people in Venice but it is
controlled with the ships.
Mrs. Bender: The same thing is in Messina, near Messina, Sicily is Tourmina, a small townmy
husband was there for more than one year. He told me in Tourmina, near Tourmina there is a port
and there came also a lot of cruisers but during the Sunday, this is the day for the people of
Tourmina, they go to the mess, the take there coffee, after that. And nobody can enter the town by
ship or by bus, no excursion can come before four o clock in the afternoon! Because from the
morning till four o clock Tourmina is for the people of Tourmina and this is very, very good.
Interviewer: Is this a danger for the Dubrovniks good reputation? I mean: receiving too many
tourists, these massive tourism flows
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Mrs. Bender: But it has always been a problem, for example in America, nobody knew from
Yugoslavia in that time, they think that it is a Czech Republic, Yugoslavia.something the same.
But for Dubrovnik, everybody knows.
Mrs. Menalo: I have been guiding now for thirty years and everybody knows about Dubrovnik
but about in what country it isit is not important. A French couple told me thank you, it was
very nice in Czechoslovakia. I was guiding them a week and talking about Yugoslavia, at that
time right and I told them: But you are going back home and you know nothing about this
townabout this country.
Mrs. Bender: And for example this is also a problem because we now want to make elite tourism
but that is not possible with so many people because somebody who comes here and pays a lot for
accommodation and for food is in fact in a bad position because since there are so many people he
cant find a place at the beachhe cant enter at the boat to visit the islands because there are too
many people, they are all over.he could not enter.you ask me for the busat the main
entrance of the old town it is an complete mess. Eleven, twelve busses, you could not pass
through that mess.
Interviewer: So their arrivals are not structured or controlled?
Mrs. Bender: No, no, no, you could not enter.
Mrs. Menalo: There are 20 busses coming and they are waiting and they go out and then the
next onethe streets are very narrow and all traffic is blocked.
Interviewer: So they have to start to limit numbers during the summer?
Mrs. Menalo: Yes they have to limit but that is not our problem we can not do anything about that,
but the town, the town should do something.
Interviewer: I imagine it is exactly these excursionist tourist the cause the main problems though
they bring the smallest profit
Mrs. Bender: Yes exactly, especially the people from the ships
Mrs. Menalo: Yes but you cannot stop people from coming, you can not say: you are not to come
in Dubrovnik, because that is not..
Interviewer: It would be terrible publicity
Mrs. Menalo: Of course, everybody wants to see..
Mrs. Bender: The individual tourist spends more than the people from the cruiser because the
cruisers they have everything on the cruiserhe maybe pay for some postcard are some.
Mrs. Menalo: Ahh, the cruisers.nothing!..........But is also depends on people.I dont know. I
dont guide for example your people up there.or Germans I dont know what they spend. But I
know Spanish spend a lot, French, uh, not so muchthe Italians,yes they drink coffee but you
know, the cruisers which are coming here, it is not class people, I dont think soI dont do the
cruisers, I cannot anymore, that panorama sightseeingyou know. It is rush hour up there.
Interviewer: Yes how is it on the walls in augustcan you still walk those walls or is it impossible
to pass through the crowds?
Mrs. Menalo: Well it can get very busy upstairs, especially you know on the smaller paths and
than there are the elderly peoplethe dont move very fast.
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Mrs.Bender: In September, last year one lady wone a price because she was the five hundred
thousandth visitor of the walls.
Interviewer: So what is the government doing with quite big income?
Mrs.Bender: Yes for repairing the city wall and the Stradun.
Interviewer: Yes, but I can imagine that in a few years they will have much more money
Mrs. Menalo: Yes but there is another townThere is still a lot to repair
Mrs.Bender Yes, now they are repairing the bridges, last year they repair the first bridge, now they
are repairing the other
Mrs. Benderand also the walls of Ston,
Mrs. Menalo: Ston, a small town nearby Dubrovnik16 kilometers.
Interviewer: Just a question about the sustainability of the cultural identity and in particular the
cultural identity of the people of Dubrovnikdoes tourism has an influencedoes it change the
identity or is it globalisation in general?
Mrs. Menalo: Of course the youngbut the young all over the world are the sameit is
globalism that changes our world tourism.we are living from tourism.already for over a
hundred years. Of coarse it was tourism at those times. It was that kind of tourism that you would
like to have nowElite tourism was at that times. Everybody can travel of coursecruisers are
not expensive.they are very cheapso everybody goes.
Interviewer: Another questionstake holders involvement in decision making.do the different
people involved in tourism here in Dubrovnik participate in decision making, does the government
listen to the locals for example.
Mrs. Bender: Yes they have to listen to usbut they do mostlymostly
Mrs. Menalo: Mostly?? Well.
Mrs. Bender: The opinion is very, very strong here in Dubrovnikyou know we are a very small
townwe have for journals and every journal writes the opinions of the people and now our
mayor listen to thatsometimes there is a politic issuebut she is very, veryour mayor is a
tough person but she is very flexible and she wants to hear what the people have to say.
Interviewer: Well that is very important
Mrs. Menalo: yes but the task of the government is to make the things for the peoplenot only for
the people but also for the tourists that means the parking spaces they should have been made long
time before and there was money available but they did not do itso she tries really to improve
the situation. And you should not forget that the war period destructed the entire economy and
some very successful non tourist companies and factories that existed before the war stopped their
activities because of the war and they have not come back after the war. That is the problem. Now
we have only tourism, nothing else.
Interviewer: Yes and I think that could also be a problem because if tourism
collapseseverything will collapse. Would it not be necessary to stimulate and start other
industries or economic activities in Dubrovnik?
Mrs. Bender: You have to.
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Mrs. Menalo: But you have another problembefore the waryoung people were living in the
surroundings of the town, after the war.when they came back they stayed in our hotelsand
than they want to buy the flats and they dont want to go back.and to work in the fieldwho
wants to work on the earth?
Mrs. Bender: And now you have empty villages around Dubrovnik. Empty: nobody, maybe two or
three people.
Mrs. Menalo: Only some elderly people, they live and work a little bit.
Mrs. Menalo: Some young people have the courage to start up new businessesthey people
should do that becausewe you know we are afraid. The war put us a bitand we dont have
the energy and strengthbut some of them go to Split or Zagreb and they stay there because they
dont know what they could do here
Interviewer: Yes but than during the summer there is a huge lack of staff here.
Mrs. Menalo: Yes because the wages are so lowand young people dont want to work hard for
3000 Kunas because they are not working 8 or hours as we did for example, they have to work a
lot more so they want to be paid. In Dubrovnik, the school for the hotels and the waiters, ect. was
the best school in Croatiabut now the young people all want to study and they go to the
gymnasium or a technical school, the dont have the feeling for that anymore you know.
Mrs. Bender: But not only that, what had very good staff in Dubrovnik during the warbut during
the war these people have all left and now you have a young, inexperienced staff and it is a
problem and he, heStrok should send all his staff to school, there should be more education but
the owners of the hotels should do thatthe state and the families can not do that of course.
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Appendix E: Interview 4
Interview 4: This Interview has been undertaking with Aldin Zustra, Reception manager of hotel
Puci Palace hotel. Date 19 February 2006.
Interviewer: Could you give me two examples of developments that have gone wrong/ been
difficult?
Mr. Zustra: The reconstruction of the destroyed hotels has been the biggest problem. There was
not much money available to reconstruct them and it has been difficult to attract the large
investments that were needed. The reconstructions has been slow and some big companies like
one German company that was doing cruisers and combining cruises with flight, he has moved to
Turkey because the hotel could not meet the agreements to offer accommodation to the guests.
The lack of capacity is a huge problem during the summer.
Interviewer: Does tourism cause any damage to the cultural environment, to the monuments in
Dubrovnik?
Mr. Zustra: Well, it is there to be used isnt it, for tourism, tourism brings a lot of money as well
and the people can invest that money and use it to repair the city.
Mr. Zustra: Generally I think yes, I mean for me personally it does, most of the times, but there
are many people who get fed up easily with the tourist especially if you life in the old town. Some
times it is really crazy, you cant hardly walk. But it depends
Interviewer: Are people employed in the tourism industry generally satisfied with their Jobs?
Mr. Zustra: Probably they are, most of them work throughout the summer without a day of and
that causes really a kind of pressure and everything as well.
Interviewer: There must be a lack of staff no?
Mr. Zustra: There is.
Interviewer: I dont really understand this, the people from the tourist board told me that they
want to get the hotels reconstructed as soon as possible to create more jobs for the young people,
but actually there is a lack of young people to fill the jobs at the moment and the hotels are having
really serious problems here as Goran Strok wrote in his magazine that he had to deal with a lack
of staff at al levels.
Mr. Zustra: It is, true, definitely.
Interviewer: It is actually a big issue and it seems there is not a very good communication between
the managers of the big hotels and the governmental organizations.
Mr. Zustra: Well they all have their own goals I guess. There is a lack of people, there is.
Interviewer: So what will happen to the wages when Croatia joins the EU?
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Mr. Zustra: Probably the wages will get more equalised, is must be. For example I earn about 700
Euros a month, that is about 4500 Kunas, and average Croatian wage but the girls in the shops the
just earn 2000 Kunas, that is very, very low.
Interviewer: What are the impacts of tourism?
particular city?
Does it change the cultural identity of the
Mr. Zustra: I dont think I could change that much.well I mean it has changed already through
the whole globalisation and everything as well, television internettourism cant harm so much
more can it?
Interviewer: So the effect and changes are not caused by tourists that much but more by capitalism
and globalisation in general..
Mr. Zustra: Definitely, yeah, yeah but is has been going for 16 years now, what could change in
Dubrovnik has already changed and I dont think it can change that much moreI mean, the
culture, the way of living.
Interviewer: But the cultural performances, lets say the artistic performances, is it very
international or is it very much related to the local culture?
Mr. Zustra: Well. It is quite international, you know, Shakespeare and everything and the concerts,
there quite good international artists herebut also local, definitely, there are dances and musicals
and Dubrovnik symphonies and the orchestra, so everything is combined to create a mixture that
will be interesting for everybody.
Interviewer: So the typical Dubrovnik arts and cultures remain at a good level?
Mr. Zustra: Yes and it may be even improved because of the money isnt it?
Interviewer: Yes, money is the main requirement to improve the entire tourist product. So what is
more important to your point of view: making a lot of money, or ensuring to keep the city
sufficiently quiet and comfortable for its residents, to avoid overcrowding, Does economic gain
outweigh the burden of receiving so or too many tourist in a very small place?
Mr. Zustra: Well, that is very difficultmaybe it would be better to have less tourists butwe
also want to travel, we want to earn money andit has to be somewhere in the middle.
Interviewer: Who is responsible for tourism developmentWho actually decides what will
happen?
Mr. Zustra: Probably the governmentand also the capital itselfI dont know.
Interviewer: The money
Mr. Zustra: Yes, because the city really needs investors so if they decide to develop in Dubrovnik
the have big power
Interviewer: Too much power?
Mr. Zustra: Yes, but they cant just do what they want, they cant ruin the whole coast, they
definitely cant
Interviewer: No, so do you think there is a good balance between the regulations and the
investment opportunities?
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Mr. Zustra: There are always people who can go behind the regulations, it is not so much but you
know is should be cut off right in the beginning, not in the middle of the constructionbut it
shouldnt happen so much and it doesnt.
Interviewer: Is the environment is well protected?
Mr. Zustra: Well, it is quite good protected; you know you cant build within 50 meters of the sea
line and.is quite good controlled.
Interviewer: Yes I heard the story about this Italian man who was constructing his hotel without
having the write papers and they blow up the whole thing in the middle of it.
Mr. Zustra: That is itbut they could have stopped it when he started but not in the season
shouldnt it? And also there where two little caffees, behind the city walls on the rocks, it was
really, really nice and they destroyed it as well because they didnt have the papers for it. But they
should not have let them build. Because they have been there for 5 years and then they destroy it.
Interviewer: What about stakeholders involvement in tourism development, especially the local
population, does it participate in the decision-making?
Mr. Zustra: Oh yeah, there are many locals involved, in the governmental institutions from the
town, there several cultural institutions, there is a lot of protection and restoration
Interviewer: So you think, here in Dubrovnik the government listens to everybody?
Mr. Zustra: Yes.
Interviewer: How important is sustainability in tourism development?
Mr. Zustra: It is important
Interviewer: What should be changed in the actual management of tourism?
Mr. Zustra: The wages definitely.
Interviewer: Anything else?
Mr. Zustra: Well, there will be a lot more but it is coming definitely. It is already a lot better than
it was. And you see the tourists they are really satisfied as well it is one of the top 3 destinations ,
Dubrovnik, is it, for this year for the States, in America or something or even for the whole world.
Interviewer: Visitor numbers will double soon again, the French tourists are supposed to double
this year.
Mr. Zustra: They doubled last year as well.
Interviewer: So than there is again this mayor problem of lack of accommodation capacity?
Mr. Zustra: Yeah, but you have to invest into quality, you have to have better and better quality
that is it. But in a couple of years there will be 8, 9 five stars hotels in Dubrovnik, the Libertas
hotel will be reconstructed and Strok wants to turn it is some very luxury five plus star hotel and
It will also be renewed a big hotel, 20 minutes drive, it is a huge hotel as well with I think 2000
beds, there will be an hotel at the hill with the golf course and than there is also a plan for a hotel
in the port, because the port will be renewed as well.
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Interviewer: Yes and there have been a lot of complains about the cruise tourist because they
didnt spend enough and the captain of the cruise ships told his clients not to eat in Dubrovnik
since the food could be poisoned.
Mr. Zustra: Well yeah, they are saying all kind of stuff like that.
Interviewer: But now they seem to start to spend more and eat also in the town
Mr. Zustra: Yes, but you also have these people they come by to see the restaurants the see the
menu and they want to have lunch and they have lunch. People say they dont spend as much
money as they should. But you offer them something that they like and they will spend the money.
Interviewer: Yes they have to change because it is all just this, even this cruise people they get
also tired of buying in every city the same souvenirs just with another city name on it.
Mr, Zustra: It is always the same, that is just it.
Interviewer: All made in china.
Mr. Zustra: Very likely. Offer them something unique.
Interviewer: Yes and also the restaurants, they should open some more diverse and more luxury
restaurants.
Mr. Zustra: We actually have 2 really good restaurants in the hotel.
Interviewer: Alright but then for a meal you would have to spend about a minimum of four
hundred Kunas.
Mr, Zustra: Something like thatwell a bottle of wine is 200 and up.
Interviewer: So what you earn in a week people here spend for dinner?
Mr. Zustra: That is just it, for example when I charge the bill for someone who has been here for 5
days and than it is 40.000 Kunas (about 4000 pound) or something like that.
Interviewer: So who owns this hotel?
Mr. Zustra: The hotel is owned by one family actually and the use the money to improve and
restore the hotel. A lot of money remains in the hotel actually.
Mr. Zustra: The town is actually quite rich; most of the people own their own houses and stuff or
they rent their apartments
Mr. Zustra: Many people complain about the lack of money they have and that it is difficult to live
from these low wages but if you look at the cars the locals drive, there are so many new and
expensive cars here. Yes I dont know if it is everywhere in the world like that but as soon as a
new car is on the market people here buy it.
Interviewer: But how to do that if you earn just 300 pounds a month?
Mr. Zustra: Well but than you have two rooms and you rent them and you live still with your
parents so you dont spend that muchon the other hand there are also quite a lot of poor people
for who is already difficult to fulfil their basic need, the pensions are extremely low and food, for
example, the supermarkets are really expensive. And domestic produced food is even more
expensiveeverything is imported
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Interviewer: The region is so dependent on tourism that there is basically nothing produced in the
area
Mr. Zustra: Yesbut many people, when the have their little garden the put some vegetables and
fruits and stuffthat is it.
Interviewer: What do you thing about the future tourist profile? Will elite tourism represent an
increasingly important part of the total tourists? Will elite tourism become really big?
Mr. Zustra: It will beespecially when the port and the golf resort will be fixed. And there is this
thing with those cheap flights: we dont have it in Dubrovnik.
Interviewer: Do you think it will be good to attract these low-cost carriers?
Mr. Zustra: It will be good for us, I mean if you want to travel.
Interviewer: Could it be possible that low-cost airlines also bring quite a lot of low-cost tourists?
Mr. Zustra: That is it. But still if you cant find a room unless you pay the full price soEven low
budget tourist will have to pay fully. And they simply must reserve during the summer period
otherwise the wont have a place to stayThat is right, it is impossible to find something during
the summervery frustrating sometimes.
Interviewer: The government claims to 60 % of the tourist numbers of what was the case before
the war.
Mr. Zustra: But money wise it is the same nowbecause probably because things has become
more expensive.
Interviewer: Right but when in, lets say five years, all the hotels will be renewed and the capacity
will be twentytwenty five thousand overnightswill there be a stop somewhere?
Mr. Zustra: Yeah, but than the town will become bigger itself but then it will be in the other areas,
there are islands as well.
Interviewer: There is place enough?
Mr. Zustra: There is quite place enough.
Interviewer: So still the tourism number could double before it really gets
Mr. Zustra: Well it can be doubledthere is a limitjust a natural limit, it has to be.
Interviewer: So what is these limits? Because there will come new hotels, new highways, new
ports, etc, so where will be the limit? Is it when the people really start to annoy each other?
Mr. Zustra: Probably the thing just is that you have to prolong the season. But people have to be
happy. You have to keep them happy when working which is really hard, and you cant do it even
with the money anymoreat the end of the season you see. People are so tired and they can be
annoyed and everything as well, they are just waiting to..and if you are working without a day
of it is quite hard..and you dont care about money anymore you know, after two months or
three months, you just want to go and have a swim.
Mr. Zustra: Even though we are quit lucky here in Puci Palace, we have no weekends free but
usually we get some days of.
133
Interviewer: Yes also the lady of public relations working at the Hilton imperial told me she had
enough days of and she had everything and it was very good organised.
Mr. Zustra: Yes that is true and that is very good but most of the people dont, especially in those
restaurants and stuff like that.
Interviewer: Yes I believe they quickly need to change something here because sustainability also
means that employees stay at least reasonably happy with their job, even on the short term, even
within three months, I mean I you are not happy it is bad for everything.
Mr. Zustra: Definitelyyou know it is a small town and what you said about the staff, it always
circulates so if the owner or manager of a place is really unfair to his employeesthey wont
work for him any more and he can close his business. It is going slowly but it will get there.
134
Appendix F: Interview 5
Interview 5: Interview with Ms Bai, personal assistant of the general manager of Hilton
Imperial. Date: 16 February 2006.
Interviewer: Could you give me two examples of developments that have gone wrong or been
difficult in rebuilding the tourism industry during the last 10 years?
Ms Bai: Well, what we are missing definitely here are mayor investments. For example, hotel
Belverdere is the first thing that now crosses my mind because it used to be a new and very
beautiful hotel and but it got destroyed completely during the war and what is left now is basically
the walls, and I cannot believe there isnt somebody interested to put money to rebuild that is
place since it could be one of the most beautiful hotels, even in the world. So I dont know what
went wrong, if it is a lack of interest which I cannot believe or that it is something from outside. I
believe that in Croatia we have sometimes these bureaucratic problems that we make it too much
difficult for people to invest. One example for this is also than when we are a town that plans to be
orientated on elite tourism we need to have places where wealthy people can go out and we dont
have these places here in Dubrovnik which is very bad, I know one specific example: When Ivana
Tramp wanted to invest money in a nightclub, that was already in progress but something went
wrong, it was basically the bureaucracy, our country didnt it make easy enough to invest for her
so basically so just gave up on that one. That is just one example but there have been more cases
like this one. In this country we have bureaucratic problems on any aspect, it takes too long and
than many people give up and they move on to another place where it is much easier to invest and
build.
Interviewer: Does tourism damage the urban environment of Dubrovnik?
Ms Bai: The only way how tourism can damage Dubrovnik is if we get too orientated on mass
tourism; if we get cheap hotels, cheap rooms and beds, than we will get too many people,
Dubrovnik is basically a small town, we have a basic limit of 15.000 people, if we have too many
people and cars and you loose a lot of quality of the city.
Interviewer: Is this already the case.that there are too many visitors?
Ms Bai: No, and I think this will not be because we are more and more orientated towards elite
tourism and we have more and more 5 star hotels just like just like Hilton.
Interviewer: Does tourism contribute to conserve the physical heritage of the city?
Ms Bai: Yes, it helps, like just one example are the city walls, because al the money gained with
the entrance fee is used to maintain the and improve the conditions of the monument.
Ms Bai: Yes, I think we dont have any problem with the atmosphere in summer but rather with
the atmosphere during winter.
Interviewer: You wish there were more visitors?
Ms Bai: Yes.
Interviewer: Are people employed in the tourism industry generally satisfied with their Jobs?
135
Ms Bai: Generally I think no because at the moment we have too many visitors in summer and
almost none in winter so basically the concept in Dubrovnik and the rest of Croatia is that for 6
months you kill yourself and than you do nothing for the remainder of the year which is very bad
because people get to frustrated because they have no day of they are too tired and when they are
too tired my opinion is they cannot deliver the service in the right way. I want to point out that this
is not the case for the Hilton hotel were the situation is different and people have days of, even
during the summer.
Interviewer: Dou you think urban mass tourism changes, destroys or protects Dubrovniks cultural
identity?
Ms Bai: The cultural thing in Dubrovnik is the most important; it is the most unique thing that
Dubrovnik has. There is no lack of willingness to protects Dubrovniks cultural identity but
theres is a lack of money, we need more money, basically that comes with investment so that
makes everything related.
Interviewer: Does economic profit gained by tourism outweigh the burden of the enormous
Ms Bai: No, I dont think so because I dont think that people get wealthier because of tourism,
which is something we are hoping for the future. In Dubrovnik people are trying to rent rooms,
opening little restaurants, they are orienting themselves on tourism and they earn quite a lot of
money during the summer months but then they have to spend this money during the winter
because there is no Job at al. So in the sense, problems with tourism during the summer is not
compensated with money because at the end of the year there will be no money left.
Interviewer: So do you believe it is necessary to create non-tourist jobs or jobs that can be fulfilled
during the winter period?
Ms Bai: I think the most important is to get the investments to create the facilities to attract and
amuse the tourist during the winter period.
Interviewer: Would it than be possible to attract reasonably large amounts of visitors during the
winter months?
Ms Bai: Well I think it is all related with what you offer because there are many kind of tourists,
it is not that all tourist in the world are looking for a summer holiday. If you are oriented on
cultural holiday, it is much nicer to see this things in the authum, when it is a little bit cooler than
during the summer when there are thousands and thousands of people and it is 40 degrees.
Interviewer: Who is responsible for tourism development in Dubrovnik? (Structure of power?)
Who formulates the tourism development strategy?
Ms Bai: The tourism strategy depends largely on the investments that can be attracted. There
are some positive development with respect to the government and the mayor of Dubrovnik but
they cant do much. To develop we need investments to open more 5 star hotels but more
important, to open more good restaurants and bars and nightclubs to satisfy the elite tourists, not
for teenagers. I am sure that when interest is shown to finance these developments the
government will do its very best to facilitate these.
Interviewer: Is multi-stakeholders involvement encouraged and is it functional?
Could you give me one example?
Ms Bai: Yes, people are informed, but is not that they have any influence. We are basically all
related here with tourism because or you have a restaurant, or you rent rooms, or you work in a
hotel or you work in the restaurantthere is basically no other industry so everybody who lives in
136
Dubrovnik depends on tourism...so everybody is involved but in their own business or job, not in
the development of tourism strategies or such things.
Interviewer: How severe is the competition with other European heritage cities in Europe?
Ms Bai: I dont really see any serious competition, we can just cooperate with other cities in
ideas, projects and similar things but I think Dubrovnik is unique, not only in Europe but in the
Whole world.
Interviewer: How important is the sustainability concept in tourism planning in Dubrovnik?
Ms Bai: I believe it is important because it is not allowed to build something that would in any
way destroy or damage the image of the town and the historic and heritage.so this is very
important and they are definitely taken care of it.
Interviewer: What about the working conditionsunsatisfied employees? Would sustainability
also concern the satisfaction of the employees?
Ms Bai: I believe that if tourism would spread all over the year, the people would be very happy
because here, people have that in their blood, they like to work in tourism but it is very difficult to
do it with a smile on your face and to be happy about it when you really, really have to work for
six months without a day of and really work too much and than spend all that money that you
earned during the summer because you have nothing to do. That creates frustration for the people
and until we spread tourism over the year the people cannot be happy with working in tourism.
Interviewer: Does the sustainable development concept determine strategic planning and
development or does rapid economical gain undermine responsible development?
Ms Bai: I think both are important and one cannot go without the other. It is very important to
protect the cultural heritage and the entire industry but on the other hand we need to make profit. I
think there has to be a balance between these 2. You need to get a profit without damaging the
environment and I think that is what we are trying to do here in Dubrovnik.
Interviewer: What should be changed / encouraged in the actual tourism management? What about
the winter program?
Ms Bai: Yeah, that is a very good start in my opinion, but that is something on al very small
level. This action is taken from the side of the town and offers something to the tourists that are
already here. But what we actually need is facilities that attracts tourist during the winter. For
me, one example is the golf. Now it are still plans but when this golf course will be realized it will
change the situation in Dubrovnik. There are lots of people which would like to play golf and
enjoy the town during the winter months when the weather is still quite nice and sunny. Golf is
just one example and more of these kind of all-year attractions should be developed.
Ms Bai: I think that Tourism in Dubrovnik will develop well. It is slowly starting and it is very
difficult. We would like it to be happening now but one has to realize that 10 years ago we had a
war here so therefore the development is a process that takes time. We al see positive steps but it
takes time. This golf is one example, this Hilton hotel is another example, one international chain
coming to Dubrovnik and we want more. We are not afraid of competition. So basically I believe
that new projects will develop and we need to orient on offering something to the tourists in
winter and understand that it is not enough to have a beautiful sea and sun in the sky. You need to
offer something to the people in order to make money and that is we all should orient on. We are
doing quite well and we just need to continue this process.
Interviewer: A process away from mass tourism?
137
Ms Bai: Definitely, before the war it was like that. People were happy with that and maybe they
did not even know about the alternative. And now we believe the money will come from a more
elite tourism. Than we will also not have such things as damaging the cultural heritage.
Otherwise we would just have too many visitors, Ms Bai: imagine al these thousands of people
coming with their cars. Dubrovnik is a small town and we simply wouldnt have the space to put
all these cars and peopleso yes, elite tourism it what we should think about.
Interviewer: Since when is tourism development actually focused on the elites?
Ms Bai: I think it is a natural process whether it is from the government or from the people that
are actually doing the tourism; we are all realizing that elite tourism will be the only solution for
Dubrovnik. Everybody says, Dubrovnik is like a new Monte Carlo.
138

Urban Heritage Tourism A Case Study of Dubrovnik

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Bournemouth University, UK

M.A. European Tourism Management

Urban Heritage Tourism

However the favourable economic impacts that tourism

Research findings are largely collected through personal

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Tourism development and the destination lifecycle 27

Chapter 4: Case Study of Dubrovnik

Chapter 5: Main Findings

Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations

Figure 5.8: Suggestions for future tourism development...87

Furthermore, I am particularly appreciative to the suggestions made by my supervisor

Bournemouth, August 2006

However heritage exists

independently from tourism, it is hard to imagine tourism without heritage. During

Research aim and objectives

To gain understanding of and provide a theoretical framework for heritage

To identify the attitudes and motivations from the different stakeholders

To determine the opportunities for Dubrovnik to develop and manage the

Case study of Dubrovnik

research techniques focus on collecting information from people involved in the

Chapter 2: Literature review

Different methodological approaches are

Chapter 4: Overview of the actual situation

Chapter 5 Main findings and discussions

Chapter 6 Conclusions and recommendations

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Miller orders the distinctive generic resources of heritage visitor attractions in an

Generic classification of Heritage visitor Attractions

Nation / Region Cities

Town and country parks Public houses / cafes

and Nature reserves

Heritage theme parks

Ashworth and Larkham (1994) consider heritage principally as a contemporary

Heritage and history

With regard to the heritage of the urban

Definition of heritage tourism

Poria, Butler and Airey (2001a)

therefore define heritage tourism as:

through different interpretations of same resources. Therefore, heritage recourses can

Moreover, the values impacting on the

interpretation and commodification process are conditioned by fashion-subjective

Figure 2.1: The commodification of the past (Ashworth, 1997, p.179)

Furthermore, Garrod and Fyall (2001)

discussions in literature, it soon becomes evident that heritage tourism should be

The heritage tourist

The rise of heritage tourism

The growth of the tourism heritage industry with its both

Heritage and post-modern tourism consumption

The author alleges that postmodernist culture is anti-auratic. He argues that

Other post-modern tourism centres on real, more authentic

experiences (Uriely 1997).

Urban heritage tourism

The author explains that the

Deindustrialisation and economic restructuring have boosted urban heritage tourism

Urban authorities have come up with

Global and local forces in the urban environment

Talk to each other

Competition through price

Competition through innovation

Labour is a cost of production

Labour is key to quality

in the process (Chang et al. 1996, p.285).