Attitudes and preferences of visitors of Krka National Park, Croatia

Abstract

The primary function of national parks (NPs) is nature conservation, but for the majority of them, tourism also plays an important role. Tourism generates significant incomes, but the benefits are often unequally distributed in space, as are the disadvantages. The karst regions are generally less developed terrains in terms of traditional livelihoods, but due to their special morphology, tourism offers great opportunities. Nonetheless, mass tourism can also pose increased environmental risks. In this article, we examine the above questions on the example of Krka NP, especially from the perspective of tourists, as we conducted a questionnaire survey with visitors. The results confirmed that there is a high degree of spatial inequality both in the awareness of attractions and the distribution of tourist accommodation. This fact has already been recognised by the management of the NP, and serious steps have already been taken to reduce inequality, but their impact is not yet significant enough. Based on the survey, tourism in Krka NP is determined by same-day visits. Tourists who come here primarily consider waterfalls, lakes and rivers to be the most important values of the landscape, while cultural values are considered less significant and even less known. Local products are virtually unknown in the NP palette, so this could be a direction for development. Another point that could be developed is the awareness of visitors in the field of karstification. As the survey was conducted during COVID period, its impact on tourism was also briefly examined. This impact was manifested in the fact that the proportion of retirees and tourist buses was very small, whereas the majority of visitors (90%) arrived in the NP as independent travellers. For one third of foreigners, COVID played a role in choosing Croatia as a destination. As for domestic tourists, two thirds chose to find a destination in Croatia because of COVID.

Empirical Investigation of the Motivation and Perception of Tourists Visiting the Apuseni Nature Park (Romania) and the Relationship of Tourism and Natural Resources

“…The small number of organized groups is also partly influenced by the fact that in 2021, due to the COVID pandemic, organized groups generally represented a much lower proportion in tourism than in the years before COVID-19 (cf. [8]). Most of the visitors come to ANP for several days (RO: 84%; HU: 65%; EN: 54%), which indicates that there are plenty of attractions and hiking opportunities there.…”

“…It is also interesting to explore the knowledge of visitors about the term "karst" in an area where karst landforms have an outstanding importance among the attractions. Sim ilar surveys show that people generally have a relatively low level of knowledge abou "karst", although the situation is somewhat better for countries where there is a high pro portion of karst [8,50]. In the first part of the question, people could answer with Yes/No whether they know the word "karst", while in the second part, the respondents wer asked to briefly describe what this word means.…”

“…In recent years, a number of articles have quantitatively demonstrated that population density is low in many European karst regions, and that population levels have generally been falling in the last 50-100 years. Examples of this include the Velebit Mountains (Croatia [4]), the Gömör-Torna-karst (Hungary, Slovakia [5]), the Apuseni Mountains (Romania [6]), the Tara Mountains (Serbia [7]) and the wider environment of the Krka National Park (Croatia [8]). In general, rural areas in the mountains are especially prone to depopulation [9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

The system and spatial distribution of protected areas in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia and Croatia

“…It is, therefore interesting to examine the common and different characteristics of their protected area systems. Other results of the research carried out in the framework of this project are presented in the further articles of this issue (Imecs, Z. et al 2022;Kovačević-Majkić, J. et al 2022;Kőszegi, M. et al 2022;Telbisz,T. et al 2022a).…”

Methods for measuring the spatial mobility of tourists using a network theory approach

“…There are many studies on consumption theory, where the aim is to assess tourists' choices based on their consumption decisions (Bernecker, P. 1962;Kotler, P. 1967;Mas-Colell, A. et al 1995;Csapó, J. and M. Császár, Zs. 2021;Telbisz, T. et al 2022) and their spatial movements (D'Agata, R. et al 2013;Pécsek, B. 2015;Asero, V. et al 2016).…”