Conference "Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas of the Republic of Croatia" held in Plitvice
The conference "Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas of the Republic of Croatia" was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy and Plitvice Lakes National Park which aimed at highlighting the importance of protected areas of the Republic of Croatia as an important area of tourist interest but also the necessary protection through the model of sustainable tourism and the education of visitors on nature protection.
The conference was welcomed by state secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, Tonči Glavina, Assistant Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy Igor Kreitmeyer and director of the public institution "National Park Plitvice Lakes" Tomislav Kovačević who presented data on tourism in protected areas, and stressed that in total, in 2018, Croatian national parks visited 3.7 million visitors, of which Plitvice Lakes were almost 1.8 million.
State Secretary Glavina emphasized in the introductory address that tourism and environmental protection sectors need to cooperate and complement their activities to ensure the quality of tourism development along with the preservation of natural heritage for future generations. "The recently adopted package of tourist laws rests on the principles of destination management that will ensure sustainability through the inclusion of local levels in determining the forms of tourism they want to develop, which should be harmonized and accepted by all stakeholders - from the local population, tourists, entrepreneurs and other subjects in the destination. New laws are thus based on decentralization of the system, while national level will provide support in the development of tourist products and destinations, "said State Secretary Glavina.
Assistant Kreitmeyer also stressed the importance of joint action by two ministries - the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy in responsible management of tourism in protected areas and in the protection and preservation of natural heritage influenced by tourism activities.
The exhibition on the topic of protection of natural areas through responsible tourism development was held by Izidor Marković Vukadin from the Institute for Tourism which in its presentation stressed, among other things, that "the development of sustainable tourism products is needed to realize the visitor's time and space dispersion and to encourage the inclusion of local providers of services and products. The Plitvice Lakes National Park has just moved in this direction by creating an Action Plan for Visitor Management, which includes the purchase of tickets in advance through the Internet in order to relieve and more evenly distribute the number of visitors, "concluded Markovic Vukadin.
There were two panel discussion discussions where participants discussed the institutional framework needed to improve sustainability in protected areas the impact of tourism activities on the environment and the application of the principles of sustainability in the business of tourist entities and other tourism-related subjects.
The first panel discussion entitled "Sustainable Tourism Development Framework" was attended by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, Tonči Glavina, Assistant Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy Igor Kreitmeyer, assistant minister of culture Davor Trupković and director Tomislav Kovačević who talked about the institutional framework needed for the development of sustainable tourism and the role of natural and cultural heritage in attracting tourists. The panel discussion stressed that infrastructure pressures should be tackled by dispersing tourist traffic on all months of the year and by developing special forms of tourism and by strengthening continental tourism.
In the second panel discussion "Sustainable Tourism in Practice" was attended by Assistant Minister Igor Kreitmeyer, Dean of the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management from Opatija Dora Smolčić Jurdana, owner of FEEL IQM Đurđica Šimičić and Deana Stipanović from Valamar Rivijera d.d. who presented ways and parameters for measuring sustainability in the destination, examples of sustainable business through the involvement of local communities and tourists themselves, and the features and segmentation of guests coming to the destination.
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