The Influence of Tourism Policy on the Management and Development of the Destination

Andreja Rudančić – Libertas International University Zagreb, Croatia

Sandra Sokčević – Libertas International University Zagreb, Croatia

Sinisa Hajdaš Dončić- Libertas International University Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract: The paper investigates the role of tourism policy in the management of the tourist destination of the city of Makarska, which is one of the most important tourist destinations on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. Focusing on the complexity of managing a tourist destination enabled an analysis of the importance of an integrated approach in tourism development, with a special emphasis on meeting the needs of all stakeholders and ensuring the destination’s sustainable future. The subject of this paper is to analyse the theoretical framework of tourism policy and to investigate how tourism policy affects the management of a tourist destination on the model of the Makarska tourist destination. The goal of the work is a deeper understanding of the complexity of tourism policy and the identification of key factors that contribute to the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Through the analysis of the tourism policy, the possibilities of improving the tourism of the mentioned destination with the aim of long-term prosperity were investigated. Special importance is attached to examining the attitudes of the local population on the impact of tourism and tourism policy. The analysis of the perception of the local population provided a deeper insight into the positive and negative aspects of tourism and the identification of key areas for further action. In the paper, empirical research was conducted through an online survey questionnaire to analyse the views of the local population on the impact of tourism and tourism policy on the specified destination. Primary data were collected through a one-time descriptive survey on a targeted sample (N 1332). The general conclusion of the research is that based on a detailed analysis of the tourism policy of the city of Makarska, key aspects of business and invest- ment in tourism were investigated, including demand monitoring, innovation, tourism promotion, investment in employees, raising the quality of business and environmental protection. The results of the average scores of the respondents show a moderately good degree of agreement with the mentioned aspects, while a certain variability in the scores can be observed.

10th International Scientific Conference ERAZ 2024 – Conference Proceedings: KNOWLEDGE BASED SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,  hybrid – online, virtually and in person, Lisbon, Portugal, June 6, 2024

ERAZ Conference Proceedings published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – Belgrade, Serbia

ERAZ conference partners: Faculty of Logistics, University of Maribor, Maribor (Slovenia); University of National and World Economy – UNWE, Sofia (Bulgaria); Center for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET), Research Laboratory of the Department of Political Science of University of Crete (Greece); Institute of Public Finance – Zagreb (Croatia); Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Ohrid, University of St. Kliment Ohridski from Bitola (North Macedonia)

ERAZ Conference 2024 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-86-8, ISSN 2683-5568,

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ERAZ.2024

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

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