CHANGING FACES OF CROATIAN TOURISM

The present and future of the Croatian tourism are once again certain and no one is interested in its further improvement.It seems today as if the COVID-19 pandemic never took place.Contrary to suggestions and desires, the pandemic period was not utilised for the redefinition of Croatian tourism or the modernisation of its development.Croatian tourism, apart from the sea and sun, has failed to introduce anything new.Tourism development continues to rely on circumstances that work in its favour, such as the fact that Croatia is still a safe country relatively close to the emissive markets that guests decide to visit out of inertia.Croatia is in desperate need to change the course of its tourism development and create new products and services instead of just building numerous new accommodation capacities which only contribute to the uniformity of the tourism offer.The central argument of this paper is that the traditional notions of Croatian tourism development and practices have to be modified because of a range of contradictory socio-economic developments occurring in the field of contemporary tourism.The article outlines the nature of such changes and points out that Croatia needs tourism on a smaller scale which involves the growth of quality tourist services and offers in order to attract fewer tourists with higher purchasing power which would put a stop to the devastation of space and resources and achieve the preservation of the quality of life of local communities.