The potential of memorial tourism development in Istria (Croatia)

Abstract

This paper analyses the geographical features and potential of memorial tourism development in the tourism region of Istria in Croatia. In the past century, Istria has had several political and socio-economic turning points, with far-reaching consequences for its overall development. For the most part, the historical turning points in the 20th century in Istria were marked by armed conflict, followed by individual and mass human casualties, terror, and the persecution of the population. The motive of travel in memorial tourism here is to visit the places where these tragic events occurred. Therefore, the aim of this research was to determine the geographical distribution of potential sites in Istria suitable for the development of memorial tourism. An additional objective was to propose thematic routes of memorial tourism in the areas of Istrian towns and municipalities. A secondary aim of this research was to provide a geographical contribution to the scientific evaluation of memorial tourism in Croatian tourism regions, with proposals for measures in the planning of the development of this form of tourism.

"Memories of a Forgotten War" and Their Contemporary (Dark) Tourism Implications: An Istrian Media Perspective

“…By considering the media perspective of memorial events, WWI-related memorial practices, and their relation to dark tourism, this research provides a new understanding of Istrian memorial events, which, however, cannot always be included in the dark tourism context; this is, after all, consistent with the claims of Kennell et al (2018), because local communities understand/experience these events/processes in their own way (Dolenec & Vodeb, 2022;Kavrečič & Hrobat Virloget, 2019;Vojnović, 2020). This research thus showed the local and wider scope of memorial events in the region marked by tourism.…”

“…Pula, as the centre of Croatian Istria with clear military history and connection with WWI (Herman Kaurić, 2015b; Mandić, 2006;Vojnović, 2020), implemented the Puna je Pula project (Obilježavanje stogodišnjice Prvog svjetskog rata, n.d.), which included 30 different events related to WWI (articles C, J, O). In the nearby Municipality of Ližnjan, in connection to the centenary of WWI and the sinking of the ship "Cesare Rossarol", "The Wreck of the Warship Cesare Rossarol" project was implemented, consisting of cultural, tourist-recreational, religious, educational, and audiovisual events with memorial significance.…”

“…Visitors can thus create tourist experiences based on the (commodified) intangible and tangible heritage of a particular socio-cultural area, for example, a visit to a memorial event and an authentic site associated with death and tragedy. Istria offers several such sites, but mainly in connection with anti-fascism, see Šuligoj (2019) and Vojnović (2020).…”

“…Examples show that this can be an important part of tourism supply (see Biran et al, 2011;Chronis, 2012;Šuligoj, 2019;Kennell & Powell, 2021). To avoid excessive simplification, such heritage is not exclusively related to dark tourism and non-local visitors (Kennell et al, 2018) but also to local communities (Dolenec & Vodeb, 2022;Kavrečič & Hrobat Virloget, 2019;Vojnović, 2020). Moreover, it is also attractive to the media, which thus generates a culturally distributed collective memory (Pavlaković & Perak, 2017, p. 301) and, simultaneously prevents social amnesia (Lury, 2004).…”

“…They are interwoven with the theory of dark tourism. Our chief objective is to identify and typologise anniversary-related memorial events in the cross-border region of Istria, which is heavily involved in international tourist flows in Slovenia and Croatia, and thus deepen some previous research (e.g., Frost & Laing, 2013;Kennell et al, 2018;Šuligoj, 2019;Vojnović, 2020).…”