TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT...

BelgradeOctober 09, 2020

www.sitcon.singidunum.ac.rs

BOOK OF PROCEEDINGSSingidunum University International Scientific Conference

TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND

CONTRADICTIONS

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

◆ Nemanja Stanišić, PhD ◆ Svetlana Stanišić, PhD ◆ Slobodan Čerović, PhD ◆ Gordana Dražić, PhD ◆ Jelena Milovanović, PhD ◆ Jovan Popesku, PhD ◆ Lidija Amidžić, PhD ◆ Tijana Radojević, PhD ◆ Vladimir Džamić, PhD

◆ Jelena Gajić, PhD ◆ Marijana Prodanović, PhD ◆ Marko Šarac, PhD ◆ Miroslav Knežević, PhD ◆ Radmila Živković, PhD ◆ Sofija Petković, PhD ◆ Vule Mizdraković, PhD ◆ Danijel Pavlović, PhD ◆ Dušan Borovčanin, PhD

◆ Ivana Brdar, PhD ◆ Mesud Adžemović, PhD ◆ Nataša Kilibarda, PhD ◆ Nikica Radović, PhD ◆ Aleksa Panić, MSc ◆ Aleksandar Mihajlović, MSc ◆ Andrej Todorović, MSc ◆ Milan Tair, MSc ◆ Petar Jakić, MSc

◆ Predrag Obradović, MSc ◆ Dušan Mandić ◆ Jovana Maričić ◆ Miloš Višnjić

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Publisher: Singidunum University, 32 Danijelova Street, BelgradeEditor-in-Chief: Milovan Stanišić, PhDPrepress: Miloš VišnjićDesign: Aleksandar MihajlovićYear: 2020Circulation: 10Printed by: Singidunum UniversityISBN: 978-86-7912-740-2

Contact us:Singidunum University

32 Danijelova Street, Belgrade SerbiaPhone: +381 11 3093220; +381 11 3093290

Fax: +381 11 3093294 E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.sitcon.singidunum.ac.rs

TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND CONTRADICTIONS Electronic version

◆ Alon Gelbman, Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel ◆ Anya Diekmann, Université Libre de Bruxeless, Belgium ◆ Biljana Crnjak Karanović, University of Split, Croatia ◆ Eugenia Wicknes, University of Reading, United Kingdom ◆ Harald Pechlaner, Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Germany ◆ Igor Stamenković, University of Novi Sad ◆ Irfan Arikan, IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, Austria ◆ Jasmina Gržinić, University of Pula, Croatia ◆ Kerstin Wegener, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany ◆ Kevin Griffin, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland ◆ Larry Dwyer, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia ◆ Lidija Petrić, University of Split, Croatia ◆ Marjan Bojadjiev, University American College Skopje, Macedonia ◆ Mihalis Kavaratzis, University of Leicester, United Kingdom ◆ Milenko Stanić, Synergy University, Bosnia and Herzegovina ◆ Nellie Swart, University of South Africa, South Africa ◆ Rade Kisić, University of Belgrade, Serbia ◆ Razaq Raj, Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom ◆ Renata Tomljenović, The Institute for Tourism, Zagreb, Croatia ◆ Rob Davidson, MICE Knowledge, United Kingdom ◆ Roberto Micera, Institute for Studies on the Mediterranean (ISMed), Italy ◆ Silvana Đurašević, Mediterranean University, Montenegro ◆ Stanislav Ivanov, Varna University of Management, Bulgaria ◆ Tadeja Jere Jakulin, University of Primorska, Slovenia

◆ Milovan Stanišić, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Nemanja Stanišić, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Dragan Cvetković, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Nebojša Bačanin Džakula, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Milan Tuba, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Svetlana Stanišić, Sinigdunum University, Serbia ◆ Slobodan Čerović, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Angelina Njeguš, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Goranka Knežević, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Gordana Dražić, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Jelena Milovanović, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Jovan Popesku, Singidunum University Serbia ◆ Jovanka Popov Raljić, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Lidija Amidžić, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Milan Milosavljević, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Mladen Veinović, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Nada Popović Perišić, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Olivera Nikolić, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Tijana Radojević, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Vladimir Džamić, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Jelena Gajić, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Marijana Prodanović, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Miroslav Knežević, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Radmila Živković, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Suzana Đorđević Milošević, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Vule Mizdraković, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Danijel Pavlović, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Dušan Borovčanin, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Goran Avlijaš, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Ivana Brdar, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Mesud Adžemović, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Nataša Kilibarda, Singidunum University, Serbia ◆ Nikica Radović, Singidunum University, Serbia

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

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It is our great pleasure to present the Proceedings of the V International Scientific Conference in the field of tourism and hospitality - SITCON 2020 (Singidunum International Tourism Conference), held online on October 09, 2020, at Singidunum University in Belgrade, Serbia.

The main goal of the SITCON 2020 Conference was to provide a significant scientific contribution regarding the importance of sustainable tourism development for tourism destinations and tourism companies. Therefore, it was crucial to study contemporary trends and to understand sustainable tourism development concept, especially in the field of sustainable and responsible management of tourism destinations and tourism companies. It is confirmed yet again that SITCON Conference is an ideal platform for exchanging ideas and disseminating the best practices among scientists and experts from various sectors such as: travel agencies, tour operators, hotel enterprises and other segments of accommodation offer, transportation companies and companies related to other complementary activities, as well as destination marketing/management organizations and the public sector - all in relation to the SITCON 2020 topics.

Introductory speakers at the plenary session were:

• Prof. Nemanja Stanišić, Ph.D., Acting Rector of Singidunum University;

• Ms. Vesna Antić, Advisor to the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications at Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Key plenary speakers at the conference were:

• Professor Larry Dwyer, Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Australia: Tourism Development and Sustainable Well-being: A Beyond GDP Perspective

• Professor Ljubica Knežević Cvelbar, School of Business and Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia: Covid-19 pandemic – Red, yellow, or green light for future tourism development?

• Jonathan Gómez Punzón (PhD), UNWTO Academy, World Tourism Organization: Reshaping the tourism planning tools in the post-COVID-19 era.

SITCON 2020 extensive team of reviewers has rather successfully handled the entire review process. The Scientific Committee, which consists of 33 professors from Singidunum University and 24 professors from 23 reputable universities, scientific and professional institutions both from the country and the world, were involved in reviewing scientific papers.

The overall statistics on the conference are the following:

• The total number of submitted papers/abstracts: 25

• The total number of accepted papers/abstracts for presentation at the Conference: 21

• The total number of rejected papers: 4

• The total number of accepted papers/extended abstracts for publication in the Conference Proceedings: 19

The total number of participants at the SITCON 2020 Conference was 115, including authors, keynote speakers and professors from Singidunum University; in addition to students and other guests from tourism organizations there were also representatives of the tourism industry.

All accepted papers are published in the Conference Proceedings and are publicly available on the Conference website. Conference Proceedings have an ISBN number. Each paper, excluding Extended Abstracts, is assigned its DOI number and a reference on Google Scholar.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE SITCON 2020

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Esteemed readers, on behalf of the Scientific and Organizing Committee of SITCON 2020 Conference, we would like to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to all participants for their valuable contributions. We sincerely hope that you shall take part in our future conferences, which are to be held at Singidunum University, with new themes and innovative scientific papers.

Belgrade, December 2020Organizing Committee of the International Scientific Conference SITCON 2020

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Contents SITCON 2020

CONTENTS

INVITED PAPER

3 - 7TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE WELL-BEING: A BEYOND GDP PERSPECTIVELarry Dwyer

CONFERENCE PAPERS

11 - 17 SUSTAINABILITY IN THE MEETINGS INDUSTRYVanja Pavluković, Milica Vujičić, James Kennell, Marija Cimbaljević

18 - 23 GLOBAL TOURISM MEASUREMENTS AND RESPONSE TO COVID-19 CRISISIgor Kovačević, Renata Pindžo, Bojan Zečević

24 - 29 PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL STATUS OF LAKE ĆELIJEMaja Vujčić Trkulja, Lidija Amidžić, Miloš Vasić

30 - 38TOURISM AND ITS ROLE IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT IN SERBIASuzana Đorđević-Milošević, Jelena Milovanović

39 - 47DEVELOPING WILDLIFE RELATED TOURISM FOR GAME MANAGEMENT SUSTAINABILITY IN GEORGIASuzana Đorđević-Milošević, Ljubiša Đorđev, Jelena Milovanović

48 - 60M-GAM MODEL BASED EVALUATION OF GRADAC RIVER GORGE FOR GEOTOURISM DEVELOPMENTJelena Milenković, Milica Lukić, Jelena Milovanović

61 - 66

COMPLIANCE OF THE EU LEGAL ACTS WITH MONTREAL CONVENTION (MC99) ON UNIVERSAL LIABILITY REGIME FOR INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE BY AIR - IMPORTANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM WORLDWIDEAleksa Panić, Marija Kostić

67 - 73THE IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY IN THE APPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT OF SMART TOURIST DESTINATIONSDejan Mandić, Miloš Tomušilović, Mesud Adžemović

74 - 79 POSSIBILITIES OF SUSTAINABLE AIRPORT BUSINESSMarija Stojanović, Nikica Radović, Angelina Njeguš

VI

Contents SITCON 2020

80 - 91SUSTAINABLE RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN CANTON 10 OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINASuzana Đorđević-Milošević, Boris Vakanjac, Mesud Adžemović

92 - 102POSSIBILITIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN ECOTOURISM IN PROTECTED AREA “VELIKO RATNO OSTRVO“Daniela Cvetković, Tanja Kukobat

103 - 107APPLICATION OF EUROPEAN UNION’S CULTURAL INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM – A CASE STUDY OF BELGRADEDobrila Lukić, Aleksandar Joksimović

108 - 116 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN SKI RESORTS OF EUROPE AND THE WORLDNataša Dragović, Milana Pašić

117 - 127 EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT Jelena Stajčić, Olgica Živković

128 - 134COVID19 IMPACT ON CHANGING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES IN HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BELGRADEAna Aleksić, Obren Drljević, Zoran Knežević

CONFERENCE EXTENDED ABSTRACTS

137 - 141ENHANCING ST. SAVA CHURCH VISITORS’ ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE IN ORDER TO SET UP THE STRATEGIC POSITION ON THE GLOBAL MARKETJelena Gajić, Igor Stamenković, Danijel Pavlović, Slobodan Čerović

142 - 144ASSESSMENT OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS’ PERCEIVED SUSTAINABILITY OF A TOURISM DESTINATIONMilivoj Teodorović, Jovan Popesku, Danijel Pavlović

145 - 151 THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND SLOW TOURISMDarija Lunić, Roberto Micera, Nataša Stanišić

INVITED PAPER

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SITCON 2020 TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND CONTRADICTIONS

Larry Dwyer

Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Correspondence: Larry Dwyer

e-mail: [email protected]

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE WELL-BEING: A BEYOND GDP PERSPECTIVE1

INVITED PAPER

Abstract: The Beyond GDP approach to development is gaining widespread support from policy makers and researchers worldwide. While not formulated specifically for tourism activity, the approach serves as a guide to measuring the current and future well-being of destination residents associated with tourism development. Based on ideas and arguments developed in Dwyer (2020), the paper also discusses some key responsibilities of tourism industry stakeholders structured according to several different senses of ‘beyond’ that characterise the Beyond GDP research agenda. It is argued that research on destination tourism development can learn much from the Beyond GDP approach in respect of conceptual advance, industry practice and policy implementation.

Keywords: Sustainable tourism, Better Life well-being framework, Tourism destination, Beyond GDP, Resident well-being.

Sitcon 2020www.sitcon.singidunum.ac.rs

DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-3-7

INTRODUCTION

Promoting the well-being of local residents is a fundamental objective of sustainable tourism development. In recent years an increasing volume of tourism-related research has addressed well-being issues as they affect both tourists and destination residents (Uysal, Perdue and Sirgy, 2012; Hartwell, Fyall, Willis, Page, Ladkin, Hemingway, 2018). With some exceptions, studies of resident well-being have tended to focus on current well-being outcomes rather than detailed study of the links between well-being and sustainability.

The overall aim of the paper is to argue the case for measures of sustainable well-being developed within the Beyond GDP research agenda, to play an essential role in formulating, implementing and evaluating tourism development across all destinations.

1 The paper is based on the analysis in the research article previously published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism: Dwyer, L. (2020). Tourism development and sustainable well-being: a Beyond GDP perspective, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2020.1825457 **

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SITCON 2020 TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND CONTRADICTIONS

BEYOND GDP

GDP relates to the value of the goods and services produced in an economy in a given year. For many decades, gross domestic product (GDP) has been the preferred measure for assessing progress in human development although it was never created for that purpose.

The assumption behind using the GDP to assess wellbeing is that the higher the level of economic production, the better people are able to satisfy their material needs. While this measure is a critical indicator of a country’s macro-economic condition and the opportunity afforded to meet material needs, its inadequacy to measure people’s lives and well-being has become increasingly acknowledged. Human well-being is a broader concept than economic production and material living standards. It includes the full range of economic, social and environmental factors that influence the overall well-being of people and societies. There is now a solid and well-established case for looking ‘beyond GDP’, using well-being metrics in the policy process and assessing economic growth in terms of its impact on people’s well-being and on societies’ standard of living (Fuchs, Schlipphak, Treib, Long and Lederer, 2020).

In the wider social science literature a ‘revolution’ is taking place that has substantial consequences for the measurement challenges facing tourism development and resident well-being. This revolution, known widely as the Beyond GDP approach, recognising the inadequacy of standard economic measures such as GDP for capturing several critical dimensions of people’s well-being, is attempting to develop measures of progress that capture broader aspects of people’s living conditions and of the quality of their lives (Bleys, 2012; Radermachier, 2015; Fuchs et al, 2020). To date, a substantial body of research and statistical work providing alternative or complementary metrics of human progress has been developed (Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi, 2009a,b; Stigliz, Fitoussi and Durand, 2018). As a consequence, the notion of well-being has received increasing attention in recent years as an agenda for research, measurement and policy. While not developed specifically for tourism, the Beyond GDP approach offers comprehensive and realistic ways to measure destination sustainability and well-being, as well as policy recommendations that can guide tourism development to best sustain resident well-being over the long-run.

The preferred option of the Beyond GDP agenda is to develop a dashboard of well-being measures to com-plement GDP and other economic indicators, rather than discard or modify the concept itself. The statistical agenda of the Beyond GDP approach is progressively moving towards the development of internationally comparable measures of well-being to better understand people’s lives at the individual, household and com-munity level. As study of well-being matures as a statistical and measurement agenda, it has become increasingly relevant as a ‘compass’ to guide policy, generating more meaningful metrics of well-being and progress and embedding these metrics in public policy assessment Maintaining the Integrity of the Specifications.

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DIMENSIONS OF WELL-BEING

Given the complexity of the well-being concept, a single indicator will not be sufficient. A comprehensive set of integrated indicators is likely to be most effective at providing measures for policy purposes. The social science literature offers diverse perspectives as to the nature of ‘well-being’, its drivers and its indicators (Musi-kanski, 2015). ‘Well-being’ is widely agreed to be a multi-dimensional concept that incorporates notions of material comforts, individual freedoms, opportunities, mental states and capabilities (Durand, 2015; Helliwell, Layard and Sachs, 2019).

Given the need for well-being estimates to inform tourism development paths, the measures used by tourism researchers must be credible with a sound basis in theory. The most highly regarded conceptual framework for understanding and measuring well-being and societal progress, emerging from the Beyond GDP agenda is, arguably, the Better Life framework (OECD, 2011; Durand, 2015).

5Invited Paper


This framework identifies three pillars for understanding and measuring resident current and future well-being: material living conditions; quality of life; and sustainability.

Material living conditions comprise income and wealth, jobs and earnings and housing.

Quality of Life is captured through an additional eight dimensions that shape people’s lives. These are health, work-life balance, education and training, social connections, civic engagement and governance, environmental quality, personal security, and subjective well-being.

Sustainability is measured using indicators associated with four different types of ‘capital’- economic, human social and natural. The level of each type of capital stock is essential for sustaining well-being outcomes over time.

The Better Life framework incorporates many of the well-being dimensions emphasised in other approaches. The framework’s distinguishing features are its recognition of the importance of both subjective and objective dimensions of well-being and its distinction between the drivers of current and future well-being, thus embedding sustainability considerations into the framework. The framework is flexible enough to include additional dimensions and indicators of well-being into the overall framework of analysis as these are developed by researchers, industry practitioners and policy makers. A dashboard of interlinked indicators developed with the approach has evolved into the Better Life Index, an interactive web platform that allows individuals and communities to set their own weights on each of the different dimensions of the wellbeing framework. The Better Life Index encourages residents to participate in the debate on destination progress, and to identify what matters most in their lives. Although a number of measures of wellbeing are still under development, the quality of data and the empirical robustness of measures may be expected to progress over time (Stiglitz et al, 2018).

IMPLICATIONS FOR TOURISM RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Several themes arising from the Beyond GDP approach may be expected to drive sustainability theory development and policy making into the future. If tourism stakeholders are to give serious attention to the implications of the Beyond GDP approach and its application of a ‘well-being lens’ to guide and assess destination development, a number of challenges must be met. Confronting these challenges implies that stakeholders must address several different notions of ‘beyond’.

Beyond Perceptions. Tourism research has tended to focus on subjective measures of tourist and resident well-being, collecting relatively easily collected survey data on ‘perceptions’ and ‘satisfactions’. However, this neglects the influence of objective determinants of resident well-being. More robust measures of current and future well-being beyond resident perceptions are necessary if resident attitudes or perceptions are to link with the different drivers of well-being. Indeed future well-being, dependent as it is on changing levels and qualities of capital stocks, cannot be addressed in detail in the absence of objective (physical or monetary) measures to complement subjective measures.

Beyond Competitiveness. Tourism researchers agree that the ultimate rationale for achieving a competitive tourism industry is to enhance the well-being of its resident stakeholders. Destination competitiveness studies and frameworks have tended to incorporate well-being into their analyses in an ad hoc rather than strategic manner. However, the link between destination competitiveness and resident well-being remains relatively neglected. Detailed research needs to be undertaken both at a conceptual and empirical level to integrate well-being goals into destination competitiveness studies

Beyond the ‘here and ‘now’. The Beyond GDP agenda implies that sustainability study must distinguish and balance two forms of distributional justice - inter-generational and the intra-generational. Tourism research needs to pay more attention to the effects of tourism- induced effects on future as well as current well-being. To properly assess tourism’s role in path development researchers must focus on the links to well-being of changes in each of the four capitals.

- If the real per capita value of the capital stocks is increasing over time, destination development may be sustainable resulting in increased resident well-being.

- If real per capita value of the capital stocks is falling over time destination development is unsustainable resulting in decreased well-being in the future.

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There is an urgent need also to understand the interactions, substitutability, complementarity and trade-offs between them. The Better Life framework can provide the basis of a practical set of tools for policy analysts to more clearly incorporate the four capitals into well-being assessment generally and for tourism specifically.

Beyond the market. Assessing the sustainability of a given tourism development path ideally requires monetary estimates of changes in the capital stocks that contribute to people’s well-being. On the capitals approach, measuring sustainability requires focus on the net change in the volumes of the stocks of various assets, weighted by their ‘shadow prices’, a monetary value reflecting the true opportunity costs of all activities, taking into account all generated externalities and public goods. A well-established range of methods exist to estimate the value of capital stocks in the absence of market prices (Stiglitz et al, 2009a,b; Stiglitz, 2018).. Ongoing research is developing better measures of human capital, social capital and natural capital. Various techniques can be used in shadow pricing. These techniques are familiar to tourism economists and have been employed in a variety of evaluation contexts. Estimating the effects of changing capital stocks on well-being is an additional challenge that researchers are now addressing in greater detail.

Beyond Weak Sustainability. Achieving sustainable tourism development involves making important decisions about what types of capital can be used up in the present and what must be preserved for the future. The weak sustainability view implies that the four types of capitals are interchangeable in terms of maintaining well-being over time. In contrast, strong sustainability asserts that some types of capital (particularly natural capital) are to a greater and lesser extent non-substitutable in the production process. While a large proportion of tourism researchers appear implicitly to adopt a strong sustainability view, the theoretical and practical implications of applying strong sustainability conditions in tourism planning and development have been unduly neglected. Tourism researchers need to better appreciate the essential dynamic dimension of sustainable development, unable to be captured within static models.

Beyond CSR. The Beyond GDP agenda on responsible business conduct calls for a new mindset that moves away from the standard Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) injunction to ‘do no harm’ towards an approach of ‘doing good’ (Bleys, 2012). This implies that social and environmental impacts of firm operations and well-being outcomes should be built into firms’ mission statements and business models, rather than being addressed as ‘optional extras’. Opportunities exist for tourism researchers to extend to businesses the well-being lens that is core to the Beyond GDP approach while exploring the advantages of different types of business models that firms can adopt consistent with this approach.

Beyond silos. Policymaking often operates in silos, with decision makers in different government departments and different industries focusing on the resources and outputs for which they are directly accountable and without reference to the wider impacts of their actions in areas not directly under their responsibility. Adopting the wellbeing framework, promoting more comprehensive evaluations of the impact of specific policies on people’s lives, can allow DMO and other tourism stakeholders to play a more substantive role in the wider process of economic development. Ultimately, breaking down the silos in fulfilment of the Beyond GDP agenda, requires building well-being into the machinery of government, and the tools used to take decisions.

Beyond Borders. Going beyond the silos in respect of well-being study also implies a greater effort to measure the international aspects of sustainable development, beyond destination borders. In an increasingly globalised world, a destination attempting to enhance the well-being of its citizens will also affect the well-being of citizens of other countries. A classic example is that of a destination’s carbon emissions, adding to global warming. The sustainability challenge is thus of global importance as well as destination importance since unsustainable development can have transboundary effects on human well-being. DMO, through the UNWTO, can play an important advocacy role in encouraging national statistical agencies and international organisations to harmonise their well-being indicator sets, so that they are better suited for international comparison.

Beyond the Barriers. If measures of resident well-being are to make a real difference to people’s lives, they must be explicitly employed in the tourism policy-making process. Important barriers to employing well-being frameworks in policy settings include lack of political imperative or government support for development of well-being measures ‘Beyond GDP’ and institutional resistance to change. The neoliberal belief that GDP growth is the prime goal of development is perhaps the biggest barrier to the development of better measures of destination progress. Efforts to develop statistical capacity in tourism and/or well-being may also compete with other statistical priorities. The development of new well-being measures that are more tourism-focussed will be challenging in destinations with limited statistical resources.

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CONCLUSIONS

The Better Life framework, developed within the Beyond GDP approach, provides a sound and relevant theoretical foundation for well-being study, with policy relevant economic, quality of life and sustainability indicators. While the Better Life well-being framework does not specifically address tourism, the suggested measures are capable of informing tourism stakeholders as to the essential role that well-being considerations might play in industry and wider economic development both currently and in the future. Many of the identified indicators will change over time as better measures are developed, and as destination policy makers reach agreement on indicators that better capture conditions in the various dimensions of residents’ lives. DMO, industry and tourism researchers can play an important role in indicator development in general and particularly as regards the relevance of various existing and ‘experimental statistics’ for tourism contexts. The opportunity now exists for tourism researchers giving serious attention to the application of a ‘well-being lens’ to guide destination development to explore both the theoretical challenges associated with well-being and indicator development and the practical implications of the Better Life framework for policy making linked with destination management.

REFERENCES

Bleys, B. (2012) ‘Beyond GDP: Classifying alternative measures for progress’ Social Indicators Research, 109(3), pp.355-376. DOI: 10.1007/s11205-011-9906-6

Dwyer L. (2020) Tourism Development and Sustainable Well-being: a Beyond GDP Perspective forthcoming, Journal of Sustainable Tourism. DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2020.1825457

Durand, M. (2015) ‘The OECD better life initiative: How’s life? and the measurement of well‐being’. Review of Income and Wealth, 61(1), pp.4-17. DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12156

Fuchs, D., Schlipphak, B., Treib, O., Long, L.A.N. and Lederer, M. (2020) ‘Which Way Forward in Measuring the Quality of Life? A Critical Analysis of Sustainability and Well-Being Indicator Sets’, Global Environ-mental Politics, 20(2), pp.12-36. DOI: 10.1162/glep_a_00554

Hartwell H, Fyall A, Willis C, Page S, Ladkin A, Hemingway A. (2018) ‘Progress in tourism and destination well-being research’. Current Issues in Tourism. 2; 21(16):1830-1892. DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2016.1223609

Helliwell, J.F., R. Layard and J.D. Sachs (eds.) (2019), World Happiness Report 2018, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, New York, Retrieved from http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2018/.

Musikanski, L. (2015) ‘Measuring happiness to guide public policy making: A survey of instruments and policy initiatives’. Journal of Social Change, 7(1), p.39-55. DOI: 10.5590/JOSC.2015.07.1.04

OECD (2011), How’s Life?: Measuring well-being, OECD Publishing. Paris, Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/statistics/measuring-well-being-and-progress.htm>

Radermachier, W J (2015). Recent and future developments related to ‘GDP and Beyond’. Review of Income and Wealth. 61(1). 18-24. DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12135

Stiglitz, J., Sen, A. and Fitoussi, J.P. (2009a) The measurement of economic performance and social progress revisited. Reflections and overview. Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, Paris. Retrieved from http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/documents/rapport_anglais.pdf

Stiglitz, J.E., A. Sen and J.-P. Fitoussi (2009b), Mismeasuring Our Lives: Why GDP Doesn’t Add Up, The New Press, New York.

Stiglitz, J., J. Fitoussi and M. Durand (2018), Beyond GDP: Measuring What Counts for Economic and Social Performance, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI:10.1787/9789264307292-en

Uysal, M., Perdue, R. and Sirgy, M.J. eds. (2012) Handbook of tourism and quality-of-life research: Enhancing the lives of tourists and residents of host communities. Springer Science & Business Media, New York. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2288-0

CONFERENCE PAPERS

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Vanja Pavluković1*,Milica Vujičić1,James Kennell2,Marija Cimbaljević1

1University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, Novi Sad, Serbia2University of Greenwich, Faculty of Business, Department of Marketing, Events and Tourism, UK

Correspondence: Vanja Pavluković


SUSTAINABILITY IN THE MEETINGS INDUSTRY

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: The meetings industry, also known as MICE and as business travel and tourism, is comprised of association conventions and congresses, corporate meetings, incentives and exhibitions. It is an important sector of the global tourism industry and often plays a leading role in tourism development in emerging destinations, including Serbia. The meetings industry is affected by several global megatrends such as globalisation, demographic change, technology, safety, sustainability, and recently by the corona virus pandemic. Although there is an increasing focus on sustainability more widely, there has been little academic research on this topic in the meetings industry compared to the existing body of research on sustainability in the tourism and hospitality industries. Therefore, this paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of this topic with both academics and industry practitioners, with the focus on developing countries, such as Serbia. Moreover, the paper presents some examples of best practices in sustainability in the meetings industry, to inspire all industry stakeholders to be responsible and innovative in these challenging times.

Keywords: sustainability, the meetings industry, sustainable events, sustainable destinations.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-11-17

INTRODUCTION

The meetings industry is an important and fast-growing sector of the global tourism industry (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2017; Han et al., 2019; Pavluković and Cimbaljević, 2020). Sometimes referred to as the “MICE” sector or business tourism, it is traditionally composed of four components – association conventions and con-gresses, corporate meetings, incentives and exhibitions, although this has also been widened to include networking events and hybrid forms of corporate events (Bladen et al., 2017). The meetings industry includes corporate, association and government meetings, corporate incentives, seminars, congresses, conferences, conventions, exhibitions and fairs (United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO] and European Travel Commission [ETC], 2015). This industry involves a broad range of organisers and suppliers involved in the planning and delivery of meetings, which are organized to achieve different goals (e.g. professional, business, cultural or academic).

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Destinations around the world have recognised the numerous benefits of hosting meetings and other events (Han and Hwang, 2017). In particular, emerging destinations have made significant capital investments in developing the infrastructure necessary for the meetings industry (Presbury and Edwards, 2005; Pavluković and Cimbaljević, 2020). Consequently, competition between destinations has become vigorous (Beardsley et al., 2019; UNWTO and ETC, 2015). Furthermore, several global megatrends are shaping the future of the meetings and events industry, such as globalisation, demographic change, technology, safety, sustainability (Davidson, 2018) and recently, the corona virus pandemic. There is an increasing focus on sustainability and responsible, sustainable practices (sometimes referred as “green” practices) in the meetings and events industry (Hall, 2012; Merrilees and Marles, 2011), summarised by Zifkos (2015) as ‘sustainability everywhere’. To attract the attention of meeting planners and event attendees, and to outperform their competitors, destinations, convention bureaus, venues and professional conference organisers (PCOs) have recognised the need to implement sustainability principles in their strategies and quotidian activities. However, little academic research dealing with sustainability in the meetings industry has been published, when compared to the large body of research on sustainability in tourism and hospitality (Hall, 2012; Merrilees and Marles, 2011; Turner and Kennell, 2018). Therefore, this paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of incorporating sustainability in the meetings industry among academics and meetings industry practitioners, specifically in developing countries, such as Serbia.

THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee long-term sustainability (UNEP, 2005; dos Anjos and Kennell, 2019). In the wider general business environment, the three P’s (Planet, People and Profit) approach to sustainability are widely known. Similarly, the three E’s model (Economic, Environmental and Equity) or the “three-legged stool” has also been used to explain the concept of sustainability (Turner and Kennell, 2018). Various competing definitions of this concept emphasise the importance of different perspectives on sustainability and their interconnectedness. In 2015, all United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and called for action on the global, local and individual level towards sustainable development for all (United Nations, 2015).

Sustainability is a relatively new perspective within events management (Turner and Kennell, 2018; Wickham and French, 2020), in particular in business events. It is a concept that is increasingly incorporated into event management and planning (Hall, 2012), and events management education (Millar and Park, 2018). The emerging sustainable events management literature has primarily dealt with sustainability in terms of envi-ronmental impacts (Turner and Kennell, 2018) or the greening of the industry. Therefore, terms such as green destinations, green events, and green venues are widely accepted in practice as well as in the academic literature and refer mostly to the environmental aspect of sustainability. Being sustainable, in a way, means the greening of everything: greening technology, greening different sectors, changes in terms of goods/services, processes, and greening every type of policy (Mair and Jago, 2010: 78).

Greening of the tourism industry, as well as the meetings industry, is one of the most important consumer trends (UNWTO, 2019), which should not be ignored by destination management companies and service providers. It can involve practices including, inter alia, paperless meetings, zero plastic, zero-waste meetings, recycling, choosing meeting destinations with good public transport, choosing green venues or eco-certified venues, as well as using green suppliers. The benefits of incorporating sustainability into events can be various, such as environmental improvements and cost savings, creating a positive image for the event and host destination, social benefits for the local community, raising awareness on the importance of incorporating sustainability in quotidian business activities etc. (UNEP, 2012).

A sustainable event is one designed, organised and implemented in a way that minimises potential negative impacts and leaves a beneficial legacy for the host community and all involved (UNEP, 2012, p.1). A sustainable event balances environmental, social and economic responsibilities. Merrilees and Marles (2011) write about environmental sustainability as a core part of green events brands.

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This aspect of sustainability refers to low-emission transport and mobility, waste reduction, reuse and recycling, water and energy efficiency. Economic sustainability means profit and cost savings, while the social aspect of sustainability highlights the fair use of human resources and a healthy and safe workplace for all involved, respecting human rights, the inclusion of minorities, respecting diversity, attention to equal opportunities, encouraging the involvement of the local community, sourcing goods and services locally, and employing local people (UNEP, 2012, p.2). Sustainable events are usually organised based on the 4R principles - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Raise awareness (Lee, 2001). They also include components of education, entertainment and experience.

Sustainability is not just about the environment and being “green”, it is also about people and the local community, as well as economic benefits. Smith (2009) suggests that more attention to the social sustainability of events is needed. The beginning of the 21st century has witnessed the growing interest of meeting planners in adding a social legacy dimension to meetings, particularly as younger participants (members of Generation Y) want to give something back to the communities where their meetings take place. The social legacy of the meetings industry is one of the key trends driving the design of business events today. It relates to the people aspect of the three P’s approach to sustainability and goes far beyond the greening of the meetings industry. It takes into account how a meeting impacts upon a local community and its economy. Examples of social legacy range from donation programs to local humanitarian organizations (food, cash or material donations) to becoming involved in local construction or renovation projects (e.g. for schools or kindergartens) (Davidson, 2009; Rogers, 2013). In the following section, some examples of best practices in sustainability in the meetings industry will be presented and discussed.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPT IN THE MEETINGS INDUSTRY

There is a growing interest within the leading international organisations in the field of tourism and the meetings industry in supporting sustainable practices and introducing sustainability standards, along with indicators for measuring the sustainability performance of destinations, venues, and individual events (Guo et al., 2019; Wise, 2020). In response to the growing interest in sustainability in tourism and the event industry, sustainability standards and events labelling at international, as well as national levels, have been adopted. In 2012, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) created a sustainable event standard (ISO20121) for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The standard was developed following the successful adoption of the BS8901 standard in the UK (Bladen, 2017; Hall, 2012). It specifies requirements for an event sustainability management system for any type of event or event-related activity. To achieve ISO 20121, an organisation will need to demonstrate that it has considered within its management system all key financial, economic, social and environmental issues relevant to its operations and focusing solely on environmental issues will not be sufficient for accreditation (International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 2020). Also, there are others meetings related standards which are globally relevant, such as Events Industry Council Sustainable Event Standards, formerly APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meeting Standards (see Events Industry Council, 2020).

In response to an increasing focus on sustainable practices in the meetings industry, leading destinations in the European as well as global meetings market are working to make their locations more competitive and attractive to event planners and stakeholders. In this context, Germany and Austria developed their own national sustainability standards, to certify the environmentally conscious as well as socially responsible man-agement of meetings. In 2010, the Austrian Eco-label for Green Meetings and Green Events was introduced, to reduce the negative environmental impacts and ecological footprint of events organised in Austria, and to reinforce social responsibility (Sustain Europe, 2017). According to the German Convention Bureau, nearly 40% of German event venues have already implemented a sustainability management system, and numerous service providers hold certificates from organisations such as Green Globe or ISO. The sustainability code in the German events sector called “Rightandfair”, which was initiated in May 2012, represents a voluntary self-commitment to corporate responsibility for sustainability when organising and running events. Since then, over 400 associations and their member companies from all areas of the industry have subscribed to it (German Convention Bureau, 2020).

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In Serbia, there are four hotels that have received international Green Key eco-certificate, which demon-strates their commitment to implementing sustainable practices in their business and every-day operations (Environmental ambassadors for sustainable development, 2020).

In a market where consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable brands (Lopez-Sanchez and Pulido Fernandez, 2017; Slocum et al, 2018), and where service providers proclaim their sustainability commitment, third party certification is often crucial for gaining consumer confidence. The percentage of certified hotels, conference centres and other venues, as well as PCOs and other service providers in the meetings industry, and their reporting against sustainability performance indicators, clearly communicate their commitment, as well of that of the destination, to sustainability for their clients, the supply chain and the employees of an organisation. Although greening venues and other service providers requires additional investments and costs, in the long run these investments provide financial advantages and support from local community, as well as more engaged and satisfied staff, customers and meetings participants.

The German Convention Bureau, as an example of good practice in the field of implementing sustainability in the meetings sector, provides a simple set of recommendations for sustainable events. Namely, event organisers should state that sustainability is a priority in all enquiries and brief all staff accordingly. Regarding venue and service provider selection, green-certified venues and local suppliers and products should be used as much as possible. “Paperless” and “zero plastic” events should be supported, not only saving costs, but also reducing the negative environmental impacts of the event. The Bureau recommends organisers adopt carbon-neutral policies and promote the usage of public transport to venues. Additionally, communicating sustainability actions to participants and the broader public, as well as encouraging more sustainable behaviour among participants and the local community, is an important aspect of a sustainable event (German Convention Bureau, 2020).

At the destination level, to improve sustainable development strategies and to achieve competitive advantage, destination management companies and/or convention bureaus should: integrate the UN sustainable develop-ment goals (SDGs) into their destination brand, support and promote the certification of sustainable manage-ment systems (such as ISO20121, or national certification standards), engage strategically with their stakeholders, promote local service providers, measure the positive and negative footprint of their local events and tourism sector, communicate about their destination’s sustainability programme and report on social, economic and environmental impacts, strategies, and performance. To promote the sustainable growth of international meeting destinations, the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDSI) was launched in 2015, the same year as the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The GDSI is supported by two leading organisations in the meetings industry: the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and IMEX, the leading trade fair for the industry. It benchmarks the performance of cities and convention bureaus across four key areas: city environmental strategy and infrastructure, city social sustainability performance, industry supplier support, and convention bureau strategy and initiatives. The 2019 GDSI results demonstrate that convention bureaus have improved their performance on sustainability, with many examples of sustainability leadership, and initiatives and best practices from multiple destinations, including Copenhagen, Glasgow, Sydney, Monaco and Ljubljana. For example, in 2019, Ljubljana entered the Global Top 100 Sustainable Destinations list thanks to its initiative called the Locally Grown Food Exchange, aimed to encourage buyers such as hotels and restaurants to purchase seasonal ingredients from local producers (International Congress and Convention Association, 2020; GDSI, 2019). Another interesting example of the implementation of sustainable tourism strategy comes from Monaco, which is perceived primarily as a luxury destination. Since 2010 Monaco has been working on the development of a responsible tourism and events sector, with sustainability as a part of the luxury experience. In this context, the Monaco Government Tourist and Convention Authority created the campaign under the slogan “Green is the New Glam”, to emphasize that it is no longer possible to be luxury (“glam”) without being responsible (“green”).The focus of this campaign is generation Y, who are considered to be the most environmentally and socially conscious generation. In May 2019, the Convention Bureau launched a new campaign, “Business is Green”, targeting corporations and associations with a commitment to sustainability (GDSI, 2019).

In contrast to established meeting destinations, the literature, as well as many meetings industry practitioners, highlight the attractiveness of emerging destinations, such as Serbia, for holding meetings (UNWTO and ETC, 2015). To attract the attention of meeting planners and attendees, and to outperform the competitors, these destinations should implement sustainability principles in their tourism development strategies and every-day practice.

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CONCLUSION

The primary purpose of this paper was to raise awareness on the topic of sustainability in the meetings industry, particularly in developing economies, such as Serbia. Thus, it contributes to the body of knowledge on this important topic, as well as to practice.

Members of generation Y, who represent a large and growing cohort in the meetings industry are considered to be the most environmentally and socially conscious generations, willing to pay more for sustainability brands (Bochert et al., 2017; Davidson, 2011). Therefore, embracing sustainability and “green standards” should be high priorities for destinations and meeting planners, to cater appropriately for the needs of the event’s audience (especially generation Y), as the industry recovers from the effects of the global pandemic. This will enable a destination or venue to differentiate itself in the marketplace and hence improve their chance of winning new business. Organising sustainable events reduces their environmental impact, and brings numerous advantages to the main actors involved, such as financial benefits, positive reputation and improved image, and social benefits, contributing to positive event legacies. Moreover, sustainability is an important quality indicator in competition with other events and meetings destinations, which is confirmed each year by the GDSI. Incor-porating these new perspectives on sustainability into the education of future meetings industry professionals and future meetings management practices is an important task for educators and leading international and national organisations in the industry.

Recently, the global corona virus pandemic has significantly affected the tourism and meetings industry. Finding a way to recover the sector is one of the greatest challenges for practitioners today. Most face-to-face events are cancelled or postponed, and meetings have been switched to online delivery. However, some industry experts and practitioners predict the rise of hybrid meetings and face-to-face meetings with a smaller number of participants, and it is important that these are developed in line with the mega trend of sustainability that will continue to influence the industry (Davidson, 2018). On a positive note, due to travel barriers and the corona virus pandemic, the impact of travelling to meetings is minimised. Moreover, challenges resulting from COVID-19 could be seen as opportunities for the industry’s renaissance. In particular, with the use of technology, organizers can make meetings more international (virtual and/or hybrid events with global audience), innovative, more accessible (barrier-free events, open to all individuals, particularly to those with disabilities) and, finally, more sustainable .In the time of the global corona virus pandemic, the attention to sustainability became more important than ever.

This paper should be of interest to all stakeholders in the meeting industry, including convention bureaus, destination management companies, professional conference organisers (PCOs), meeting planners, venues and other service providers. Future research should include more empirical studies on sustainable events, sustainable destinations, the sustainability of events venues, measuring sustainable performance, the social aspects of sustainability as well as the impact of technology and virtual events on the “greening” of the meetings industry.

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SITCON 2020 TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND CONTRADICTIONS

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Igor Kovačević1*,Renata Pindžo2,Bojan Zečević1

1Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia2Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Government of the Republic of Serbia, Metropolitan University, FEFA, Belgrade, Serbia

Correspondence: Igor Kovačević


GLOBAL TOURISM MEASUREMENTS AND RESPONSE TO COVID-19 CRISIS

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: Pandemics represent a great challenge in tourism development, and as shown by crisis caused by Covid-19, effects are instant and almost totally destructive. This paper provides literature review on influence of medical crisis on tourism, followed by an understanding of economic downturn in tourism in Q1 due to Covid-19.The lLast section of the Paper provides an overview of structure, form and concrete recommendations defined by leading global tourism policy makers and scenarios for tourism re-start.

Keywords: Covid-19, tourism policies, tourism economics.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-18-23

INTRODUCTION: INFLUENCE OF MEDICAL CRISIS ON TOURISM

Various research showed that pandemics do represent a challenge not just for society, but especially for tourism (Hall, 2020; Gössling, 2002), and this was, unfortunately proven, by the research of negative economic impacts (Fan et al., 2018) caused by SARS (Siu and Wong, 2004; McKercher and Chon, 2004), swine flu (Russy and Smith, 2013) and Spanish flu (McKibbin and Sidorenko, 2006). The world is now experiencing a temporary de-globalization, due to heavy travel restric-tions and the suspension of international travel that made geographical barriers among places to re-emerge (Niewiadomski, 2020). Covid-19 changed heavily all individuals and industry, but the crisis demonstrated that tourism, hospitality and travel industry are less of a necessity and hence are highly sensitive to significant shocks (Chang et al., 2020).

Although in recent years great performance of global tourism sector was demonstrated in terms of number of tourists, overnight and income (UNWTO, 2020c), the effects of corona virus devastated this sector. In a short period of time global market faced the shift from overtourism (Séraphine et al., 2018; Séraphine et al., 2019; Jover and Diaz-Parra, 2020) to non-tourism and negative impact down the tourism and hospitality value chain (Gössling et al., 2020, pp. 2) and the collapse of the entire sector (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020, pp. 1).

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Covid-19 crisis challenged neoliberal approach, best driven through reducing the government’s role and regulations and seen through ideas and attitudes that globalization is an unstoppable fore, while consumerism is the key of expressing our identity. It influenced new forms of government intervention and redevelopment of social caring and networks as a tool used to defend against the crisis (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020). National institutions and authorities have proven as much more effective in implementing necessary measures in life and economy (Niewiadomski, 2020). However, the question asked is whether the global and national authorities recognized this shocking effect on tourism, and whether the defined measures would support the surviving of tourism and hospitality sector.

In this section the Paper provides an overview over selected global tourism authorities and institutions that were active in the period of global pandemic in a form of providing guidelines, tourism policy measures and tactical support for the recovery of tourism. However, before the overview is discussed, we need to note that the general background of the Paper is that these institutions, as well as national governments, national tourism boards, global hotel chains and aviation were not ready for the crisis of this size. In addition, no crisis management was put properly in place. Those are the reasons why some of the measures are focused on creating crisis management plans, incentivization and recovery packages that could be defined beforehand within tourism strategic development documents and initiatives. However, everyone needs to have in mind that “the measure put in place today will shape the tourism of tomorrow” (OECD, 2020a, pp. 2).

International tourism falldown due to Covid-19

According to UNWTO (2020a), international tourism in March 2020 showed strong decrease with Asia and Pacific reaching up to -35% when compared to March 201; and Europe reaching up to -19% in the same period with the proven loss of 67 million international arrivals and $ 80 billion in lost exports. However, in April the situation has worsen to a greater extent, especially in Europe and North America, with international traveling being almost entirely stopped, and reaching up to -95% in comparison to the same time last year. According to STR (2020), hotels in China showed slight recovery at the end of March and in April with occupancy coming back to +15% in comparison to January and February when it was almost 0%. According to UNWTO (2020a), as of April 20th, 100% of all worldwide destinations have introduced travel restrictions in response to the pandemic, in a form of the following: total or partial closing the borders, totally or partially suspending international flights, and by banning the entry for passengers from specific countries or origin. In addition, based on the research, 86 countries introduced 360 various restrictive policies and restrictive initiatives impacting leisure and business travel market (WTTC, 2020b). Revised studies by OECD (2020a) estimated that total impact will be at the level of 60% decline for international tourism in 2020, with potential 80% decline if recovery is delayed.

International tourism sector recovery recommendations

In order to support the process of recovery of global tourism, recommendations were introduced in the following areas (UNWTO, 2020b): 1) managing the crisis and mitigating the impact, 2) providing stimulus and accelerating recovery and 3) preparing for the future. Besides various soft development initiatives such as a promotion (WTTC, 2020d), most of the measures in the field of managing the crisis and providing stimulus for recovery and future development can be further classified into the following (WTTC, 2020c): a) fiscal support and tax incentives / reduction / removal, b) protecting human capital and livelihood of workers, c) injecting liquidity & cash, and d) various forms of recovery funds and investments. In addition to lifting travel restrictions both government and tourism industry should also focus on liquidity support and the preparation of recovery plans, on restoring traveler confidence and stimulating demand with new, safe and clear labels of the sector (OECD, 2020a).

The first and the foremost steps is introducing tools and actions that will help managing the crisis and influence further mitigation of the negative impacts. Having in mind that tourism is a major job creator with 330 million jobs generated around the world, which is 10% of global employment (WTTC, 2019a), most recommendations are putting employers and employees in the first place in order to save and recover tourism and hospitality companies.

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This group of recommendations includes the following (UNWTO, 2020b):

◆ Incentivizing job retention, sustaining self-employed and protecting the most vulnerable groups ◆ Supporting companies’ liquidity ◆ Reviewing taxes, charges, levies and regulations impacting transport and tourism ◆ Ensuring consumer protection and confidence ◆ Promoting skills development, especially digital skills ◆ Including tourism in national, regional and global economic emergency packages ◆ Creating crisis management mechanisms and strategies ◆ Providing financial stimulus for tourism investment and operations ◆ Reviewing taxes, charges and regulations impacting travel and tourism ◆ Advancing travel facilitation ◆ Promoting new jobs and skills development, particularly digital ones ◆ Introducing mainstream environmental sustainability in stimulus and recovery packages ◆ Understanding the market and acting quickly in order to restore confidence and stimulate demand ◆ Boosting marketing, events and meetings ◆ Investing in partnerships ◆ Introducing mainstream tourism in national, regional and international recovery programmes and in

Development Assistance ◆ Diversifying markets, products and services ◆ Investing in market intelligence systems and digital transformation ◆ Reinforcing tourism governance at all levels ◆ Preparing for crisis, building resilience and ensuring that tourism is a part of national emergency mechanism

and systems ◆ Investing in human capital and talent development ◆ Placing sustainable tourism firmly on the national agenda ◆ Transitioning to the circular economy and embracing the SDGs

Tourism re-start scenarios

Mass tourism will most probably remain a desired target for most destinations, but it needs to be carefully planned (Nepal, 2020). Covid-19 crisis should be used for re-thinking tourism development. Strong tourism growth is a measure reached through a rise in the number of tourists, which on the other hand raise the question of destination carrying capacities and willingness to fully understand needs and wants of those tourists. In addition, destinations need to invest resources in educating tourists about the new experiences approach and sustainability of destination products. Destinations need to learn from their past mistakes of prioritizing quantity over quality, destruction over sensible development, and therefore have in mind that future travelers will have high awareness of environmental health and wellbeing (Nepal, 2020).

In order for tourism to re-start, two components should be taken care of (IATA, 2020, pp. 1): 1) govern-ments must be prepared to allow passengers to travel among countries and regions and 2) passengers must have sufficient confidence that they can travel safely, and achieve what they wish to do during their journey. Nevertheless, prior to lifting travel restrictions health criteria needs to be fulfilled (European Council, 2020): epidemiological criteria, sufficient health system capacity and appropriate monitoring capacity.

In addition to general tourism measures, each service provider along the value chain needs to follow certain global and national standards. In that sense, hotel industry sector needs to implement various measures apart from the obvious health protection measures. It is advised that hotels should develop a Management plan that will include an action plan tailored to the situation and implemented in accordance with the national

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authorities, and mobilization of resources that will allow seamless implementation of the action plan, proper supervision, logbook of actions, clear communication among employees and specific training (WHO, 2020).

According to the implemented measures that have been based on local development levels and the charac-teristics of tourism, excluding potential additional Covid-19 impacts and waves, the following scenarios have been identified (OECD, 2020a, pp. 3):

◆ Scenario 1: International tourist arrivals start to recover in July and strengthen progressively in the second half of the year, but at a slower rate than previously foreseen (-60%).

◆ Scenario 2: International tourist arrivals start to recover in September and then strengthen progressively in the final quarter of the year, but at a slower rate than previously foreseen (-75%).

◆ Scenario 3: International tourist arrivals start to recover in December, based on limited recovery in international tourism before the end of the year (-80%)

In response to Covid-19 restrictions of travel and lockdown, tourism businesses (such as hotels and restaurants) are facing new reality in which their standard business model is put to a test. In “traditional” mass tourism destinations, tourism and hospitality service providers were transforming destinations into standardized and homogenous tourist spaces that are serving tourists and visitors, and at the same time differentiating them from local socio-cultural and economic environment (Saarinen 2017, pp. 429). The new reality will strongly challenge them, due to the tendency of making autonomous urban function of entertainment for non-locals (Judd, 2009). This places the destination in a position to choose between locals and tourists and this time making locals potential users of their services (Diaz-Soria, 2017).

During the Covid-19 crisis, hotels looked for alternative ways to reach the desired cash flow and to maintain the service, mostly through food-delivery service, putting them in a competitive set with classical and fast food restaurants which have already been working in that environment. DMC agencies that were focused on corporate events and incentives for foreign clients are in “stand by position”, since most of the events have been cancelled or postponed until next year. This challenges their business survival and the level of operations. Professional congress organizers will need to focus on domestic events since international traveling will surely not be in place until September 2020.

CONCLUSIONS

Domestic travelers and domestic tourism movements are already taking a leading position in the recovery of global position, due to them having a market share of 75% on average in total tourism economy (OECD, 2020b). However, destinations need to note that domestic travelers, which are either from direct or indirect economic effects, can replace international travelers and international tourism expenditure that is bringing an added value to the economy.

Global tourism policy institutions introduced a number of recommendations and measures that are tackling the crisis. By analyzing them, it can be concluded that most of the measures represent the apparent platforms and paradigms of contemporary functions and development of tourism. We also need to understand that even though one would expect countries and destinations to be using them already, the majority “has forgotten” about basic principles of tourism and increasing competiveness. In addition, during the previous strong period of growth, when tourism reached a record-breaking number, international and national tourism policy makers and influencers did not use the change to position tourism and hospitality as the key economic and social drivers of countries, which can be concluded from the lack of understanding of needed measures in countries.

Tourism in post covid-19 time in the future will be challenging since destinations will need to find new product portfolios that will be putting safety and environmental consciousness in the first place for tourists, while service providers in the value chain will need to implement new formats of business and operations. Global tourism bodies and institutions made great effort in producing various recommendations that will help and assist the re-starting of tourism.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Authors acknowledge support from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.

REFERENCES

Chang, C., McAleer, M. & Ramos, V. (2020). A charter for sustainable tourism after the COVID-19. Sustainability, 12, 3671, 1-4. DOI:10.3390/su12093671

Diaz-Soria, I. (2017). Being a tourist as a chosen experience in a proximity destination. Tourism Geographies, 19(1), 96–117

European Council. (2020). Joint European Roadmap towards lifting COVID-19 containment measures.Fan, Y. Y., Jamison, D. T., & Summers, L. H. (2018). Pandemic risk: how large are the expected losses? Bulletin

of the World Health Organization, 96(2), 129–134Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2020): Socialising tourism for social and ecological justice after COVID-19. Tourism

Geographies, 1-14. DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2020.1757748Gössling, S. (2002). Global environmental consequences of tourism. Global Environmental Change, 12(4),

283–302Gössling, S., Scott, D & Hall, C.M. (2020). Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of COVID-19.

Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1-18, DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708Hall, C. M. (2020). Biological invasion, biosecurity, tourism, and globalisation. In D. Timothy (Ed.), Handbook

of globalisation and tourism (114–125). Edward ElgarIATA. (2020). Restarting aviation following COVID-19 - Medical evidence for various strategies being discussed at

09 June 2020 IATA Medical Advisory Group. Retrieved on June 18, 2020, from IATA web site www.iata.orgJover, J., & Dıaz-Parra, I. (2020). Who is the city for? Overtourism, lifestyle migration and social sustainability.

Tourism Geographies, 1-24, DOI:10.1080/14616688.2020.1713878Judd, D. R. (1999). Constructing the tourist bubble. In D. R. Judd & S. S. Fainstein (Eds.), The tourist city (35–53).

Yale University PressMcKercher, B., & Chon, K. (2004). The over-reaction to SARS and the collapse of Asian tourism. Annals of

Tourism Research, 31(3), 716–719McKibbin, W. S., & Sidorenko, A. A. (2006). Global macroeconomic consequences of pandemic influenza. Craw-

ford School of Public Policy, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Australian National University, and Lowy Institute for Foreign Policy

Nepal, S.K. (2020). Travel and tourism after COVID-19 – business as usual or opportunity to reset? Tourism Geographies, 1-6. DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2020.1760926

Niewiadomski, P. (2020). COVID-19: from temporary de-globalisation to a rediscovery of tourism? Tourism Geographies, 1-7. DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2020.1757749

OECD. (2020a). Tourism Policy Responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19 ). Updated 2 June 2020. Retrieved on June 17, 2020, from OECD web site www.oecd.org/coronavirus

OECD. (2020b). OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2020. OECD Publishing, Paris, DOI: 10.1787/6b47b985Russy, D. & Smith, R. (2013) The economic impact of H1N1 on Mexico’s tourist and pork sectors. Health

Economics, 22(7), 824–83Saarinen, J. (2017). Enclavic tourism spaces: Territorialization and bordering in tourism destination development

and planning. Tourism Geographies, 19(3), 425–437Séraphin, H., Sheeran, P., & Pilato, M. (2018). Over-tourism and the fall of Venice as a destination. Journal of

Destination Marketing & Management, 9, 374–376Séraphin, H., Zaman, M., Olver, S., Bourliataux-Lajoinie, S. & Dosquet, F. (2019). Destination branding and

overtourism, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Volume 38, 1-4STR. (2020). Asian Hotel Review. Siu, A., & Wong, Y. R. (2004). Economic impact of SARS: The case of Hong Kong. Asian Economic Papers, 3(1),

62–83

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UNWTO. (2020a). UNWTO World Tourism Barometer - May 2020 Special focus on the Impact of COVID-19. Retrieved on June 17, 2020, from UNWTO website https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/10.The impact of Covid-19

UNWTO. (2020b). Supporting jobs and economies through travel & tourism – A call for action to Mitigate the Socio-Economic Impact of Covid-19 and accelerate recovery. Retrieved on June 17, 2020, from t https://www.unwto.org/news/unwto-launches-a-call-for-action-for-tourisms-covid-19-mitigation-and-recovery

UNWTO. (2020c). World tourism barometer, Volume 18, issue 1, January 2020WHO. (2020). Operational considerations for COVID-19 management in the accommodation sector: Interim

guidance. 31 March.WTTC. (2020a). Economic impact report 2019. Retrieved on June 17, 2020, from https://wttc.org/Research/

Economic-Impact WTTC. (2020b). WTCC Coronavirus: Restrictive Policy Responses & Governments. Retrieved on June 18, 2020,

from https://wttc.org/COVID-19/Member-HubWTTC. (2020c). WTTC COVID-19 High Level Enabling Policies document. Retrieved on June 18, 2020, from

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from https://wttc.org/COVID-19/Government-Hub


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PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL STATUS OF LAKE ĆELIJE

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: The lack of environmental awareness and social culture globally has become one of the important determinants of sustainable development problems that also affect industries in the field of environmental protection and tourism. This paper aims to draw more attention to a socio-ecological overview of Lake Ćelije and its potential for ecotourism as one of the ecosystem services by assessing the perception of the local community. 122 respondents were invited to take part in the survey by filling in an online questionnaire using social networks. The results of the survey show that the local community recognized that the water quality of Lake Ćelije with its surroundings was threatened by pollution generating from agricultural activities and landfills near the lake. However, the results indicate that Lake Ćelije with its environmental qualities has great potential for the development of ecotourism through cooperation with the local community and education of people, especially addressing these concerns to local management structures and policymakers.

Keywords: environmental pollution, local community, eco-tourism, Lake Ćelije, Serbia.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-24-29

INTRODUCTION

Socio-environmental issues have become important determinants at the global level and therefore our society has not been left out. The reason for the emergence of social and environmental problems concerns the lack of environmental awareness, environmental con-science, and environmental culture. Although modern science pays more and more attention to this problem, and the problem itself has become the focus of interest of the scientific, professional, and other public spheres (Marković, 2005), the question of social and ecological awareness dates back to the 60s and it still hasn’t subsided. On the contrary, its intensity has become progressive, drawing attention to the increasingly present ecological crisis. From the perspective of the present moment, the development of social ecology is stimu-lated by the need to raise ecological awareness, enhance improve-ment, and scientific management of the environment (Koković, 1996; Vukićević, 2005). Therefore, this paper aims to present a socio-ecological overview of Lake Ćelije by assessing the perception of local population.

Maja Vujčić Trkulja*,Lidija Amidžić,Miloš Vasić

Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia

Correspondence: Maja Vujčić Trkulja


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As presented in Fig. 1, Lake Ćelije is located on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, more precisely, it belongs to the Rasina district. It stretches in a north-south direction and belongs to the municipalities of Brus and Kruševac. Water quality of the lake is determined by the natural characteristics of catchment water area (Maljević et al., 1999). Still, water quality is highly impacted by the industrial and municipal wastewaters originating from two cities, the city of Brus, which is located on the left bank of the Rasina river, and the city of Blace located on the right bank of the Blatašnica river (Drenovac et al., 2011). Taking everything into account, a special focus in this paper is placed on the examination of knowledge and attitude of the local community about the current status of the lake regarding the lake’s environment, education of the population, improvement of human resources, and development of tourism as the ecosystem service. This topic is of great concern because it deals with the problem of pollution of the lake itself and its surroundings and the human role in these negative effects on the environment.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Mankind is inseparably connected with nature and only by respecting the value of the natural environment and balanced use of natural resources can the development of societies in many countries of the world be enabled (Jaszczak et al., 2020). The emergence of social ecology issues was also initiated by the findings that the ecological balance is disturbed and this occurs not only as a conflict of an individual or group with its natural environment but also as a consequence of a complex relationship between natural entities, technical sphere and social systems (Gunderson and Holling, 2002, Marković, 2005; Marzluff, 2008; McDonnell and Hahs, 2008). Undoubtedly, the urbanisation affected land-use change which correlated with the intensive exploitation of ecological resources (Barthel et al., 2010). The main concerns regarding urbanisation involve pollution, habitat degradation, and high extinction rates for native species with lasting consequences not only for biodiversity but for human health and quality of life as well (Stein et al., 2000; Marzluff, 2008). This paper is based on the fact that untreated wastewater originating from the territories of Brus and Blace municipalities, endangers the quality of the water of Ćelije accumulation, which is the source of the supply of drinking water to the city of Kruševac and the surrounding districts (Ćirić et al., 2011). Subsequently, different researches have shown that the initiatives organized by the local community can mitigate the urban living stressors on the environment and people’s well-being through constructive and innovative use of public perception and education with the promotion of ecosystem services (Dennis and James, 2016). The UK government’s experience in social ecology challenge has also been promoted as a method of “cultivating” local participation and preserving ecological awareness as well as contributing to the importance of blue and green infrastructure in urban landscapes (Pudup, 2008; Barthel et al., 2010; Defra, 2011). Stakeholder participation is also an important factor in envi-ronmental management which could support the development and improvement of socio-ecological systems, indicating the diverse examples of community-ecological participation that acknowledge great potential regarding the adjustable co-management of ecosystems in urban areas (Gunderson and Holling, 2002; Colding and Barthel, 2013).

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Figure 1. Lake Ćelije

Source: (Retrieved September 18, 2020, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map%C4%86elijeJPG.png)

METHODOLOGY

In order to examine the local community perception, an open-ended survey was conducted. The purpose of the survey was to discover whether the residents who live in the surrounding areas are informed about the current social and environmental status of Lake Ćelije. The respondents were asked to take part in the survey by filling in an online questionnaire. The survey consisted of a combination of different types of questions that were related to the following: socio-ecological status of the lake, rating the environmental qualities by their use, and the effects that they have on social benefits of respondents; all of which were recorded on a 5-step Likert scale. Combining various types of questions can help with investigating different dimensions of the respondent’s beliefs and particularly with confirming that precise information was obtained (Tomićević, 2005). 122 respondents were interviewed using social networks. All respondents were Serbian residents and had an equal gender distribution with 50% being female respondents and 50% being male respondents. According to the socio-demographic variables, more than half of the respondents (58%) had higher education and 82.8% of all respondents had an age range between 20-39 years. The results of the survey were analysed using the basic descriptive statistics that involved means and percentages.

RESULTS

According to the results presented in Fig. 2, local community recognised that the water quality of Lake Ćelije with its surroundings was threatened by pollution. More than 70% of respondents indicate that the use of pesticides originating from agricultural activities near the lake affects water quality in the lake.

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Additionally, around 52% of respondents disagree with the statement that the problem of waste and landfills near the lake is adequately solved. Opinions are divided when it comes to water quality in the lake. However, most respondents (52%) consider that water is not safe for drinking.

Figure 2. The perception of local community on the environmental qualities of Lake Ćelije by their use and current state

According to the results in Fig. 3, the perception of local community regarding the ecological status of Lake Ćelije and its potential for ecotourism is not clear enough. The respondents’ perception of different activities performed on the lake such as fishing and using motor vehicles can be perceived as positive. 57% of respondents support fishing on the lake, but they stay mostly restrained on the use of motor vehicles on Lake Ćelije. On the other hand, people’s perception towards ecological awareness and commitment to organized actions of cleaning the lake can be perceived as rather vague. 50% of respondents are not determined regarding the issue of environmental awareness and their role in preserving the lake’s surrounding and enhancing its potential for eco-tourism development. Still, the results show that 26% of respondents are informed of activities related to the maintenance of the lake and can see their role in such projects. When it comes to protection and management of Lake Ćelije 60% of the respondents consider that local management structures and policymakers are not engaged enough in the protection of the lake and investigation of its touristic and eco-touristic potential.

Figure 3. The perception of local community on the environmental qualities of Lake Ćelije and the effects they have on social benefits

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CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

When it comes to supply and water quality of Lake Ćelije the situation is not at a satisfactory level. It is deeply affecting the territory of cities and districts surrounding the lake such as Kruševac, Brus, and Rasina district. Regarding the supply of drinking water, the biggest problems are: uncoordinated management of this important natural resource, unintended water consumption, and inadequate protection of springs. One of the key reasons is a significant difference between the basic needs of the local community and the real investments by local governments and policymakers. These concerns are also globally recognised and through them the role of societal choices and taking action in the preservation of ecosystem services and conservation of biodiversity is acknowledged (CBD, 2004; MEA, 2005). Due to that, local perception of diverse environmental and societal challenges have therefore received growing attention in supporting the potential of Lake Ćelije and the devel-opment of different industry sectors mainly tourism and ecotourism. According to the European Commission report (2015), there has been increasing interest and awareness regarding the value of natural resources and their use as means to increase cost-effectiveness and to ensure positive responses in local business communities (Cecchi, 2015). The results in this paper indicate that the socio-ecological status of Lake Ćelije is vulnerable but the public perception of the lake’s environmental characteristics can be acknowledged as a great benefit for both the local community and the whole region. The local community strongly encourages local management structures and policymakers to engage in the activities that involve the protection of the lake’s environment and water resources and to promote better sustainable use of the lake’s resources by investing in its touristic and eco-touristic potentials.

REFERENCES

Barthel, S., Folke, C., Colding, J. (2010). Social–ecological memory in urban gardens: retaining the capacity for management of ecosystem services. Global Environ. Change 20 (2), 255–265. DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.01.001

CBD, (2004). The Ecosystem Approach (CBD Guidelines). Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal.

Cecchi, C. (2015). Towards an EU research and innovation policy agenda for nature-based solutions & re-naturing cities. Final report of the Horizon 2020 expert group on nature-based solutions and re-naturing cities Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union.

Colding, J., Barthel, S. (2013). The potential of ‘Urban Green Commons’ in the resilience building of cities. Ecol. Econ. 86, 156–166. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.10.016

Ćirić, S., Grašić, S., Vasiljević, B., Petrović, O. (2011). Bacterial load and representation of bacteria morphotypes in catchment basin of Lake Ćelije. The 40th Annual Conference of the Serbian Water Pollution Control Society “Water 2011”, Conference Proceedings, pp. 163-168. UDK: 579.68 : 627.81 (497.11)

Defra, 2011. The Natural Choice: Securing the Value of Nature. Defra, London. Dennis, M., James, P. (2016). User participation in urban green commons: Exploring the links between access,

voluntarism, biodiversity and well-being. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 15, 22–31. DOI: 10.1016/j.ufug.2015.11.009

Drenovac, O, Amidžić, L., Babović, N. (2011). Environmental status of the Ćelije reservoir. The 40th Annual Conference of the Serbian Water Pollution Control Society “Water 2011”, Conference Proceedings, pp. 157-162. UDK: 579.68 : 627.81 (497.11)

Gunderson, L., Holling, C. (2002). Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Island Press, Washington, DC.

Jaszczak, A., Kristianova, K., Wasilewska, O., Dunisijevic-Bojovic, D. (2020). Concepts of “biophilia” and “livability” in the context of social perception of public space in cities. Article in Space & Form, June 2020 DOI:10.21005/pif.2020.42.C-02

Koković, D. (1996). Sociologija religije i obrazovanja, Učiteljski fakultet, Sombor. (In Serbian)Maljević, E., Karadžić, V., Vasiljević, M. (1999). Kvalitetr vode akumulacije Ćelije u zimskom periodu, Konferencija

„Zaštita voda 1999“, Soko Banja, Zbornik radova. Jugoslovensko društvo za zaštitu voda, Beograd. (In Serbian)

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Marković, Ž.D. (2005). Socijalna ekologija, Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva, Beograd. (In Serbian)Marzluff, J. (2008). Urban Ecology. Springer Science and Business Media, New York, NY. McDonnell, M., Hahs, A. (2008). The use of gradient analysis studies in advancing our understanding of the ecology of

urbanizing landscapes: current status and future directions. Landscape Ecol. 23, 1143–1155. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-008-9253-4

MEA, (2005). Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Health Synthesis. Island Press, Washington, DC. Pudup, M. (2008). It takes a garden: cultivating citizen-subjects in organized garden projects. Geoforum 39 (3),

1228–1240. DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2007.06.012Stein, B., Kutner, L., Adams, J. (2000). Precious Heritage. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Tomićević, J. (2005). Towards Participatory Management: Linking People, Resources and Management. A

Socio-Economic Study of Tara National Park. Institut für Landespflege der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.

Vukićević, S. (1996). Ideal i stvarnost eko menadžmenta, Služba zaštite životne sredine Opština Nikšić, Nikšić. (In Serbian)


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TOURISM AND ITS ROLE IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT IN SERBIA

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: Assessing forest contributions to local economies and well-being in Serbia is possible only in a qualitative way by exploring related rural cultures. Knowledge and experience in using forest ecosystem services show that the main economic benefits of forests for employment and the value of outputs for local communities were declining through history, while the social and cultural benefits are increasing. Yet, the assessment of forests perceptions nowadays shows that local communities rarely consider forests as a development potential, but rather an immediate supply. A short survey was made to understand the perception of rural and urban people and learn to which extent there is a set of traditional priority benefits possible to expand towards untraditional, such as tourism and recreation to add value. The factors influencing local community decisions on the most important forest benefits were also explored. Mapping value chains for the most important forest products was the following. Firewood, non-wood forest products (NWFPs), game products, and rural tourism value chains were viewed through a prism of potential tourism supply chains. Finally, financial support to rural development was assessed to find possible interactions of sustainable forest management and tourism by supporting shortening and strengthening its supply chains in afforested rural areas or allusions to the tables or illustrations..

Keywords: community perception, forest ecosystem services, rural tourism.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-30-38

INTRODUCTION

Forest ecosystems can provide a variety of socio-economic benefits. Ranging from those easy to quantify (linked to measurable forest pro-duction) to the line of contributions to society which, although hard to measure, might represent fundament of rural and national economies in afforested territories. Capacity to estimate value of forests ecosystems services is still low in many countries (FAO, 2015), as much as a capacity to understand reverse effects of economic activities based on forests. Serbia is not the exception. This shortage is the cause of serious under-estimation of possible forests contribution to rural economy rehabili-tation, but also limits introduction of sustainable forest management.

Suzana Đorđević - Milošević*,Jelena Milovanović


Correspondence: Suzana Đorđević - Milošević


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For Serbia this is a critical issue due to the expressed rural poverty and severe threats forests are exposed to (Šijačić-Nikolić et al., 2014, 2019). Diversification of incomes by employing unused forest ecosystem services instead of continuing their simplified (and destructive) exploitation is necessary. Tourism in Serbian countryside is increasingly seen as a potent activity which can contribute to diversification and facilitate resurrection of its stumbled economy (Đorđević-Milošević, 2020). The priority is to answer the question “Which forest eco-system services should be employed to provide sustainability of tourism in afforested rural areas, as well as “Can tourism contribute to rural development while promoting sustainable forests management and how?”

LITERATURE REVIEW

Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is a management regime that integrates and balances social, economic, ecological, cultural, and spiritual needs of present and future generations (Wilkie at al., 2003). UN Resolution 62/98 confirmed “SFM as a dynamic and evolving concept that aims to maintain and enhance the economic, social and environmental value of all types of forests, for the benefit of present and future generations.” The forest should not be used beyond its long-term capacity for production of wood and non-wood forest products (NWFPs)(MCPFE, 1993). Therefore, multiplying benefits from forest is required and it starts with the selection of additional economic activities which can support livelihoods of forests dependants (Đorđević-Milošević and Milovanović, 2020b, 2014, 2012), while sustaining its survival. Efforts to sustainably manage forests are mean-ingful and long lasting, only if the society sees the economic benefits of conserving forests (Wickramasinghe, 2012). Nature-based tourism rapid growth is seen as an opportunity for attracting interest of society to preserve forests as much as a chance to decrease the pressure of its destructive consumptive timber uses (Phumsathan et al., 2017). Ecological uniqueness, the abundance of flora and fauna, and beautiful landscapes with a potential for diverse recreational activities in accessible, safe, and pristine environment, which is easily attributed to Serbian forests, might not be sufficient to claim that tourism in Serbia based on them will contribute to SFM, which is a must. Stepping back to check all major forest benefits and how they fit within seems inevitable.

METHODOLOGY

In this paper people’s perception of forest benefits using questionnaires for urban and rural population was explored to identify those which could be earmarked as the most important on a small sample of 20 respondents, but targeting parts of the population which actively communicate with forests in their daily life (urban and rural). Persons connected with forestry by profession were excluded. The questions were open, allowing participants to respond according to their knowledge about services provided by forests and not evaluating the enlisted set of services provided by the examiner.

Then selected products/services value chains were mapped. Their structure was captured and visualized to show the main flows of products, while single links of special importance were explored. In-depth interviews were conducted with various stakeholders to obtain data for mapping (local inhabitants in afforested areas, forests enterprises’ representatives, civil society organizations (CSOs), tourist services providers, local governments, academia, law enforcement agencies etc. The targeted SWOT analysis of the rural tourism was conducted to highlight possible hubs for forests products and services supply chains. Financial support available for activating opportunities was assessed primarily through exploring actual rural development policy.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Perception of forests by rural and urban people

Forest contributions to local economies and well-being highly correlate with rural cultures. When discussing forest benefits in Serbia, different lists could be compiled depending on respondents. Differences in perception of forest values derive from different lifestyles. As expected, urban population has enlisted ecological function

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of purification of air as the top one, then social function of recreation as the second one and the source of wood and “wild fruits” (edible, medicinal and aromatic plants (Ratknić and Milovanović, 2016) and mushrooms) as the third one. Respondents from the rural areas placed firewood as the top one, game meat as the second one and non-wood forest products as the third one. In marginal areas, in traditional rural environments with elderly population forests are providers of energy and food, materials for housing, maintaining health. For the population from the local urban centers, forests are places for employing the workforce. For inhabitants of remote abandoned rural areas, forests are a source of survival that is capable to mitigate risks of extreme poverty (Đorđević-Milošević and Milovanović, 2020c). While poor villagers of suburban areas of Belgrade will collect deadwood from public forests around to survive winter, others will cut their own or public forests (legally or illegally), collect „wild fruits“ or hunt wild game to conserve them for their own use and provide wood security in South-East Serbia, while others will go beyond their own bare necessities and exploit some to sell it to a more remote user (in areas with strong processors such as Šumadija, Western Serbia, etc.), to obtain money for other needs. The factors that affect local community decision to consume forest product or service are usually double – satisfying their own needs (subsistence) and satisfying someone else needs (cash products).

Urban population mentioned supply function as important, yet ranking it lower than rural, which implies that their ability to provide food and medicines seemingly from other sources than the forest is preventing them from understanding supply (economic) forest service. For poor, using forest supplies is a necessity and for them it is a top priority not just considering forest services, but sometimes in general. These might also include medicines and aromatic substances, and regular energy of wood, which appears priority for the rural population in general (including also small urban centers with no other energy supply alternatives).

The support service implies the creation of necessary resources for the smooth functioning of ecosystem functions, including: the cultivation of fertile soil and its stabilization, regulation of parasites, seed extraction, pollination, and stabilization of ecosystems for which understanding of their importance depends on knowledge, which is not expected to be present in population in general, besides the professionals. Taking regulation functions as granted is common in Serbia, since enabling regulation of natural processes, such as reduction of the green-house effect, purification of water, air, and soil is considered as impossible to vanish.

Forest spiritual and health-recreational services mean the “service” of staying in nature, feelings, and possibilities of walking, enjoying the greenery, possibilities of inspiration, and learning about the natural history. These are advanced needs which are coming to be fulfilled once the necessities are in place and life sustained and safe. For that reason, these kinds of forest services are sitting so high on priority lists of Serbian urban population and are not among three of top importance for rural population. Of course, depending on the time of year, the examiner might get different answers. Just before Christmas, respondents mention some spiritual functions of forest such as tradition of cutting wood and harvesting branches with dry oak, placing it in first 3 important forest products. On the other hand, some respondents might get forest as an inspiration while they are walking through some villages in Serbia which have art colonies during summer.

Following these findings, further analysis was done to learn about the factors influencing local community decisions on the most important forest benefits

Factors influencing local community decisions on the most important forest benefits

The factors influencing local communities decision to select a natural resource for sampling and possibly to incorporate it in their social-ecological systems are usually double – satisfying their own needs and satisfying other people’s needs, no matter if the provided good or service is paid or not.

Applying Ecological appetency hypothesis (EAH), conceived by Feeny (1976) (Endara and Coley, 2011), to ethno-biology, the plants that are the easiest to find have a greater cultural importance and richness of uses. In Serbia, these are widespread fruit, mushroom, medicinal and aromatic plants, timber, plant material used for making natural dies, processing leather and majority of wild game and non-biological resources such as stone, clay, gravel, send etc. In this case once resources become scarce or depleted, local communities with economy based in collection of “wild fruits” switch their main interest to more scattered resources or leave the area. This relates also to the demography and skills of local communities, availability of equipment and vehicles, acces-sibility of locations through local infrastructure or naturally (easily passable terrain of not-seep, wet, grown

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in the wilderness with thick vegetation etc. or with easy to go terrain etc.). For this reason, the best conserved forest ecosystems are those in mountain remote rural areas, where infrastructure in Serbia is generally weaker such as in Eastern and South-Eastern Serbia.

After years of appearance of climatic extremes announcing obvious climate change (Milovanović et al., 2019), current native vegetation in the majority of forest areas of Serbia represents a result of both past man-agement and natural causes, which led to biodiversity erosion. Of course, changes are most obvious in species which are most heavily or inappropriately used such as for berries, mushrooms and destruction of bushes and mycelia and game species (non-selective hunting misbalancing population structure). These products are mostly sold as raw materials reaching small price on the immediate market, while main profit is provided on remote markets after processing. Adding value through tourism might help them to be more sustainably managed through decreased pressure on the resources due to higher income from processed materials.

Maldonado et al. (2013) reported on correlation between the environmental availability of a resource and its importance. The traditional construction was highly dependent on natural materials and their environmental availability. The new one is more influenced by the economic status. If it is a material from the immediate nature, it is more connected to the poverty of the owner, who couldn’t afford to purchase industrial products deriving from remote places. This is not necessarily negative, since it’s already noted that local construction habits of using, for instance, timber for erecting buildings, besides using firewood, represented one of the highest pressures on native vegetation (Dahdouh-Guebas et al., 2000). Nowadays, when the use of forest resources for selling goods outside the region started prevailing, availability is not crucial for exploitation – local communities with expressed poverty will pick whatever they can sell, no matter in which quantities these exist. Even one kilogram of well-paid mushroom will move people to forests. Of course, people will look for all species which they can sell, no matter if they are rare or not. If purchase is organized, then pressure is higher, and pickers are coming from remote places, even out of the region.

The local importance of species may change in response to different environmental conditions (rainy summers and autumns with more mushrooms, dry summers decreasing quantity of medicinal plants etc.). Territories with big fluctuations of weather conditions are never those where local communities rely too much on non-wood products in their economy, yet interest for some species will remain for their own consumption, but just in more traditional areas where knowledge was transferred, or suburban areas, where urban population look for the relaxation and where picking local wild plants or mushrooms and hunting and fishing have multifunctional role. Although the quantities they collect are minor, the benefits are high, but more from social point of view.

Further analysis was done to learn about the priority products through mapping value chains for firewood, non-wood forest products and game products (these value chains are not presented in this paper, but more detailed information can be obtained from the authors). Rural tourism value chain was mapped to discover possible hubs for local supply and is based on the aforementioned value chains.

SFM - based rural tourism SWOT analysis and value chain map

SWOT analysis of the rural tourism in Serbian afforested areas provides the following main features: On the strengths side we can put various types of forests, high biodiversity (Milovanović and Đorđević-Milošević, 2016), plenty of NWFPs (eatable greens, fruits, mushroom, medicinal plants etc.) and solid game populations (meat and trophies) providing raw material for quality products in (large extent) pristine environment and plenty of still well preserved natural habitats (mainly mountainous). Weakness in rural tourism of Serbia is mainly on the infrastructure side. Bad local road networks, lack of sewage networks and shortages in electricity and water supply in most attractive rural areas puts further development of rural tourism under the question. Disturbed countryside due to bad waste management or lack of it, lost original architecture, almost savage urbanization and capturing waters for electricity production, leading to devastation of small watercourses as much as intensive cutting of forests have already swept chances for tourism development in any sense for many rural areas. On the opportunities side we can put the existence of the variety of local gastronomy traditions and traditional products made of forest fruits, game meat, medicinal plants, mushrooms and wild vegetables on relatively small space. Recently regulated home preserves production and marketing makes this production

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legal which has opened space for direct marketing as much as rural tourism. Threats are represented with the continuing depopulation, aging, and degradation of infrastructure in rural areas, but also lack of institutional support including control as much as complicated access to financial support to investments in tourism. Threats imposed by diseases such as Covid-19 are indisputable, but rural space and forest resources are also under the threat of animal and plants diseases and pests, fires and pollution which are decreasing their value (in quantity and quality). Finally, there is a lack of money for investments in forest products and services value chains. Therefore, tourism development is slowing down in rural areas and there is a decline in the interest of tourists for inland tourism.

At the same time, the fact that most of forest products at the moment “travel” through long weak value chains, could be observed from both sides of the opportunity-threat side. Namely, if opportunities are not used to strengthen these value chains by providing hubs in local tourism to shorten them, present exploitation will most likely bring them to the end, since low prices on markets push local forest owners e.g. beneficiaries to exploit them more intensively to survive. On the other side, expanding interest for tourism in rural areas might bring to the end hunger for more materials to be extracted, if demand and offer are rational. Nevertheless, forests of Serbia might benefit from tourism development since it provides hubs for their product and services. International principles of forestry and environmental protection policy, which are set out in Agenda 21, have indicated that SFM is a responsibility and “a job of multi-actors” from different sectors and on diverse levels. Therefore, rural development window should be opened for financing SFM related activities.

Surprisingly, explored value chains for forest products are rarely linked with the rural tourism. The existing rural tourism in Serbia is too much agro-tourism with adjacent free and self-organized activities and not an integrated product which is based on partnerships in local communities and harmonized use of natural and cultural heritage on disposal. Even food supply chains are long in large extent. For that reason, the only benefit which locals can claim is the accommodation and food cost. Besides mismanagement of the food supply chains, which is providing far away from efficient utilization of local potentials for its production through optimal short value chain, supply of services provided (or possibly provided) by local ecosystems is underutilized or not used at all. Tourists mainly entertain themselves in nature with providing nothing in return but risks for the habitat and its flora and fauna, while local communities remain watching silently how their space is used, their lives disturbed and opportunities for income generation missed.

Ideally rural tourism might include various forest ecosystem services and become an ideal platform for sup-porting sustainable forest management (Fig. 1). However, such tourism should have destination management organization which will provide hub for individual business in the HoReCa sector (Hotel/Restaurant/Catering).

Figure 1. Forest-based rural tourism value chain map

Source: (developed by the authors)

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In the middle of presently frozen development of rural tourism, the Government is introducing a new law on taxes for using public goods, exposing local communities and their guest to additional costs which, although intended to support sustainable natural resources management seems to be in no way returned to development of sustainable practices. How this new circumstance will influence sustainable forest management concept it’s a matter of careful monitoring and critical analysis in the years to come, but support to SFM and support to rural development have a very useful meeting point in rural tourism. The exercise has to employ support to rural economy diversification (axis 3), agro-environmental measures (axis 2) and support to local partnerships through LEADER approach. There is a space for employing Axis 1 Rural Development measures as well, since rural tourism needs to be supported by strong processing and primary food production which should not remain only within agriculture. The place of both men and women and other marginalized groups in such organized complex value chain is reserved, since all skills of local community and more must be employed for success.

Financial support to SFM – based rural tourism

Looking for sources for financing SFM should not remain within forest sector. Incorporating different stakeholders into creating forestry policy (Šijačić-Nikolić et al., 2017) will not be sufficient if forests and forestry issues do not become part of processes of creating policies or at least the permanent concern of nature protection, rural development or employment policies for instance.

Economic instruments for forest protection are a minor part of the environmental protection budget of the Republic of Serbia. Other sources include municipal budgets, revenues from charges and fees, commercial sector funds, and ad hoc support from donations and international aid. These are foreseen to support the rational use of resources as an integral part of the overall development strategy, especially of technological development. They should provide for sound sources of financing the environmental protection defined by law and market based on efficiently indicating advantages of the environmental protection (Đorđević-Milošević and Hyvaerinen 2020).

Possible financial support to SFM – based rural tourism might be available from two sources - those defined by the National Program for Rural Development (NPRD, 2018) and those defined within the Serbian IPARD program (IPARD, 2014). Some new measures implementing social and ecological (and economical) forest functions could be created for the beginning, even if they do not exist in EU countries practice, but it’s a good approach if first those which were implemented, and which can offer lessons learned to Serbian practitioner should be selected. Exercising such measures can start within the NPRD and then to be transferred to IPARD gradually with the increase of the capacity of administration (payment system). What is good about the chosen rural development measures in Serbia is that the majority of them can influence indirectly forest management and help raising its sustainability.

The best chance to get one of indirect measures to support SFM at the moment is incentives through IPARD program to diversify income and improve quality of life in rural areas. Namely progress made in the M7 measure accreditation process - “Diversification of agricultural holdings and business development” is recently presented (the beginning of July). This measure belongs to the IPARD II set of measures of the Republic of Serbia for the period 2014-2020, which was adopted by the European Commission (EC) in January 2015. The financial agreement between the Government and the EC was signed in June 2018. The IPARD Program is a good opportunity for introducing the adding value to the NWFP sub-sector in Serbia since it contains double orientation:

◆ The rural tourism sector (investment in construction, upgrading, adaptation, ongoing maintenance as well as procurement of equipment and promotional activities, with the aim of providing catering services in authentic catering facilities in domestic crafts or rural tourism households).

◆ The sector of old and art crafts, that is, domestic work (investment in the procurement of equipment - machinery and tools, for the performance of jobs that are considered old and artistic crafts as well as in the promotion of activities).

Tourism value chains with strong local food supply produced in forest ecosystem and agroforestry systems (Đorđević Milošević and Milovanović, 2020a) through “re-wilding” degraded areas etc. might create huge benefits.

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Therefore, it’s necessary to simplify procedures for approving afforestation on agricultural land and provide switch from the support from the forestry budget to continuous support through axis 2 types of measures in IPARD, while released money to invest in more local nurseries which will be able to support forest owners to reconstruct more diverse forests with native species. Wild fruits on marginal lands or in zones suitable for tourism development should be supported, where rural population have good chance to add value to these products through developing quality economies based on tourism. Planning of eligibility criteria for the support of investments needed in this sector, should take care to satisfy multiple goals such as environmental ones: conservation of genetic diversity, prevention of erosion, attractiveness of the countryside or social: contribution to the poverty reduction, inclusion – in particular job creation for women and young people representing the surplus of labor on the small farms etc. This will support SFM and decrease pressure on wood for fuel, which is presently the main benefit for rural population in Serbia.

Positive interactions of sustainable forest management and tourism are possible if tourism value chains are enriched with short supply chains of NWFP, game and timber for which incentives should be provided through financing investments in processing (axis 1/fruits and vegetables, meat, mushrooms and medicinal plants) and diversification (axis 3/for handicrafts and rural tourism including gastronomy and construction of facilities using materials from the immediate nature/local forests resources).

Measure 11 of the IPARD II – Forestry was not planned for the implementation within Serbian IPARD II. Moreover, neither of candidate countries has utilized this one. During the recent discussion over IPARD III measures occurring within the agenda of a workshop in Bečići, Montenegro (the Workshop was held between 10 and 11 April 2019 organized jointly by SWG and the European Commission (AGRI.E5 team, including AGRI colleagues from the respective EU Delegations), and supported by the German International Cooperation (GIZ)), the issue was raised on whether to keep “forestry” measure or not. Even though the majority said that they were unlikely to use this measure, some participants advocated for keeping it. And indeed, Forestry measure 11 is not foreseen for implementation in Serbia yet, although needs for strengthening forestry as much as managing sustainably forest resources is noted as one of the needs.

For accreditation after 2019 (Phase III), forestry might be a component or at least benefit of some, since the following measures will be prepared:

Measure 4: Measures of agroecological (AE), climatic and organic productionMeasure 5: Preparation and implementation of local development strategies - LEADER approach

This means that support to the EU LEADER type activities in future could help in large extent to get on board wide public of stakeholders in taking care of SFM. Serbia has plans to provide support to local action groups (LAGs) working in manner of LEADER, first for their operation and planning and later for projects identified within defined priorities. This support will be crucial in making forests an important asset of local development planning at the moment, as could be observed from the analysis of local development strategies, forests seem to be completely marginalized and planning omitted and left to public sector.

Supporting shortening of value chains should be provided through the axis 2 - Support for establishing local partnerships, preferably of the LEADER type, so that not just business partnerships are easily established, but also decision making in strategic and action planning of local communities could be improved and rationalized. Strengthening of supply chains for tourism in afforested rural areas should occur also with the support from the set of AE measures supporting High Nature Value Farming (HNVF) practices (Keenleyside et al., 2010) which will embrace principles of traditional and modern agroforestry and silvo-pastoral practices which can give a new meaning also to the support for afforestation of marginal agriculture lands.

CONCLUSIONS

Numerous forests ecosystems services of Serbia provide benefits which can increase value of tourist products on the respective territory. Most products provided are sold as raw materials on remote markets or provide subsistence to forest owners. Having in mind that lots of NWFPs and games locally were processed to valuable and still attractive products, while local natural materials used in traditional architecture were creating attractive traditional buildings and countryside and handicraft items on demand on tourist market), connecting forest products processed locally as a supply to tourist value chains is highly potent for rural economy diversification.

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Added value is occurring in the short value chain, while the increased quality of offered products can replace irrational quantities of harvested raw produces which is the appropriate frame for implementing SFM. In the opposite direction improved and diversified offer of products such as food preserves and gastronomy, souvenirs and animation related to indigenous knowledge have potential to improve tourist products offer. This conclusion should not lure to abandon basic offer of appropriate food and accommodation, and activities which are the core attractor of every certain location. Being territory related, and therefore specific (depends on available forest products/type of forest and related cultural heritage of their processing), combining forest products and services with upgraded or even new tourist product can’t be unified in the whole country. The problem will, however appear in regions of Serbia where depopulation swept away traditional knowledge or population is too aged (incapable) to run businesses or in local communities in which due to diverse reasons local communities lack necessary synergy to establish partnerships for providing certain and continuous supply.

Tourism can contribute to SFM if tourism value chains use as a diverse supply all forest products and services available and keep intensity of their use rather low. This implies that starting from logging to activities, tourism ought to be shaped to use local sources instead of imported through establishment of strategic partnerships with local forest owners and forest products processors, as much as local organizers of activities in forests. Both must be well informed on forest ecosystem services, multifunctional forestry and educated to create and apply area-based strategies for rural development, which will be permanently maintained through genuine and operative local partnerships. Success of SFM in regions where tourism is developing will depend on cross-sectoral support (tourism and forestry and rural development portfolio). Set of both national and IPARD measures have windows which can with the addition of appropriate eligibility criteria and scoring with advantages for forests related investments, provide buster for SFM “encouraging” tourism.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The paper represents the results of research within the GCP/SRB/002/GFF project and according to the Agreement of Cooperation No. 0801-417/1 (21/03/2019).

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Suzana Đorđević - Milošević*,Jelena Milovanović,Ljubiša Đorđev




DEVELOPING WILDLIFE RELATED TOURISM FOR GAME MANAGEMENT SUSTAINABILITY IN GEORGIA

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: Identifying true potentials for sustainable wildlife management starts with the confirmation of the disturbed status of the wildlife that requires changes in its management. Selecting measures to reverse degradation comes with under-standing its evolution up to the appearance of the imbalance in exploitation. History of the human-wildlife relations helps the selection of critical points for intervention and the frames of favorable activities. In the case of this research, favorable activities are all those which can play a role in “a bite” for local communities to get involved in designing and implementing a new model of sustainable wildlife management. This paper presents the results of an exercise of exploring potentials for introducing wildlife-related economic activities into local communities in the Uravi Area under the Caucasus, Georgia. The one was selected to contribute to modeling local community involvement in the evolution towards improved wildlife management in Georgia. Both invasive and non-invasive utilization of the game through developing tourist products are explored as the potential to firmly substantiate wildlife management advancement. Natural and cultural heritages are both employed to design a few perspective wildlife related tourist products suitable for Georgia.

Keywords: wildlife management, hunting tourism, community driven action, Georgia.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-39-47

INTRODUCTION

It is generally believed that the great demand for game and fish, the inefficient approaches in administration to regulate wildlife management and use and the loss of wildlife habitats have led to significant depletion of game and fish stocks in Georgia. The Government of Georgia therefore took an appropriate approach to solve the problem by establishing a new, sustainable wildlife resources management system (Bregadze et al., 2018, Czudek, 2006). Promoting sustainable hunting and fishing activities by involving the rural population in wildlife resources man-agement and use should be employed to contribute to income diver-sification of rural households and poverty alleviation which should decrease pressure of game and fish resources. Working with local communities seems not just inevitable, but a key for mitigating number of risks as much as an opportunity to contribute to rural livelihoods, yet it will need much more than just defining and imposing new rules.

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Simple copy-paste of solutions from other countries was out of question. One of the ideas how to get on board local communities to support change and take active participation in them, was introducing the wildlife related tourism into local rural economy (Martytin-Delgado et al., 2020). This paper should contribute to transforming local communities in Georgia into business partners by introducing tourism development which is seen as the most effective way to achieve sustainable wildlife management while contributing to rural development.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Human activities are destroying biodiversity so rapidly, that biodiversity loss also became a development issue (Kikvidze & Tevzadze, 2015). The global biodiversity crisis is hitting the poorest communities first and hardest because they can ill-afford to ‘buy in’ biodiversity’s previously-free goods and services (UNECE, 2019, Roe et al.., 2019). The old approach to biodiversity conservation called “fortress conservation” (Breitenmsoer et al. 2010, Whande, 2007) is outdated although still survives in many countries. In the 1980s, the first attempts were made to preserve natural habitats and wildlife through involvement of local communities in the management of these resources and ever since professionals worldwide seek how to create a better synthesis between conservation and development to upgrade sustainable management of wildlife populations based on local communities (Tynnerson, 2009). The resulting type of management, called Local Community-Based Natural Resource Man-agement (CBNRM), foresees the reallocation of the authority over the resources from the immediate nature to local people, comprising such as game, wood and other wildlife related products and services. Incentives to influence the behavior and interests of the inhabitants of rural areas are also needed to lead to the transformation of the local community into a community-based conservator. Major institutional reforms and significant changes in the distribution of power were required. CBNRM implies that local community is getting right to use wildlife resources to create new jobs within various services - starting from the very conservation of nature through income from animal husbandry, which is set to endanger wildlife, but also from newly created activities such as tourism, photography and hunting activities (Stone, 2006). For areas where wildlife is managed by the local community, tourism is a land use option that is likely to provide the most revenue. Examples of this claim are numerous, especially in Africa where the concept first came to life (NASCO, 2015, Sakal & Moyo, 2017, Cooney et al., 2018, Maliasili, 2011, Malembo, 2011). To select tourism activities to be encouraged and design their suitable value chains to fit within the local rural economy for maximizing benefits, respective area should be carefully assessed. Available natural and human resources would frame it, but also the economy in place (possible accommodation, catering and other services supply chains). Cultural heritage might appear crucial to create innovative and competitive tourism products in a traditional countryside.

METHODOLOGY

The paper presents an exercise of exploring potentials for introducing wildlife-related economic activities into local communities in the Uravi Area under the Caucasus, Georgia. Research included field and desk work for exploring rural cultures and history of wildlife management in Georgia. Semi-structured interviews were used to assess the knowledge and experiences of local population of Uravi area, institutions responsible for wildlife management and law enforcement, Georgian entrepreneurs – wildlife reserves (farms) managers, hunters civil societies dealing with socio-economic issues in local community and environmental civil society organizations, local authorities in Racha Region and central Government of Georgia (new established wildlife agency). Both invasive and non-invasive utilization of the game through developing tourist products were explored as the potential to firmly substantiate wildlife management advancement. Data on natural and cultural heritages are both employed to design a few perspective wildlife related tourist products suitable for the pilot region. These were selected to contribute to modeling local community involvement in the evolution towards improved wildlife management in Georgia.

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Hunting and fishing contribution to food and nutrition security in rural areas is considerable, but in Georgia its importance goes far beyond an economic activity safeguarding food. It is the part of Georgian valuable intangible culture. There is a huge demand for hunting and fishing, particularly in rural areas, sometimes following specific cultural traditions, which are deeply rooted in local communities. Reportedly, many rural men possess a gun and do hunting as a hobby. Hunting and fishing and the culture developed around them could be also seen as the tourist factor of enormous importance for diversifying rural economies, and there-fore a precious resource for the rural development. One of the specific aspects of the traditional hunting was explained to create options for some innovative economic activities related to wildlife – falconry (CG, 2019).

Falconry

In the mid-sixties this tradition began to revive representing huge opportunity for tourism of special interest as much as production and training of raptors for protection services (defense of air space from birds and rodents on airports, industrial complexes, agriculture etc.) (Sandor, 2015, Abuladze, 2012). The falconry is considered as a national tradition, interlined in lifestyle of the local people. Images of the scenes of falcon aided hunting can be seen at archeological artifact kept in Georgian museums. Especially, noble people of the country were involved in that kind of hunting in medieval times. Even all the families were brought from countryside to the estates of rich and noble people with the task to take care of numerous falcons kept there. The interest for the falconry in this Caucasian country was also presented in the notes of French traveling writer from XVII Century (Van Maanen et al., 2001).

At the beginning of the 20th century, even the talking about falconry was strictly forbidden in Georgia. That was the case up to the period of mid 1960-es, when quietly falconry started to appear again. It becomes a branch of Association of hunters and fishermen, and formally named as Falconry department, but from the socialistic period there are very poor data about hunting campaigns organized using raptor birds (Sandor et al., 2017). There are only some traces from that period which indicate small number of people who were trying to sell smuggled, trained raptor birds. In the contemporary world there is big demand for falcons and other birds which can hunt the prey for human. That is especially the case in the counties rich in oil, such Arab countries are. There exists social class of well-off people who highly appreciate hunting with raptor birds, and who can afford to organize such hunting activities. That can be significant opportunity for Georgian raptor breeders, to export their birds, but there are some limitations which must be observed. International legislation set the ban to the trade of birds born in the wilderness. The only birds which can be the object of trade are those which were born in captivity. On the other hand, for the guests from the Arab countries, and for the other passion able hunters, who can afford that, jackal hunting can be organized as a kind of hunting tourism. That kind of hunting with raptor birds requires extremely large birds (eagles), and it is favorable because it provides significant amount of money from tourists, who can afford expensive organization of that kind of hunting, and on the other hand it can be helpful for the control of the number of jackals as predators.

There are some more benefits obtained by the raising predator birds and by their conservation in the open nature. Some of them are also vultures. Vultures are very useful kind of birds in the nature. They purify nature, by removing the carcasses of dead animals. Besides, some of raptor bird species can be trained to keep some special areas free of nuisance species. That means to keep airports free of pigeons, seagulls and some other species which could harm aircrafts landing and taking off from these airports.

Georgian wildlife in mythology

Georgian mythology related to wildlife was explored to draw some lessons about the mitigating risks of overuse. In Georgia, population was always respecting nature (Lindpere, 2013). Many customs come from the nature worship roots. Mountains and woods are still concerned sacred. Hunting and fisheries traditions in Georgia relate to Georgian mythology in large extent. There are a lot of mythical creatures related to hunting and fisheries.

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What could be noted is that certain rules in hunting were imposed through these myths, enforcing unwritten laws about sustainable wildlife management, meaning that Georgians are not poachers by default, as some analysts tend easily to conclude. On the contrary, Georgian culture of traditional hunting is very sophisticated. The question is how to impose similar rules in modern times, after decades of socio-economic hardships, and follow trend of non-violent modern law enforcement by using awareness rising in combination with financial punishments. Whatever solution is finally selected it’s good to know the evolution of hunting culture which one can learn from historical sources and modern ethnology. Ethno-psychology is also a key to successful changes of communities on their road to sustainability. Main stories from literature about myths related to hunting are provided to put more light on historical relation of Georgians with their wildlife.

One of the most popular characters in Georgian mythology is Dali, who is considered as a goddess of hunting. In the mythology, she is presented as a very pretty woman with blond hair and extremely bright skin. In the many of mythology scenes she is depicted together with a herd of ibex, situated in the mountains, on high altitudes. Her main goal in the mythology is to protect the nature and creatures living there. Reportedly, during the hunting campaign, Dali makes special relation with hunter. According those stories, hunter is not allowed to tell anyone about that relation. If he breaks that rule, he, together with his hunting dogs, could be punished very strictly, with dead penalty carried out by petrification (Dzagnidze, 2017). All the way the hunter observes the rules set by Dali, those about protection of nature and wildlife, and hunt only small number of game, just needed for him and his family to survive, Dali is even willing to help the hunter to catch his prey. After the successful hunting, hunter has obligation to leave some parts of the game body in the nature, as a sign of gratitude to Dali, for her help in the hunting campaign. That sharing of the benefit in the mythology stories can also be the motivation for contemporary local communities who are dealing with hunting tourism, to share benefits obtained that way with state, which is, according to the law in Georgia, the owner of all the wildlife.

Besides Dali, in Georgian mythology and other stories, there are some more pre-Christian gods and god-desses connected with nature. There is Apsat, presented as the creature with supernatural powers, who is pro-tector of all birds, and the animals who do not consume meat. Master of all the wolves, in some mythological stories is Mambery. There is also the creature which resembles mermaids from European mythology. She looks like half women and half fish. Her name in the mythology is Tskarishdida. In these mythological stories it can be noticed that many of mystical creatures in them are women. Their supernatural powers provide them to punish persons who do not respect nature and do harm to it. That indicates the position of women in society, as protectors of family, environment and other values for human society.

One of semi-gods depicted in Georgian mythology is Ochopintre. He is described as a creature living in the woods and also on cliffs of high altitude. His head resembles goats head, and he also has horns like goat. He assists goddess Dali in taking care of animals, especially deer game. There are more of these supernatural creatures in Georgian mythology. Some of them are positive, and some negative characters. Some of negative characters of that mythology are Matsil and Chukchi. Matsil is an obscure spirit known as underground creature, who tortures hunters and other people whom he finds in the forest. Chukchi according the legends likes to walk along the forests and to frighten humans whom he finds there, especially hunters. Also, according to the legends, Chukchi fell in love with goddess Tkashi-Mapa, but he was refused by her. Then he tried to catch the goddess, and hunters always helped the lady with superpowers to keep away from Chukchi. In the legends, there is also the famous hunting dog appearing in the stories about goddess Dali and other mythological creatures. The dog’s name is Q’ursha, and in mythology he is presented as positive character.

Georgian hunters believe that they must observe some hunter rituals. One of them is that the hunter, getting to hunt from his home, should leave his home early in the morning, before daylights. When he arrives to the hunting grounds, he has to light little fire there and to say a hunter’s prayer on the spot. The prayer is dedicated to goddess Dali and to the spirit of Apsat. Speaking among themselves hunters of some Georgian regions, up to the two centuries ago, were using, for the other people unknown, words as names of animal species. For example, for chamois game they were using the word “psit” (Tuite, 2006). They believed that if they were using the ordinary name, like chamois, they would not have good luck in their hunting campaign at that day.

Two examples of wildlife related tourist products value chains, one for edutainment and one for atavistic hunting, are provided as a suggestion for using rich cultural heritage to develop tourism in the pilot area and in Georgia in general.

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Edutainment as a noninvasive activity related to wildlife

The national heritage of Georgian people associated with animals is very favorable for making nonmaterial tourist attractions. It can be very good foundation to create edutainment tourist arrangements. That nonin-vasive kind of human activities related to wildlife can diminish classical demand for the products originating from wildlife. Edutainment, as an important tourist activity, represents the set of activities connected with wildlife. In large scales, edutainment is a combination of entertainment and education. Activities are focused to wildlife and its environment. There is also present excitement of discovery, when tourists follow the footsteps of wild animals, when they find the game groups or individuals in the nature. Also, visitors will be able to research relation of people of local communities to wildlife living in their environment. Students of the different schools will be able to analyze relationship between humans and wildlife at that occasion. This kind of tourism can be a significant factor for development of rural areas in Georgia and their local communities. Tourists are those who will have the freedom to choose the area and local communities which they will visit. Because of that, locals will have to analyze very carefully what they can offer to the clients. The offer should be so attractive for different kind of people, with the purpose to bring them to the spot and by buying the services to improve economy of these communities, income of the state, and nature conservation. There are some special niches of the tourists who can be attracted with the offer, and locals have to take care of that and find and target them. Valuable natural and cultural heritage of Georgia should be a good reason for many of people to attract tourists to many of picturesque areas in the country. One of the advantages of this kind of tourism is that the organizers can collect two or more benefits and present it in one tourist arrangement. All of that can provide employment for large number of people of different professions. This kind of tourism must be covered by the workers with various skills. In the most of cases, they must be younger, well-trained people, but also older with some knowledge about tradition of the country and the specific area. Also, people who are familiar with nature and who can explain to tourists how to survive in the nature. There should be hired locals with good cooking skills, who would prepare food specialties typical for that region. Extremely important factor which should contribute to the effort of all local communities to be successful in edutainment business is positive attitude and involvement of all the people from the communities. Coordinating wildlife related edutainment, alongside hunting activities to react to a hunter’s family various necessities, can assist client with encountering total fulfillment and remain longer as a tourist.

Atavistic hunting

The idea of fair chase is the bedrock of hunting ethics. Fair chase implies kind of hunting, which is allowing game a chance to get away (while it does not matter if hunter is using a bow, rifle, bow or any other kind of weapon (Booth and Chardonnet, 2015). In this respect some of atavistic chasing strategies are viewed as appropriate or even respectable these days since they do not connect with contemporary techniques of certain hunt which nowadays are not common. Between the most refreshing, in most recent couple of many years, are bow hunting and hunting with help of winged creatures of prey. Atavistic hunting is related to a number of methods and ceremonies actualized in history by people to catch or execute animals for food, clothes, or different items.

Atavistic hunting requires commitment of local specialists to deliver gear which, once upon a time, was customarily utilized. On the off chance that educated specialists do not exist in the district, commitment of specialists from other regions could be required. These occupations can give extra work of experts of making bows, knifes, gear for horses and raptor birds for falconry. On the off chance, that bow hunting is the situation, hunters are regularly accompanying their own advanced bows and bolts and other hardware, while they have simply need to receive managing. Once in a while likewise capturing or video shooting would be mentioned, and obviously food, accommodation and transport. Host should lead all customs, and for the hunting, about to start, gives composed rules or even video instructional activities. Likewise, customary garments could be a resource for making the offer more alluring, allowing the chance to connect more individuals from the local community.

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If there should be an occurrence of hunting with birds of prey, hunter may have his own prepared feathered creature, or even come to acquire training for its young, winged animal. All the more regularly, hunters are coming to hunt or to observe hunting with birds controlled by the host to appreciate hunting and additionally purchasing fledgling. That could be alluring for both sides - hunters and local communities and people with abilities to develop and prepare assorted types of raptor birds. Obviously, both these activities, hunting and exchanging these creatures, must obey the severe public laws and peaceful accords, for example, CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora - multilateral agreement to ensure imperiled plants and animals) and CBD (The Convention on Biological Diversity). These guidelines permit utilization of just birds born in imprisonment, while getting of wild birds isn’t permitted.

Mainstreaming SDGs into new wildlife management system

An attempt was made to explain mainstreaming of sustainable development goals into new wildlife management system. Considering the financial circumstance in the pilot region and basic of accomplishing maximum as could be expected compromise between wildlife protection and local community interests, further policy/law suggestions supporting future wildlife management system in the Caucasian country will be introduced in connection with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most importantly, no strategy or a legitimate frame referring to the wildlife population control ought to be presented in they will disregard the successful lives and jobs of the people of local community. On the contrary, it ought to add to improving prosperity of local communities. Policy frameworks made at national level, just like those created at local and global level, ought to be founded as favorable to poor and gender orientation delicate improvement methodologies. Social agreement ought to be foundation for its finishing shape.

Georgia isn’t the country which is fundamentally battling to end hunger, accomplishing Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) which is not only elimination of hunger, but also about the feasible food security, woodland biological systems administration, hunting should be considered from this viewpoint as well. Feasibility of food production of small farmers, specifically female, indigenous people groups, livestock farmers, hunters and fishers in local communities, means that those people should have free access to the resources that they need for their production. That also implies favorable ecosystem maintenance which requires that the wildlife management policy should be carried out properly.

That must be molded to advance access and reasonable and impartial sharing of advantages emerging from their use as much as the information, money related administrations, markets and open doors for esteem expansion and non-ranch work dependent on wildlife resources.

Guaranteeing the achievement of preservation and rebuilding incorporate feasible utilization of a wide range of ecosystems, which includes Georgian wildlife habitats, particularly terrestrial and inland freshwater biological systems and their management. This extraordinarily recommends woodlands, wetlands, mountains and dry lands of Georgia, which are nowadays under the hard pressure, mostly because of financial difficulties of people living in the countryside. The solution which should be brought with new management system ought to be in accordance with the taken commitments for nature conservation according international agreements. Policy and legislation edges ought to be modernized, with the purpose to provide sustainable management of forest resources, to end poaching, to reestablish depleted habitats and game and fish populations. In the chosen pilot area, this is identified with protection of mountain ecosystems, including biodiversity, to improve their ability to give benefits that are basic to economical turn of events. It ought to prevent annihilation of endangered species, and to provide sustainable management for the species whose populations are stable, and in that way to enable economic benefits for local communities who would take good care of them, and would responsibly use those wildlife resources.

Community led development as a prerequisite to implement new wildlife management system

Having SDG Goals as a primary concern, yet essentially needs of local inhabitants, wildlife management system which should be set as innovation ought to be planned with full straightforwardness and cooperation of local communities. Making critical move to end poaching and trade of protected species of plants and animals, taking action to reveal the market of wild animals’ illegal products, should be carried out at the same time.

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It must be a partnership between all members of local community on one side, and the Government on the other. That partnership should consider equal sharing of the benefits between all partners. Consequently, just after the new strategy/lawful edges for wildlife management are set on the national level, the management of ecological system and biodiversity values ought to be incorporated into the national and local planning, as well as improvement measures, poverty decrease procedures, and records as the Goal 15 of the SDG anticipate.

After the experience obtained while cooperating with countryside communities in the pilot area, it can be suggested that the best approach is to keep working on the integration process, business development plans for local community, considering environmental objectives. The responsibility for making these plans, in the future, should fully be taken by the local community.

This methodology should make improvement of the local community living standard, and to conserve natural resources simultaneously, with substantially more prescient accomplishment than the other method-ologies. In purpose to make activities connected to designing and caring out new wildlife management system, completely suitable, they must include as many participants as possible.

It is important to establish the region-based development approach and to introduce the process of rural development. This new wildlife management approach should only provoke the beginning of the process in the regions and areas where it did not start yet.

It is not possible to carry out sustainable wildlife management in particular area if it is not combined with the similar sort of its general rural development model. Introduction of the new wildlife management may be difficult if local community is not keen on it, so it is least demanding when community economy is frail, and community search for general development help. Better developed areas ought to follow positive experience of less developed ones.

Starting with planning of the sustainable local development is operation with group of subjects participating in it (Moqanaki et al., 2016, Leong & Decker, 2007). It requires many mandatory activities. Operation demands local community’s integration on regional level - local action groups of EU LEADER type. That will help local communities to realize that they have the power to make decisions how they will develop themselves. However, they will also experience responsibility for their social and economic situation. The communities must bear in their minds that they are managing very valuable common good, which is precious. With the purpose to avoid any misconceptions, it is necessary to clarify with local communities what are rights and obligations of the Government, and what of local community, about wildlife, habitat and benefits obtained from them.

EU LEADER type activities were recommended as the appropriate frame for setting up cooperation for supportable wildlife management. Expanding human and social capital for making local community to take place in sharing profit of the new sustainable wildlife management is very important. Encouraging local com-munities to struggle with bad wildlife management practices and poaching was associated with the battle to offer solid help to rural development by using area based development approach instead of establishing single system for sustainable wildlife management in entire Georgia which is isolated from rural development.

Local action groups (LAGs) of the EU LEADER Program are suitable because they give opportunity to persons who took part in them to learn while they practice their activities (learning by doing). The local action groups are one of the most productive instruments for wildlife areas in the future.

One of the rear hardships about them can be the fact that well demarcated hunting areas correspond to the natural boundaries. On the other hand, areas in which local action groups are usually formed are not determined by geographical objects as their borders, but they have administrative borders.

Process of gathering smaller administrative areas in the bigger territory provides all of them with sharing natural resources, which give solution to mentioned problem. That process enables adaptation of the policy of hunting area designing to correlate with administrative borders of local communities, which were formed as LAG territories. Areas where there are present frequent human activities should be demarcated and excluded from the territory of hunting grounds. Hunters’ activities with hunting arms should be forbidden within the perimeter of 200 m from lonely households or small villages in the countryside. Urban settlements should be surrounded with 1000 m wide buffer zone. Hunting ground management authorities should be in charge of occasional interventions in the buffer zones. That means the area of the buffer zone should not be used for shutting, but it has to be managed like all the other parts of the hunting grounds, measures of protection and support to the wildlife should be applied there.

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Sport fishing ought to be permitted in places suitable for recreation, where safe waste management is provided.

Forming LAGs also bring public-private partnerships. Those partnerships can be helpful for including human and financial resources to improve natural resources management.

International stakeholders could be included as financial donors who might support planned activities and in large scale to improve capacities of local communities to conserve, monitor and sustainably use natural resources. The stakeholders would be motivated to take action by creating high-quality rural development plans, which should be developed by LAGs.

CONCLUSIONS

Setting sustainable tourism around wildlife in Georgia is much more than a matter of available wildlife. It is also a question of its cultural heritage employment. Whole presented heritage is extremely interesting for creating non-consumptive tourist activities related to the wildlife, but also understanding local community limits and opportunities for sustainable wildlife management. Cultural heritage compiled with existing rural economy can help creating valuable sustainable wildlife related tourism products in the area of edutainment and atavistic hunting. Promoting such tourist products might be a good strategy for decreasing pressure on animals imposed by the consumptive types of related tourism such as hunting. Capacity building for local communities to establish LEADER type partnerships and to officials to provide technical support and law enforcement as well as strong institutional support is necessary for wildlife related tourism development and implementation in Georgia.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The research was conducted based on TCP/GEO/3603 Project Agreement and the Agreement of Cooperation No. 0801-417/1 (21/03/2019).

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M-GAM MODEL BASED EVALUATION OF GRADAC RIVER GORGE FOR GEOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: The results obtained through evaluation of the Gradac River Gorge by applying the M-GAM model are presented in this study. The main goal of the research was to observe current state and explore possibilities for geotourism development in this area. By virtue of numerous indicators and sub-indicators, which are categorized either in group of Main or Additional values, this methodology gives us good insight in potentials of geoturism development. In addition, the methodology has been improved by involving tourists. This approach offers a more objective perspective of the needs of tourists and provides a starting point for further research. Recently, Serbia has been included in UNESCO’s Global Geopark Network due to the Djerdap Gorge being made the country’s first geopark. The Gradac Gorge is equally valuable; it has vast geoheritage, extraordinary landscapes, lush vegetation, and rich cultural and historical heritage. The geomorphological uniqueness of Gradac is the distinct meandering of the lower part of the river valley. Considering that it’s also a protected area (a Landscape of Outstanding Features), a valuable fishing area, and one of the most important tourist sites in Valjevo Region, it has high potential to become one of Serbia’s future Geoparks. The obtained results show the gorge having exceptional potential for geotourism development. On the other hand, it’s necessary to improve the guide service, the visitor center, and more additional values.

Keywords: Geotourism, M-GAM model, evaluation, geoheritage, Gradac River Gorge.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-48-60

INTRODUCTION

Given the existing problems in the global environment and the great pressures that civilization puts on nature, one of the components of the natural heritage deserves more and more attention. It’s a geoheritage (Arrad et al., 2020). This has been proven by the increase in the number of studies conducted worldwide (Arrad et al., 2020; Gray, 2019; Li et al., 2018; Lima et al., 2010; Nazaruddin, 2020; Plyusnina et al., 2016). In his study, Nazaruddin (2020) highlighted that geoheritage covers different geodiversity elements with high values, such as scientific, educational, aesthetic, recreational, cultural, etc. On the foundation of geoheritage, in the early 1990s, a new concept of tourism was introduced, named “geotourism”. It is a form of tourism that focuses on geology, landscapes, and geoeducation (Arrad et al., 2020; Dowling and Newsome, 2006; Hose, 2008; Tičar et al., 2018; Tomić et al., 2020).

Jelena Milenković1*,Milica Lukić1,Jelena Milovanović2

1University of Belgrade – Faculty of Geography, Belgrade, Serbia2Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia

Correspondence: Jelena Milenković

e-mail:[email protected]

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Hose (1995) has defined geotourism as providing abilities or skills which can help tourists to better understand what actually means “geosites”, its genesis, different types, natural and ecological values, etc. Signif-icance of the geoheritage and numerous benefits of geotourism for society are recognized by two international programs of relevance to geoconservation – World Heritage Sites and Global Geoparks, and both of them are promoted by UNESCO (Gray, 2019). According to Gray (2019) three main reasons of Global Geoparks establishment are “conservation of geoheritage, geological education, and sustainable economic development mostly through geotourism”.

Tomić et al. (2020) highlighted that the geodiversity of Serbia is very diverse and represents one of the important natural resources. The Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, which represents the most significant institution on the national level in this area, has recognized the necessity for legal protection of geoheritage; therefore, today there are around 80 protected geoheritage sites in Serbia (Djurović and Mijović, 2006). In addition, modern society becomes aware of the risks posed by mass tourism and relies more on individual and collective responsibility to protect the environment (Lukić and Filipović, 2019). Tourism based on ecologically responsible behavior, where the main touristic motive is the natural and cultural heritage, like geotourism, many domestic and regional experts see as a possibility for future tourism development in our country. That is the main reason why the issue of geotourism and geoheritage in Serbia has become the subject of several studies and projects (Antić et al., 2019; Božić et al., 2014; Božić and Tomić, 2015; Boškov et al., 2015; Tomić and Božić, 2014; Tomić et al., 2020, Vujičić et al., 2011).

The main goal of this paper is the evaluation of the Gradac river’s gorge by applying the M-GAM model (Modified Geosite Assessment Model), in order to observe its current state and explore possibilities for geotourism development. In recent years, Serbia’s geoheritage was evaluated through the mentioned model on several occasions. After the GAM model was introduced by Vujičić et al. in 2011, it has been modified and improved into the M-GAM model by Tomić and Božić (2014). So far, studies involving this assessment method have resulted in a number of useful conclusions and valuable results. For instance, Tomić and Božić (2014) have applied M-GAM to evaluate the Lazar Canyon area, located in Eastern Serbia. In addition, Božić et al. (2014) have conducted a comparative analysis of Lazar and Uvac Canyons. Božić and Tomić (2015) have examined two different tourist perspectives on selected two canyons (Lazar Canyon and Uvac Canyon) and two gorges (Ovčar-Kablar Gorge and Djerdap Gorge) as good representatives of the geomorphological heritage. Regarding main and additional values in that study, the Djerdap Gorge was rated with the highest values. Incredible landscapes and the extraordinary geoheritage of the Djerdap Gorge and its hinterland, as the longest gorge in Europe, were the main reasons why UNESCO listed this gorge as a Global Geopark in July 2020. The proclamation of the first geopark in Serbia will enable the promotion of our country in a new light. Given the significant natural geodiversity of Serbia, it is not impossible to expect future proclamations of new geoparks. Furthermore, Tomić et al. (2020) have explored the potential for the development of geotourism in the Danube Region of Serbia, based on 9 geosites in this area. Eastern Serbia was the study area once more when Antić et al. in 2019 have analyzed karst geoheritage and geotourism potential in the Pek River lower basin. The quality of this methodology was also recognized in some EU countries, so for the first time, it was applied in Slovenia for the purposes of speleotourism, by Tičar et al. in 2018.

STUDY AREA

The Gradac River, a tributary of the Kolubara River, flows through the area in the western part of Serbia called the “Valjevska-podgorina Region”. As a result of specific geological characteristics of the terrain and different geomorphological processes, in the area of the Lelić and Valjevo karst, a deep gorge, almost 23 km long, was formed (Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, 2020). The Gradac river’s gorge is one of the most attractive areas in this part of Serbia. Landscape characteristics are reflected primarily in the geomor-phological features of the gorge. The main characteristic is the pronounced meandering of the lower part of the valley. The trapped meander curves, with the opposite ranging limestone meander promontories up to 60 m high, have in some places narrowed the valley bottom to only 5 m. The depth of the gorge is between 150 to 300 m. In addition to the typical limestone cliff ornamentation, represented by steep, jagged faults and talus slopes, the sides of the valley are carved with a combination of dry valleys, gullies, and ravines.

50Conference papers


The landscape dynamics are additionally complicated by dry valleys with sinkholes, deep and short valleys of many side tributaries of the Gradac River, numerous caves, pits, abysses, springs, alluvial terraces and cascades over which Gradac flows (Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, 2020; Simić, 2008).

Although it is placed in the close surrounding of the city of Valjevo, the center of the Kolubara district, the area of the gorge has managed to withstand anthropogenic pressures to the greatest extent and to preserve its high ecological value. Since 2001, it has been protected as a “Landscape of Outstanding Features”, according to the Decision on the Designation of the Landscape of Outstanding Features “Gradac River Gorge”, by the Municipal Assembly of Valjevo (Official Gazette of the Municipality of Valjevo, No. 1/2001). According to the Spatial Plan of the City of Valjevo (2013), the gorge is classified as a PBA area (Prime Butterfly Areas), and also as a potential area of international importance for biodiversity conservation, i.e. it is part of Emerald Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCI). Furthermore, it is an area with a larger number of habitats of protected and strictly protected plant species of national importance – 371 plant species have been registered here.

Figure 1. Gradac River Gorge - 1) Monastery Ćelije, 2) Church of St. Arhangel Mihailo and Gavrilo, 3) Monastery Lelić, 4) Degurić Cave, 5) Jerina’s Town

Source: Authors’ pictures

METHODOLOGY

The assessment of geosite values and its current conditions is mandatory so as to identify the potential for geotourism development (Boškov et al., 2015). For evaluating the Gradac river’s gorge, this paper uses a model called Modified Geosite Assessment which was designed by Tomić and Božić (2014). It’s based on the Geosite Assessment Model (GAM) (Table I) which was created by Vujičić et al. (2011).

51Conference papers


In the GAM, the grades for each sub-indicator are given by experts but the Modified Geosite Assessment Model (M-GAM) takes into account these grades along with the importance of each sub-indicator (which is based on tourists’ opinions). This leads to more reliable and accurate results (Tomić and Božić, 2014). The M-GAM is divided into two groups of indicators: Main Values (MV) and Additional Values (AV). The Main Values are further divided into three indicator sub-groups: Scientific/Educational Value (VSE), Landscape/Aesthetic Value (VSA), and Protection (Vpr) (thereby forming a total of 12 sub-indicators). The Additional Values are divided into two indicator sub-groups: Functional Values (VFn) and Tourist Value (Vtr) (thereby forming a total of 15 sub-indicators – shown in Table 1) (Tomić and Božić, 2014). All sub-indicators are rated by experts and tourists with ranges from 0.00 to 1.00 (Table 2). The M-GAM is obtained by adding the Main and Additional values: M-GAM = MV + AV. The Main Values are obtained by adding three indicators (MV = VSE + VSa + Vpr) while the Additional Values are obtained by adding two indicators (AV = VFr + VTr) (Tomić and Božić, 2014).

In the M-GAM, tourists take part in the assessment process via a survey that asks them to rate the importance (Im) of all 27 sub-indicators (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00) (Tomić and Božić, 2014). Once all the ratings are collected, each sub-indicator’s average value is determined and its final value is the importance factor (Im). Then the product of the importance factor (Im) and the value determined by experts (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00) is derived (Tomić and Božić, 2014).

The M-GAM equation is defined as:

M˘GAM = Im(GAM) = (MV + AV); Im = ,

IVk represents the assessment of each sub-indicator by a particular visitor and K indicates the total number of visitors. Im values can be between zero and one (inclusive) (Tomić and Božić, 2014).

The research conducted by Božić and Tomić (2015) divided geotourists into 2 categories: general and pure. Pure geotourists were defined as people whose main reason for visiting is related to the geological and geomor-phological processes that influenced geosite creation. Generally, geologists, geomorphologists, and people with a deep interest in and knowledge of geology are considered pure geotourists. General geotourists were defined as those who, instead of being motivated by the geological significance of a geosite, are just interested in its additional natural and aesthetic values or are just curious about it and the activities they can do there. In their paper, Božić and Tomić (2015) determined the importance factor (Im) for both pure and general geotourists and that these values can be used universal factors in other research.

52Conference papers


Tabl

e 1. G

eosit

e Ass

essm

ent M

odel

(GA

M)

Indi

cato

rs /

Sub-

indi

cato

rsD

escr

iptio

n

Mai

n va

lues

(MV

)

Scie

ntifi

c/Ed

ucat

iona

l val

ue (V

SE)

Rari

ty (S

IMV

1)N

umbe

r of c

lose

st id

entic

al si

tes.

Repr

esen

tativ

enes

s (SI

MV

2)D

idac

tic an

d ex

empl

ary

char

acte

ristic

s of t

he si

te d

ue to

its o

wn

qual

ity an

d ge

nera

l con

figur

atio

n.

Kno

wle

dge o

n ge

osci

entifi

c iss

ues (

SIM

V3)

Num

ber o

f writ

ten

pape

rs in

ack

now

ledg

ed jo

urna

ls, th

esis,

pre

sent

atio

ns a

nd o

ther

pub

licat

ions

.

Leve

l of i

nter

pret

atio

n (S

IMV

4)Le

vel o

f int

erpr

etiv

e pos

sibili

ties o

n ge

olog

ical

and

geo

mor

phol

ogic

pro

cess

es, p

heno

men

a an

d sh

apes

and

leve

l of s

cien

ti fic

kno

wle

dge.

Scen

ic/A

esth

etic

(VSA

)

Vie

wpo

ints

(SIM

V5)

Num

ber o

f view

poin

ts ac

cess

ible

by a

pede

strian

pat

hway

. Eac

h m

ust p

rese

nt a

parti

cular

angle

of v

iew an

d be

situ

ated

less

than

1 km

from

the s

ite.

Surf

ace (

SIM

V6)

Who

le su

rfac

e of t

he si

te. E

ach

site i

s con

sider

ed in

qua

ntita

tive r

elat

ion

to o

ther

site

s.

Surr

ound

ing l

ands

cape

and

natu

re (S

IMV

7)Pa

nora

mic

vie

w q

ualit

y, p

rese

nce o

f wat

er a

nd v

eget

atio

n, a

bsen

ce o

f hum

an-in

duce

d de

terio

ratio

n, v

icin

ity o

f urb

an a

rea,

etc.

Envi

ronm

enta

l fitti

ng o

f site

s (SI

MV

8)Le

vel o

f con

tras

t to

the n

atur

e, co

ntra

st o

f col

ors,

appe

aran

ce o

f sha

pes,

etc.

Prot

ectio

n (V

Pr)

Cur

rent

cond

ition

(SIM

V9)

Cur

rent

stat

e of g

eo-s

ite.

Prot

ectio

n le

vel (

SIM

V10

)Pr

otec

tion

by lo

cal o

r reg

iona

l gro

ups,

natio

nal g

over

nmen

t, in

tern

atio

nal o

rgan

izat

ions

, etc

.

Vul

nera

bilit

y (S

IMV

11)

Vul

nera

bilit

y le

vel o

f geo

-site

.

Suita

ble n

umbe

r of v

isito

rs (S

IMV

12)

Prop

osed

num

ber o

f visi

tors

on

the s

ite a

t the

sam

e tim

e, ac

cord

ing

to su

rfac

e are

a, v

ulne

rabi

lity

and

curr

ent s

tate

of g

eo-s

ite.

Add

ition

al v

alue

s (A

V)

Func

tiona

l val

ues (

VFn

)

Acc

essib

ility

(SIA

V1)

Poss

ibili

ties o

f app

roac

hing

to th

e site

.

Add

ition

al n

atur

al v

alue

s (SI

AV

2)N

umbe

r of a

dditi

onal

nat

ural

val

ues i

n th

e in

radi

us o

f 5 k

m (g

eo-s

ites a

lso in

clud

ed).

Add

ition

al a

nthr

opog

enic

val

ues (

SIA

V3)

Num

ber o

f add

ition

al a

nthr

opog

enic

val

ues i

n th

e in

radi

us o

f 5 k

m.

Vic

inity

of e

miss

ive c

ente

rs (S

IAV

4)C

lose

ness

of e

miss

ive c

ente

rs.

Vic

inity

of i

mpo

rtan

t roa

d ne

twor

k (S

IAV

5)C

lose

ness

of i

mpo

rtan

t roa

d ne

twor

ks in

the i

n ra

dius

of 2

0 km

.

Add

ition

al fu

nctio

nal v

alue

s (SI

AV

6)Pa

rkin

g lo

ts, g

as st

atio

ns, m

echa

nics

, etc

. Tour

istic

val

ues (

VTr

)

Prom

otio

n (S

IAV

7)Le

vel a

nd n

umbe

r of p

rom

otio

nal r

esou

rces

.

Org

aniz

ed v

isits

(SIA

V8)

Ann

ual n

umbe

r of o

rgan

ized

visi

ts to

the g

eo-s

ite.

Vic

inity

of v

isito

rs ce

nter

(SIA

V9)

Clo

sene

ss o

f visi

tor c

ente

r to

the g

eo-s

ite.

Inte

rpre

tativ

e pan

els (

SIA

V10

)In

terp

reta

tive c

hara

cter

istic

s of t

ext a

nd g

raph

ics,

mat

eria

l qua

lity,

size

, fitti

ng to

surr

ound

ings

, etc

.

Num

ber o

f visi

tors

(SIA

V11

)A

nnua

l num

ber o

f visi

tors

.

Tour

ism in

fras

truc

ture

(SIA

V12

)Le

vel o

f add

ition

al in

fras

truc

ture

for t

ouris

t (pe

dest

rian

path

way

s, re

stin

g pl

aces

, gar

bage

cans

, toi

lets

, wel

lsprin

gs et

c.).

Tour

gui

de se

rvic

e (SI

AV

13)

If ex

ists,

expe

rtise

leve

l, kn

owle

dge o

f for

ei g

n la

ngua

ge(s

), in

terp

reta

tive s

kills

, etc

.

Hos

telry

serv

ice (

SIA

V14

)H

oste

lry se

rvic

e clo

se to

geo

-site

.

Rest

aura

nt se

rvic

e (SI

AV

15)

Rest

aura

nt se

rvic

e clo

se to

geo

-site

. Sour

ce: V

ujič

ić et

al.,

201

1.

53Conference papers


Tabl

e 2. G

eosit

e Eva

luat

ion

Scal

e

Gra

des (

0-1)

Indi

cato

rs0.

000.

250.

500.

751.

00

SIM

V1

Com

mon

Regi

onal

Nat

iona

lIn

tern

atio

nal

The o

nly

occu

rren

ce

SIM

V2

Non

eLo

wM

oder

ate

Hig

hU

tmos

t

SIM

V3

Non

eLo

cal p

ublic

atio

nsRe

gion

al p

ublic

atio

nsN

acio

nal p

ublic

atio

nsIn

tern

atio

nal p

ublic

atio

ns

SIM

V4

Non

eM

oder

ate l

evel

of p

roce

sses

but

ha

rd to

expl

ain

to n

on-e

xper

tsG

ood

exam

ple o

f pro

cess

es b

ut h

ard

to

expl

ain

to n

on-e

xper

tsM

oder

ate l

evel

of p

roce

sses

but

ea

sy to

expl

ain

to co

mm

on v

isito

rG

ood

exam

ple o

f pro

cess

es an

d ea

sy to

expl

ain to

com

mon

visi

tor

SIM

V5

Non

e1

2 to

34

to 6

Mor

e tha

n 6

SIM

V6

Smal

l-

Med

ium

-La

rge

SIM

V7

-Lo

wM

ediu

mH

igh

Utm

ost

SIM

V8

Unfi

tting

-N

eutr

al-

Fitti

ng

SIM

V9

Tota

lly d

amag

ed

(as a

resu

lt of

hum

an ac

tiviti

es)

Hig

hly

dam

aged

(a

s a re

sult

of n

atur

al p

roce

sses

)

Med

ium

dam

aged

(w

ith es

sent

ial g

eom

orph

olog

ic ea

ture

s pr

eser

ved)

Slig

htly

dam

aged

No

dam

age

SIM

V10

Non

eLo

cal

Regi

onal

Nac

iona

lIn

tern

atio

nal

SIM

V11

Irre

vers

ible

(w

ith p

ossib

ility

of t

otal

loss

)H

igh

(cou

ld b

e eas

ily d

amag

ed)

Med

ium

(c

ould

be d

amag

ed b

y na

tura

l pro

cess

es

or h

uman

act

iviti

es)

Low

(c

ould

be d

amag

ed o

nly

by h

uman

ac

tiviti

es)

Non

e

SIM

V12

00

to 1

010

to 2

020

to 5

0M

ore t

han

50

SIA

V1

Inac

cess

ible

Low

(o

n fo

ot w

ith sp

ecia

l equ

ipm

ent a

nd

expe

rt q

uide

tour

s)

Med

ium

(b

y bi

cycl

e and

oth

er m

eans

of m

an-

pow

ered

tran

spor

t)H

igh

(by

car)

Utm

ost (

by b

us)

SIA

V2

Non

e1

2 to

34

to 6

M

ore t

han

6

SIA

V3

Non

e1

2 to

34

to 6

Mor

e tha

n 6

SIA

V4

Mor

e tha

n 10

0 km

100

to 5

0 km

50 to

25

km25

to 5

km

Less

than

2 k

m

SIA

V5

Non

eLo

cal

Regi

onal

Nac

iona

lIn

tern

atio

nal

SIA

V6

Non

eLo

wM

ediu

mH

igh

Utm

ost

SIA

V7

Non

eLo

cal

Regi

onal

Nac

iona

lIn

tern

atio

nal

SIA

V8

Non

eLe

ss th

an 1

2 pe

r yea

r12

to 2

4 pe

r zea

r24

to 4

8 pe

r yea

rM

ore t

han

48 p

er y

ear

SIA

V9

Mor

e tha

n 50

km

20 to

5 k

m20

to 5

km

5 to

1 k

mLe

ss th

an 1

km

SIA

V10

Non

eLo

w q

ualit

yM

ediu

m q

ualit

yH

igh

qual

ityU

tmos

t qua

lity

SIA

V11

Non

eLo

w (l

ess t

han

5000

)M

ediu

m (5

001

to 1

0000

)H

igh

(100

01 -

1000

000)

Utm

ost (

mor

e tha

n 10

0000

)

SIA

V12

Non

eLo

wM

ediu

mH

igh

Utm

ost

SIA

V13

Non

eLo

wM

ediu

mH

igh

Utm

ost

SIA

V14

Mor

e tha

n 50

km

25-5

0 km

10-2

5 km

5-10

km

Less

than

5 k

m

SIA

V15

Mor

e tha

n 25

km

10-2

5 km

10 to

5 k

m1-

5 km

Less

than

5 k

m

Sour

ce: V

ujič

ić et

al.,

201

1

54Conference papers



In order to evaluate the potential of the Gradac river’s gorge with respect to geotourism development, the M-GAM model was used. Unlike the proposed importance factor (Im) by Božić and Tomić (2015), which can be applied for other geosites research, as a universal factor, we went a step further and determined the importance factor (Im) for the subject of our research – the Gradac river’s gorge (Table 3). Table 3 is derived based on the methodology developed by Tomić and Božić (2014) and represents values given by experts and importance factor given by pure geotourists for the Gradac river’s gorge. The survey was conducted in August 2020. The questionnaire consisted of 27 sub-indicators, and the respondents were asked to rate the importance (Im) for each particular sub-indicator. The rating was done using a scale from zero to one (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00), where 0 is the lowest value and 1 is the highest value. The target group were tourists who are well acquainted with the researched area. They spend a lot of time in nature, preserve and nurture its values, and have prior knowledge of geology and geomorphology. The questionnaire was completed by 57 respondents who meet the stated criteria and are considered as pure geotourists (Božić and Tomić, 2015). The research results show that the Gradac river’s gorge has medium Main and Additional Values, which classified the gorge into the Z22 cell (Table 4, Fig. 2).

Gorges are a common occurrence in the mountainous part of Serbia but not all gorges have the same significance from the aspect of scientific/educational values. The Gradac river’s gorge can’t be observed in isolation from the area in which it developed. It’s considered as a whole of united geological, geomorphological, hydrological, and biogeographical features. Due to its attractive geomorphological characteristics of relief, hydrogeological features, habitats of rare and endangered plant and animal species, complex forest ecosystems and cultural values, the Gradac river’s gorge is protected as a Landscape of Outstanding Features (Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, 2020). Geomorphological peculiarity is seen in the form of a pronounced meandering of the valley’s lower part. The river valley is characterized by the appearance of clamped meanders and meandering limestone capes, while the sides of the gorge are steep, often very vertical (Simić, 2008).

55Conference papers


Tabl

e 3. S

ub-in

dica

tor v

alue

s giv

en b

y ex

pert

s and

impo

rtan

ce fa

ctor

(Im

) giv

en b

y pu

re g

eoto

urist

s for

Gra

dac R

iver

Gor

ge

Indi

cato

rs/S

ub-in

dica

tors

Val

ues g

iven

by

expe

rts

ImTo

tal v

alue

Mai

n va

lues

(MV

)

Scie

ntifi

c/Ed

ucat

iona

l val

ue (V

SE)

Rarit

y (S

IMV

1)0.

50.

470.

23

Repr

esen

tativ

enes

s (SI

MV

2)0.

50.

660.

33

Kno

wle

dge o

n ge

osci

entifi

c iss

ues (

SIM

V3)

0.75

0.53

0.39

Leve

l of i

nter

pret

atio

n (S

IMV

4)0.

750.

670.

5

Scen

ic/A

esth

etic

(VSA

)

Vie

wpo

ints

(SIM

V5)

0.5

0.56

0.28

Surf

ace (

SIM

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56Conference papers


The scientific community has always been interested in researching this area, and as a result, today we can find numerous scientific papers that analyze the Gradac river’s gorge from different aspects. Most research has been presented through regional publications. Researchers are highly educated individuals living near the gorge. However, given that the significance of the gorge exceeds the regional level, the interest of the scientific community is national, and there are many national publications (Krpo-Ćetković et al., 2019; Marković et al., 2015; Matić et al., 2007; Simić, 2008; Vasović, 2003; Virijević-Jovanović and Pijevac, 2018). The potential for geotourism development is observed through the possibilities of interpreting geosites as well. The Gradac river’s gorge has a moderate level of the geological process which is easy to explain to a common visitor. This indicates that the geosite can be presented to tourists of different profiles and interests.

The Gradac river’s gorge is one of the most attractive and best preserved ambient landscapes in this part of Serbia (Matić et al., 2007). Protection, conservation, and management activities of this geosite are entrusted to a non-governmental organization – Ecological Society “Gradac” from Valjevo. The gorge is protected at the national level and it is a natural asset of great importance, which belongs to the II category of protection. A third level regime has been established, prohibiting activities that may endanger natural values (Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, 2020).

Thanks to geosite conservation activities, landscape/aesthetic values and protection (as an indicator of Main Values) were well evaluated. The Gradac river’s gorge has several viewpoints from which geomorphological and hydrological phenomena can be observed. Most of the gorge is protected, and due to its surface, it can appease a larger number of visitors at the same time which will not endanger its current condition. Nevertheless, a slight damage to the geosite by the reckless behavior of visitors (mostly picnickers) was noticed. They impair aesthetic values and degrade the river’s flow by dumping waste. Functional values are well assessed, which is in direct correlation with the proximity of the city of Valjevo, as a larger urban entity. Accessibility to the geosite is easy, allowing tourists to choose means of transportation. There is a significant number of speleological objects in the gorge, among which Degurićka, Kraljeva, Visoka, Baćina, and Gradska caves stand out. The gorge is a habitat of diverse flora and fauna. The river has first class water quality (Virijević-Jovanović and Pijevac, 2018). The importance of ichthyofauna is especially emphasized. The Gradac River is one of the richest fish stocks, not only in Serbia but also in the wider environment. In addition to numerous natural values, the Gradac river’s gorge is a spiritual and cultural center. The Ćelije Monastery is located on the left side of the valley, in the area of the village of Lelić. The exact time of the monastery’s establishment has not been determined. It is believed that it was built in the 13th or 14th century, during the reign of King Dragutin, i.e. Despot Stefan Lazarević. The relics of the Duke Ilija Birčanin, who was killed in the Slaughter of the Dukes (First Serbian Uprising) in 1804, and Justin Popović, doctor of theology and professor at the University of Belgrade, rest in the monastery complex (Matić et al., 2007). Among other cultural values, the medieval fortress “Jerina’s Town”, Ilovačića watermill, and hydroelectric power plant Degurić stand out. Although it is not located in the gorge itself, the Lelić Monastery should be singled out. It’s a little more than 5 km away from the Ćelije Monastery. The monastery is the endowment of Bishop Nikolaj and his father Dragomir Velimirović. The relics of Bishop Nikolaj were transferred from America in 1991 and are now in the nave of the Lelić Monastery (Matić et al., 2007).

Table 4. The overall ranking of the Gradac River Gorge by the M-GAM

Geosite name Main Values Additional Values Field

Gradac GorgeVSE+VSA+VPr ∑ VFn+VTr ∑

Z221.45+2.38+2.05 5.88 2.47+2.94 5.41

Source: Authors

Promotion is mainly carried out at the regional level. The gorge is known to the population of the sur-rounding settlements. The exceptions are mountaineers and nature lovers. Promotional activities, that are in the domain of the work of the Tourist Organization of Valjevo, is necessary to be improved and modernized. The Gradac river’s gorge has between 24 and 48 organized visits annually. Most of them are organized by mountaineering associations, and a smaller part are school and student excursions. A considerable number of individual visits were noticed. Therefore, the number of visitors annually ranges between 10,000 and 100,000.

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Interpretive panels are of medium quality. They fit well into the environment and are well designed but it is necessary to increase their number along the river. It is suggested that each set of interpretive panels in-form the visitors about the different values of the gorge. This would give visitors a better understanding of the im-portance of the geosite. The Gradac river’s gorge doesn’t have a visitor center nor a tour guide ser-vice. The tour guide service is available only for organized visits, which are previously announced to the Tourist Organization of Valjevo or the Ecological Society “Gradac”. This is considered a major drawback. Efforts should be directed towards organizing a visitor center, where tourists could get information about the geosite. On the other hand, it is necessary to organize a tour guide service that would be available to every individual who decides to visit Gradac river’s gorge. There are hiking trails and resting places in the gorge. The importance of the gorge is evidenced by the fact that the section of the Europe’s walking trails – E7 passes through it (Spatial Plan of the City of Valjevo, 2013), as one of the two sections that pass through Serbia.1 However, garbage cans are rare along hiking and mountaineering trails (mostly located near the Ćelije Monastery), while toilets and other tourist infrastructure facilities do not exist. Due to the immediate vicinity of the city of Valjevo, there is a large number of accommodation and restaurant services. There is a lack of accommodation services in the immediate vicinity of the river flow, the respondents’ state. This may be in conflict with nature protection but choosing accommodation facilities that use alternative energy sources for their operation and are based on sustainable business could be an acceptable solution. Another proposed solution it is to map and arrange additional trails for tourists and visitors that will allow easier and faster movement through the gorge thereby making different parts of this area more accessible.

Božić and Tomić (2015) explored the potentials for geotourism development in the gorges (Djerdap Gorge and Ovčar-Kablar Gorge) and canyons (Lazar Canyon and Uvac Canyon), through the comparative analysis from two perspectives of geotourists: general and pure. The research results of pure geotourists classified the Djerdap Gorge in the Z22 cell, indicating medium Main and Additional Values, which matches the Gradac river’s gorge. However, although they are in the same cell (Z22), differences in the Main Values are evident. The Djerdap Gorge has a value of 7.98 (Gradac 5.88) which makes it on the border with high Main Values. Such results are not surprising considering that the Djerdap Gorge was recently inscribed in the UNESCO list of Global Geoparks and was declared the first geopark in the territory of the Republic of Serbia. Also, it was once again confirmed that its importance exceeds national borders. In addition, the Djerdap Gorge is one of the largest protected natural assets in Serbia (63,786.48 ha). Due to its size and dominant geomorphological and hydrological forms of relief, it attracts the attention of not only pure geotourists, but also general. In terms of Additional Values, the Gradac river’s gorge (5.41) is better positioned in relation to the Djerdap Gorge (5.3). This is because the Gradac river’s gorge is located in the immediate vicinity of a larger city settlement – Valjevo – thereby enabling good traffic connections and various accommodation and restaurant services.

Figure 2. Position of Gradac Gorge (black) and Djerdap Gorge (blue) in the M-GAM matrix

1 The European Ramblers’ Association (ERA) brings together 63 walking organizations from 33 European countries. These organizations have a total of more than 3 million individual members. The association has designed 12 European paths whose total length exceeds 55,000 km. Two European paths pass through Serbia – E4 (Eastern Serbia) and E7 (Western Serbia) (European Ramblers Association, 2020).

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CONCLUSION

Due to its natural and anthropogenic values, as the basis for the tourism development in the broadest sense, the Gradac river’s gorge has exceptional potential. Natural values have emerged as a result of many years of endogenous and exogenous processes and they can’t be visibly changed in the near future. Additional values are mostly in the domain of human activities, which means that the idea, organization, strategy, and development plans and their implementation can enrich natural values in order to develop geotourism. Geotourism is a type of tourism that relies on sustainable tourism development. This means that geosites are valued for the needs of tourism in order to provide socio-economic benefits, while conserving natural heritage, respecting the socio-cultural authenticity of local communities, and ensuring tourist satisfaction. For geotourism development of the Gradac river’s gorge, it is proposed:

◆ Establishment of a visitor center in which tourists will get acquainted with the basic values of geosites, and comprehensive information on the rules of behavior in nature. The center should also monitor tourist flow.

◆ Organizing a tour guide service that will be available to individual and group visits. The tour guide service should lead tourists on trails that are exclusively intended for them, with the provision of all necessary information about the geosite. Tour guides should know at least one foreign language.

◆ Setting up interpretive panels along the trails intended for tourists, which will be designed to inform tourists about certain geosite values (geological, geomorphological, speleological, hydrological, clima-tological, biogeographical, and cultural). Each interpretive panel should contain patterns of responsible behavior for tourists.

◆ Setting up garbage cans along trails for tourists. ◆ Charging parking fees. The collected money should be purposefully used for the functioning of the

Ecological Society “Gradac”. ◆ Establishment of punitive measures for irresponsible behavior of tourists, which impair the basic and

aesthetic values of the Gradac river’s gorge. ◆ Providing financial resources for more efficient functioning of the Ecological Society “Gradac” so that

a sufficient number of rangers (due to lack of financial resources currently only 1 or 2 people are in charge) who would take into account the rules of behavior of visitors and punish irresponsible tourists.

◆ Construction of eco-lodges that are in accordance with the principles of environmental protection (use of sustainable and renewable energy sources, adequate treatment of garbage and wastewater, implementation of environmental education programs for employees, tourists and locals, etc.).2

◆ Organizing interactive workshops for tourists of different profiles and ages. ◆ Improving the availability of the Ecological Society “Gradac” (reactivation of the website and enabling

correspondence by phone and e-mail in order to obtain information on speleology, flora and fauna, fishing, tourist attractions, etc.).

Through the conducted research, we have determined that the Gradac river’s gorge has an exceptional potential for geotourism development but there is a lot of room for the improvement of Additional Values. It is necessary to design and direct an offer that will be adapted to different types of tourists and not just geotourists. This is important to emphasize because geotourists have an increased level of awareness of the importance of preserving natural and cultural values. General tourists on the other hand, can leave long-term negative consequences and degrade the geosite because of their reckless behavior. In addition, to ensure adequate geotourism development, it is necessary to improve cooperation between the public and private sectors, which is currently at a low level. It is also necessary to improve and modernize promotional activities and expand them to the national level. The Tourist Organization of Valjevo has a crucial role in that because it represents the tourist values of Valjevo (to which the Gradac river’s gorge territorially belongs) on the domestic and international tourism market.

2 Eco-lodges and eco-tents are smaller and modest accommodation facilities, located within a protected natural asset or in the immediate vicinity, designed to fit into the natural environment. They are made of environmentally friendly materials, which function using renewable energy sources (Gardner, 2001).

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Better organization of the website (containing more information about the Gradac river’s gorge, its natural and cultural values, emphasizing the importance of responsible behavior) could directly and indirectly influence tourists and their behavior in the future.

Thus, tourism and environmental protection would be in less conflict and the development of geotourism could help not only to increase the employment of the local population, but also to increase their awareness of preserving geosites. With an approach that integrates organization of geotourism and its responsible management, a number of positive effects could be expected in the future.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The paper represents the results of research on the National project supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the Republic of Serbia (No. 176008), and according to the Agreement of Cooperation No. 0801-417/1 (21/03/2019).

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COMPLIANCE OF THE EU LEGAL ACTS WITH MONTREAL CONVENTION (MC99) ON UNIVERSAL LIABILITY REGIME FOR INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE BY AIR-IMPORTANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM WORLDWIDE

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: Entire set of the different international treaty regimes covering airline liability that had developed since 1929 has been unified by this Convention into a single legal act regulating airline liability worldwide. Thus, importance of such a regulation and protection of passenger’s rights is obvious in terms of sustainable tourism development and consistency.Significance of the Montreal Convention (in further text: MC99) has been recog-nized not only by individual states globally, but also by the European Union itself. According to Chapter VII, Article 53, the MC99 is open for signature not only by single states, but also by any Regional Economic Integration Organizations. The EU has taken advantage over that opportunity and introduced Regulation 889/2002 which fully corresponds to the MC99. Recognizing some shortcomings, the EU made amendments and introduced the Regulation 261/2004. This article aims to focus on compliance of the EU legal acts with the MC99, in cases of passenger’s death or injury, delay in scheduled routes, denied boarding, upgrading and downgrading in cases the air carrier places a passenger in a seat not previously reserved by the passenger. This means that authors have focused on protection of passengers’ rights and support for sustainable tourism development worldwide.

Keywords: Montreal Convention MC99, EU Regulations 889/2002& 261/2004, Liability Regime for International Carriage by Air, Sustainable Tourism Development.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-61-66

INTRODUCTION

The EU’s Air Passenger Rights Regulation 261/2004 came into force in February 2005 introducing minimal levels of aid and compensation for passengers faced with denied boarding or affected by long delays or cancellations (The European Comission, 2013). The importance of this regulation can certainly be viewed through the prism of sustainability. First of all, focusing on the main aspects of sustainability - economic, social and environmental, this regulation deals with safety and security for tourists or, in this case, passengers. In this regard, it is clear that such regulation allows more worry-free travel planning because tourists know that their rights, regardless of the destination within EU, will be protected.

Aleksa Panić*,Marija Kostić


Correspondence: Aleksa Panić


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This Regulation is closely related to the MC99, but it still provides additional rights to passengers in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or flight delay. However, in situations of a passenger’s death or injury during the flight or during the boarding or leaving the aircraft, liabilities and compensation is regulated by the rules of the Montreal Convention (Živković, 2013). According to Geelhoed (2005), the EU’s Regulation doesn’t conflict with the main values of the Montreal Convention. He also explains that even the Convention was ratified by EC in 1999, it entered into force 5 years later: “The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air (hereinafter the ‘Montreal Convention’) was signed by the European Union on December 9th, 1999. It was approved by decision of the Council of April 5th, 2001. It entered into force on the territory of the EU on June 28th, 2004” (Geelhoed, 2005). IATA describes Montreal Convention as an international legal document which “establishes airline liability in case of death or injury to passengers, as well as in cases of delay, damage or loss of baggage and cargo” (IATA, 2017).

New guidelines have resulted in substantial changes in behaviour in airline industry, in particular compressing the use of denied boarding and commercial cancellations by carriers (with all the disruption that this causes for passengers) as ensuring overall better treatment for passengers on their journey (The Euro-pean Comission, 2013). This provides greater trust from passengers and contributes to global development of sustainable tourism. When it comes to sustainability on the part of airline operations, such regulations are of particular importance. First of all, clear rights of passengers oblige companies to conduct better training, and in addition, unification of rules prevents the company from inventing rights, i.e. to remain without passengers because certain rights within that company are not guaranteed. In that way, their business remains in domain of market economy, rights of passengers are clearly defined, and passengers will not diversify carriers on that basis.

When we consider sustainability, the important fact is compensation for passengers in case of unfortunate situations. That provides a dose of confidence, security and carefreeness. According to Malenovsky (2016) “the Regulation and the Convention established two separate compensation systems pursuing different objects”. Despite, passengers’ rights are still protected in both compensation systems.

However, the air companies manage to find gaps in regulations and in case they know that the flight will face cancellation or delay, the management will find a reason that justifies them before the law and releases of liability (Živković, 2013). For example, if an air company faces a delay, the management will probably inform passenger that it is due to some mechanical problem or if there is a cancellation of the flight, they will say that it is due to weather conditions. Some authors notice that it is a clear misunderstanding of interpretation. For example, Deviatnikovaitė (2018) states that “although the Regulation and the Convention both relate to protection of air passenger’s rights, it remains ambiguous when and in which disputes these acts should be applicable”. This is something that should be surpassed by introducing increased control of the compliance of the regulation on protection of passengers. In any case, this regulation ensures maximum efforts to provide a quality travel experience that is an integral part of the overall experience of time spent at a destination. The biggest benefit, logically, have passengers from EU countries, because of the frequency of travel. However, the impact on “third countries” is not negligible, to which by law the regulation does not apply directly, but any connection with EU countries automatically protects the rights of these passengers, regardless of nationality or any other reference of affiliation, and thus helps those countries develop their tourism more prudently.

CASES OF LIABILITY REGIME FOR INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE BY AIR

Death or injury

Unlike some articles of the Montreal Convention, the article devoted to death or injury of passengers hasn’t been adjusted or upgraded in the Regulations of the European Commission 889/2002 and 261/2004 and the articles 17 and 21 of the MC99 strictly apply in all signatory countries (Živković, 2013).

With the Montreal Convention introduced, air carriers got greater liability in terms of eventual injuries and deaths of their passengers. Of course, the air company is responsible only if the injury or the death happened during the flight, or during entering or leaving the aircraft (International Air Transport Association (IATA), 1999).

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According to Article 21 of the MC99, for damages up to 100 000 SDRs the air companies cannot avoid their obligation to compensate passengers. Above that amount, the air carrier can defend itself by proving that the fault was not caused on purpose or due to negligence of either an air company’s staff or an agent (The European Parliament and the Council, 2002).

In case of death or injury of a passenger, the air company must make a prepayment in order to cover the immediate economic urgency and within 15 days from the day the person entitled to reimbursement has been identified. In case of death, the advance payment should not be lower than 16 000 SDRs (The European Parliament and the Council, 2002).

These decisions arising from the Montreal Convention ensure that passengers or, in the worst-case scenario, their families be reimbursed in a fair manner. Moreover, it motivates air companies to invest more in crew training so they would be able to act in the most adequate way. In addition, an airline management is now aware of necessity of modern equipment in an aircraft, especially ones intended for saving human life.

Delay

Delay in scheduled routes of any kind, so in air transport as well, is one of the most challenging issues in modern era of transport. It may occur due to bad weather, air traffic management, airport capacity, airline technical and operational matters, behaviour of other passengers, and behaviour of other airlines or some external factors (McDonald, 2003).

Article 19 of the MC99 clearly indicates that in case of passenger, cargo or baggage delay, the air company is responsible for damage unless it proves that it took all possible measures to avoid the delay or it was impossible to take such measures (International Air Transport Association (IATA), 1999). However, it is not mentioned what kind of measures the air company is expected to apply in order to avoid the responsibility, which leaves airlines with room for a manoeuvre in order to avoid liability.

According to the EC Regulation 261/2004, if a passenger is denied boarding or their flight has been cancelled or overbooked, they have a right to ask for alternative ways of transportation to their final destination or to ask for ticket refund and in if the situation allows, asked to be returned to their initial departure point. In case of long delays, which means 5 hours or more, a traveller may also ask for a refund, but in that case, air carrier doesn’t have to provide any additional onward travel or assistance. In addition, every airline must inform its passengers about the reasons for the delays, if the delay would last 2 hours or more, or any cancellation or denied boarding. Furthermore, the airline must inform its customers about their rights regarding this matter (European Comission, 2013).

Denied Boarding

According to Article 4 of EC Regulation 261/2004, in case when, for any reason, Air Company may anticipate deny of boarding, it should first ask for any volunteers willing to negotiate compensation and future benefits in return for their reservation retrieval. If it turns out that there are no many volunteers, the air company may decide to deny boarding against the will of passengers. That decision would cause call on liability of the air company and compensation should be paid to passengers (The European Parliament and the Council, 2004). That definitely motivates air companies to give their best to find a solution and avoid paying compensation and penalties to passengers.

Still, in case they do not motivate passengers enough to voluntarily give their reservations back, the liability which the air company has is regulated under the articles 7, 8 and 9 and it depends on how long the boarding is denied or postponed. In case of up to 4 hours delay, the air company is, according to EC 261/2004, Article 9, Right to Care, obligated to provide passengers with meals and refreshments and two free of charge calls or any other form of communication.

In case of a delay lasting longer than 4 hours, the air company should, in addition to the above mentioned, provide a recompense to passengers if they want to cancel the trip. Furthermore, airline management should provide free accommodation and transfer to and from the hotel (The European Parliament and the Council, 2004).

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These articles stated in the EC Regulation 261/2004 serve as a shield to passengers, because otherwise air companies would offer very low compensation deals, or they would deprive passengers from getting benefits afterwards. However, it is not stated, for example, what level of quality should accommodation be, or what kind of meals the passengers should get. So, there is a room for the air company to save some money and provide passengers with lower-quality accommodation or meals.

One of the most common reasons for denied boarding is overbooking due to a mistake or misperception of the airline. Obviously, it is the airline’s fault and a passenger may ask for a refund.

The proposed mandatory and immediately payable compensation amounts vary depending on the distance to a destination on the ticket:

1. 250€ → 0 – 1.000 kilometres;2. 400€ → all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres, and for all other flights between 1500

and 3500 kilometres3. 600€ → all other sort of flights. (McDonald, 2003)

Upgrading and downgrading

In the Regulation EC 261/2004, one rather important article has been introduced. Sometimes the airline puts a passenger in a seat which was not previously reserved by the passenger. In the article 10 it is stated what the consequences should be in case of placing a passenger in a different class - if the passenger is placed in a higher class, there is no need for any supplementary payment. But, if the passenger is placed in a lower class, the air company should reimburse them within 7 days:

a. For flights 0 to 1500 km → 30% of the price of the ticket;b. For all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres, except flights between the European

union and the French overseas departments-regions, and for all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres → 50%

c. All other flights → 75%(The European Parliament and the Council, 2004)

It is possible that a reason such measure has not been developed earlier is that there was no reason for it – the air transport was not as developed and situations such as these were not common. However, with the number of passengers on the increase, it is possible that the air company makes overbooking or any other kind of mistake which would lead to placing the passenger in a wrong class. That is why it is good that such protection has been introduced and it should be used to force air carriers to pay more attention on how they make reservations and distribution of the passengers.

CONCLUSION

The Montreal Convention, with all its positive and less positive aspects, brought necessary refreshment in the developed and modernized air industry, as well as tourism industry indirectly. Air carriers must be aware that without passengers there is no reason for their existence and therefore, keeping their passengers happy, satisfied and safe should be among their main concerns. There is no business or a company without both internal and external problems, hence in the air industry as well. However, all parties involved in securing safe air transportation for passengers must use all of their efforts and take advantage of their responsibilities in order to prevent and minimize the failures in service. That is the only way they can develop their business and ensure its sustainability. Offering the adequate compensation if an accident occurs would most likely be enough for an injured passenger to choose the same company again to fly with. On the contrary, it could damage the reputation of the company because most of those cases finish in public. Every air company, like any other hotel or a company is some other business, strives to gain as much loyal customers, as possible.

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Therefore, losing the existing passengers would mean losing revenue and if it loses revenue because it does not accept its fault or try to cover and avoid it, then that company could easily be taken out of business.

In addition to importance for sustainable development of tourism, in our case more specific passengers and airlines, an additional aspect is the sustainable development of the destinations themselves. Hereby, it is necessary to mention the important aspect of tourism industry and that would be sustainability. Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, which has significant impact on natural resources, consumption patterns, pollution, and socio-economic systems. Sustainable tourism makes a minimal impact on environment and local culture, while contributing to overall development by helping generate future employment for local people and bringing a positive experience for tourism companies and tourists themselves (Kostić & Jovanović-Tončev, 2014).

Regulation discussed in this article enables tourist entities to plan tourism development without hindrance, because there is no fear that tourists from a certain country will not come because they are afraid of the outcome of the trip, or that in case of unwanted and unplanned situations their rights remain unprotected. The principles of sustainable tourism should be the guiding principles of each stakeholder that defines the tourist offer. Thanks to this regulation, and the Montreal Convention, of course, the business of tourism entities is significantly facilitated and tourists, i.e. passengers, are additionally motivated to travel because their rights are protected and, moreover, companies are obliged to inform them about it. In this way, that ensures a sustainable business and possibility of long-term planning of tourism development and operations in these areas. It can be said that such a regulation not only protects the rights of passengers but also enables tourism entities to plan their activities much easier and more carefree, knowing that tourists will not cancel their arrivals for fear of unforeseen and unwanted situations during the trip.

With further modernization and development of the industry, there will be need for further regulations to be adopted, as was the case before the Montreal Convention. The European Union is a leader in this legislation process, but air industry’s officials still must put their efforts to ensure that the Montreal Convention is implemented, as well as all other existing laws and regulations in order to maintain the reputation of the airline transport as the safest and the most sustainable way of travelling and to send the message that all air passengers are equal and that their rights are recognized and fully protected.

REFERENCES

Deviatnikovaitė, I. (2018). The Montreal Convention of 1999 and regulation no 261/2004 in the EUCJ and national case law. Baltic Journal of Law & Politics, 11(1),, 21-47, DOI: 10.2478/bjlp-2018-0002

European Comission. (2013). Air passenger rights. Retrieved May 20, 2020, from Europa.eu.Geelhoed, M. Opinion of Mr Advocate General Geelhoed delivered on 8 September 2005. The Queen, on the

application of International Air Transport Association and European Low Fares Airline Association vs. Department for Transport, Case C-344/04, European Court Reports 2006 I-00403

International Air Transport Association (IATA). (2017). A Universal Liability Regime For International Carriage by Air – Montreal Convention 1999 Retrived May 21,2020, from https://www.iata.org/contentassets/fb1137ff561a4819a2d38f3db7308758/position-paper-mc99-july-2017.pdf

International Air Transport Association (IATA). (1999). The Montreal Convention 1999 (MC99). Retrieved May 10, 2020, from International Air Transport Association (IATA) Web site: http://www.iata.org/policy/Documents/MC99_en.pdf

Kostić, M., & Jovanović Tončev, M., Importance of sustainable tourism, in Sinteza 2014 - Impact of the Internet on Business Activities in Serbia and Worldwide, 722-725, Belgrade, Singidunum University, Serbia, 2014, DOI: 10.15308/SInteZa-2014-722-725

Malenovský, J. (2016). Regulation 261: Three Major Issues in the Case Law of the Court of Justice of the EU. In M. Bobek, & J. Prassl, Air Passenger Rights. Ten Years On, 21-47, Oxford and Portland, Oregon: Hart Publishing.

McDonald, M. (2003). European Community Tourism Law and Policy, Dublin, Blackhall.The European Comission. (2013). Press realeases - Air Passenger Rights Revision - Frequently asked questions.

Retrieved May 20, 2020, from Europa.eu: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-203_en.htm

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The European Parliament and the Council. (2002). Regulation (EC) No 889/2002 of the European Parliament and the Council. Retrieved May 22, 2020, from Official Journal of the European Communities.

The European Parliament and the Council. (2004). Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Retrieved May 22, 2020, from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML

Živković, R. (2013). Ponašanje i zaštita potrošača u turizmu [Behavior and Consumer Protection in Tourism]. Beograd: Fakultet za turistički i hotelijerski menadžment, Univerzitet Singidunum.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY IN THE APPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT OF SMART TOURIST DESTINATIONS

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: When the development of tourism is based on the principles of sustainable development it also contains a segment of environmental safety, because the concept of sustainable tourism is unattainable if the environmental safety indicators are not characterized in the right way. The smart tourist destination concept is based on the widespread use of advanced technologies and all types of data to improve overall destination management, and thus its prominence and competitiveness. Problems that have arisen in the environment, as a consequence of anthropogenic actions, have conditioned a different understanding of safety and the connection of environmental issues and safety. Environmental protection is an unavoidable factor of internal stability and safety, and the problems of endangering the environment are not only problems of internal, but also of global safety. Environmental safety refers to the relative safety of the public from environmental hazards caused by natural or human activity, environmental incidents, poor management or causes located within or outside national borders. Comparative indicators of sustainable tourism integrate indicators of environmental safety as a kind of warning indicators that provide a picture of the state of the environment and impacts that tourism has on certain media: water, air, biodiversity, soil.

Keywords: environmental safety, indicators, smart tourist destination, sustainable tourism.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-67-73

INTRODUCTION

The modern age, with all its continuous challenges arising from numerous factors and interests, demands new approaches that would from a theoretical point of view provide adequate answers to the “open” questions posed by the modern age.

Tourism, which depicts society and monitors changes in the habits, behaving, tendencies and psychological inclinations of the entire population, imposes itself as an important factor in preserving the environment and all those resources that are essential for its development and long-term survival. In this regard, there is a need for all stakeholders to act in accord-ance with the principles and goals of sustainable development, recognizing and understanding the role of the tourism sector in preserving the envi-ronment, whose disruption and degradation raise risks, not only in terms of internal stability, but security at the global level.

Dejan Mandić*,Miloš Tomušilović,Mesud Adžemović


Correspondence: Dejan Mandić


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The need to transform and adapt tourism to socially and environmentally responsible activity, with an emphasis on planning and implementing sustainable development strategies, is becoming an imperative of modern times. One of the desired consequences of this transformation is reflected through the prism of the phenomenon of sustainable tourism, with the goal for its principles to be fundamentally rooted in the tourism itself, to avoid the scenario that sustainable tourism remains vague and does not recognize the principles and values of eco-tourism.

Analysis of the current situation and close perception of the future has imposed the need to develop a strategy for sustainable tourism development, where the traditional perception of cities and tourist destina-tions must necessarily be transformed by a new perception, i.e. dimension that is by definition smart. “Smart” means the unbothered functioning of entities through the improvement of experiences through the use of new technologies and innovations, which serve as support for all those activities directed at preserving the environment, and together they accepted the values that will create an adequate basis to achieve and establish a true principle of tourism sustainability.

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AND ENVIRONMENT

The relation between tourism and the environment cannot be viewed as an equal set of influences concerning the relation between the presence and the entities. The long-term survival of its business tourism bases on availability. This availability, in addition to exploitation and use by economic and other activities, can be linked to tourism. When we talk about the nature of these influences, it is possible to single out direct influences, such as deforestation for the purpose of building hotel capacities, but also indirect impacts, such as impact of noise on wildlife.

Tourism is a complex activity that involves significant financial resources and economic incentives for environmental protection, restoration of buildings of historical importance and preservation of local customs, traditions and cultures. Tourism also contributes to understanding among people of different cultures and, perhaps most obviously, provides an “escape” from the stress and routine of everyday life (Theobald, 2005).

The impacts of tourism on the environment and resources can be seen through three categories: economic impacts, socio-cultural and spatial-environmental, each of these categories include positive and negative impacts. The impacts are different because the resources, conditions and levels of tourism development are different and specific. The concept of mass tourism is dominated by the economic approach in tourism development planning, and success is evaluated exclusively by economic indicators. By moving away from that concept, it tends to advocate for sustainable tourism development. Participants at the local level must reach for the arsenal of visionary approaches and consistently consider the possibilities and interests of all community members, so that the positive impacts of tourism outweigh the negative ones that need to be reduced to an absolute minimum (Milošević, 2009).

The environment is an organic unity of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, biosphere and environmental media: air, water and soil. The development of tourism, if not controlled, can have negative consequences for all segments of the environment, in a direct and indirect way (Dražić, 2020).

Every form of tourism can be sustainable if it uses the resources on which its future depends in the short and long term in a responsible and rational way. The condition and imperative requirement for the development of sustainable tourism, which is closely related to water resources, for example, is the observance of rigorous standards for preserving water quality. In that sense, an important element is the protection of the environment, or at least the absence of negative influences (Božić and Milošević, 2019).

Sustainable development implies both economic and social sustainability. Social sustainability is closely related to local communities, their traditions and culture, which remains consistent and whose integrity is actually strengthened, although under the influence of other cultures that tourists “bring” from their home places. Economic sustainability ensures the long-term survival of tourism through the generation of economic growth that serves to finance protection and enables sustainable use of resources (Beljanski, 2018).

The wide availability of attractive destinations has influenced the massiveness of tourist movements under the expansion of tourist demand. Ecological sustainability enables development in accordance with ecological

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processes and biological diversity. Social and cultural sustainability means harmonizing the development of tourism with the traditional values of local communities, while economic sustainability ensures long-term economic efficiency. All three of these principles insist on conserving resources (Marković et al., 2016).

The principles of sustainable tourism can be classified as follows (Fig.1):

◆ Sustainable use of resources - the emphasis is on the preservation and sustainable use of natural, social and cultural resources;

◆ Reduction of waste and excessive consumption of resources - thus minimizing the negative impact on the environment and achieving economy in terms of funds needed to invest in protection and damage remediation;

◆ Maintaining biodiversity - it is a key resource for tourism and its protection and promotion ensures long-term survival and development;

◆ Inclusion of tourism in development plans - tourism will ensure its long-term sustainability if it is an integral part of local, regional and national development plans;

◆ Contribution to the local economy - sustainability includes the return of a certain percentage of income from tourism, which will be used to finance environmental protection and direct investment in tourism resources;

◆ Involvement of local participants - it is not possible to have satisfied tourists if the local population is not satisfied with the presence and activities of tourists, so the involvement of local participants is an important step in planning the development of tourism in a destination;

◆ Consulting participants and the public - on any question related to the environment, i.e. natural, social and cultural resources, it is necessary to consult as many participants as possible;

◆ Training of staff - it is crucial to conduct a comprehensive education of staff on current issues of sustainable development and management, which will result in a higher quality tourist product and satisfied visitors. Not only tourism experts are responsible for managing the sustainable development of tourism, but also ecologists and geographers, economists and marketing experts;

◆ Responsible marketing - which is based on ethical principles and moral values, is a useful tool in managing the tourism of a particular destination. The more information is shared with tourists, the greater their sense of responsibility in relation to natural, social and cultural resources;

◆ Market research (emitting and receptive) - it is not possible to survive and thrive in the tourism market without continuous collection, processing and analysis of all relevant data concerning the sustainable management of the tourist destination. The strategy of tourist destination management is adjusted to the requirements, wishes and preferences of tourist demand.

Figure 1. Principles and goals of sustainable tourism

Source: www.alexandregarrido.blog, 2020

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Ecotourism is a responsible tourism because it actively minimizes the negative consequences on the environment, while strengthening the local culture and tradition. Ecotourism promotes the medical moment as an integral part of eco-products and implies the active participation of tourists in sports and recreational activities such as hiking, mountaineering, cycling and swimming. This form of tourism has determined as a target group ecologically conscious tourists who see the preservation of the environment as a priority of modern civilization and are willing to pay a price for practicing this form of tourism which is increased by a symbolic amount. Free time is becoming more valuable, so tourists want to spend it in destinations charac-terized by clean sea, unpolluted rivers, preserved flora and fauna, clean air and healthy food. An important aspect of ecotourism, which is also characterized by the connection with rural tourism, is the spatial protection of nature, especially those parts of it that are important for scientific, cultural-educational and recreational purposes (Čekrlija, 2017).

INDICATORS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY

When the development of tourism is based on the principles of sustainable development, it unequivocally contains the segment of ecological safety because the concept of sustainable tourism is unattainable if the indicators of ecological safety are not characterized in the right way. Problems that have arisen in the environment as a consequence of anthropogenic action, have conditioned a different understanding of safety and the connection between environmental problems and safety. The connection between the environment and war conflicts was pointed out through “research on environmental and security topics related to global environmental changes, ecological scarcity, degradation and stress, as well as their possible socio-political consequences.” In that sense, it is pointed out that preserving the environment is an unavoidable factor of internal stability and security of a country, but also that the problem of endangering the environment is not only a problem of internal, but also security at the global level (Adžemovic, 2019).

Ecological safety also refers to the safety of the public from ecological hazards, as a result of ignorance, incidents, poor management, poor design or causes located within or outside national borders. Ecological safety is also solving the problem of insufficient resources, environmental degradation and biological hazards, and methods of overcoming these problems include the use of ecologically valid technologies (use of renewable resources, recycling, less waste), as well as the application of legal and economic instruments of environmental protection (Adžemovic, 2019).

Indicators of ecological safety, which should facilitate and guarantee the quality of life, can be classified into several clusters, such as: legal norms in the field of the environment; regulations governing the field of environment; implemented environmental protection programs; spent funds for environmental protection; but also indi-cators related to air (climate change, ozone depletion), water (reduction of surface and groundwater levels), soil (acidification and soil degradation), biodiversity (loss of biodiversity) and forests (forest degradation). Problems that can be related to the quality of water, air and land are urban stress, major ecological incidents (industrial processes, natural disasters), population growth, unsustainable consumption and loss of natural resources (Adžemovic, 2019).

DISCUSSION -SMART TOURIST DESTINATIONS

Just as it was logical to expect tourism to respond to the principles of sustainable development with its version of sustainable tourism, nothing less is expected of tourism economy activities to implement the phenomenon of smart cities into their destination management.

It would be wrong to link smart tourism exclusively to its ecological aspect, although one of the more important goals of smart tourism relates to the effects of tourism decisions on the environment. It implies something much broader and more complex, and is based on the use of information and communication technologies. However, it is not possible to implement the element of smartness in tourist destinations and make them smart destinations if the mentioned elements are not previously incorporated into the phenomenon of tourism, making it smart tourism.

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To understand the concept of smart tourism, it is necessary to look at the traditional concept of tourism, enriched by the use of smart technologies and innovations. When it comes to smartness, we start from information, all with the aim of innovation in terms of designing tourism products and securing a competitive position in a dynamic market, as well as improving the tourist experience of visitors and more efficient business in terms of resource use, in order for “smartness” to provide a stronger foundation for sustainable tourism.

The smart tourist destination is based on the widespread use of advanced technologies with the goal of creating an integrated digital space and improving competitiveness (Fig. 2). The smart tourist destination promotes innovative values, quality of services and original values of the local community (Vargas-Sanchez, 2016).

When developing conceptual models of smart tourist destinations, we start from precisely defined key issues and criteria by which their strength, position and competitiveness is determined (Koo et al., 2016). Among the most important are the issues of optimal relationship and rational use of natural resources for tourism purposes, but also what are the decisive factors and criteria on the basis of which a smart destination is characterized and represented.

Three types of information and communication technologies can be identified as key for the application of the concept of smart tourist destinations, i.e. for their establishment:

1. Cloud computing - this technology provides access to web platforms and data stored on the cloud via a specific network. In the context of a smart tourist destination, that would mean sophisticated systems of digital tourist guides, which would be on the so-called cloud, without the need for visitors to download them to their own devices;

2. Internet of Things (IoT, the interconnection of computer devices embedded in everyday objects via the Internet, allows them to send and receive data) - in the context of tourism, it could provide information and analysis, as well as control (chips embedded in tickets of certain attractions provide insight into the consumption of visitors and insight into the popularity of certain segments within the attraction based on location analysis). On the other hand, if we are talking about control, it is possible to control the flow of tourists through sensors and thus take care not to break through the carrying capacity of the site or attraction;

3. End-user internet service system - means applications at different levels, supported by a combination of cloud computing and Internet of Things, e.g. an innovative hub for electric vehicles, and the app contains charging point maps and provides real-time information on vacancies and their locations (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015).

Figure 2. Use of informationand communication technologies in destination management

Source: www.ontotext.com, 2016

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CONCLUSION

The research that covered the practical application of smart technologies and innovations in the business of entities in Subotica (Gallery Hotel, Zvonko Bogdan Winery, Contemporary Gallery Subotica –RajhelovaPalata and Zvonko Bogdan Farm Winery), which meet the needs of tourist demand for their services, on the one hand the efficiency of the mentioned approach, while on the other hand the degree of progress and innovation in relation to modern standards has been determined.

The applicability of smart technologies and innovations in tourism has proven to be an indispensable part of all future plans for the development of this activity, mostly because the mentioned technologies are in line with the transformation of tourism that strives for sustainability, and enable equal commitment to all elements of sustainability, for cost-effectiveness and success of tourism activities.

Smart technologies and innovations can also be seen as a basic or digital infrastructure for implementing the concept of smart cities, or in this case smart tourist destinations. However, in societies that have not reached the full level of implementation, progress is recognized by the level of smart technologies and innovations applied in the everyday life of the city or destination. The concept is a higher level and does not only mean “smartness” engraved in all city services and elements, but also harmonization and synchronized functioning.

The research identified the implementation and use of smart technologies and innovations that precede the concept, determining the level of implementation with suggestions for better use of available technologies. The fact is that it is difficult to determine the exact level of distance from the implementation of the concept of smart cities and destinations, because the results are revealed much later, preceded by years of research, planning, forming partnerships and establishing or harmonizing strategies. However, the positive effects that the concept entails with its implementation are clear, which means that there is no reason to stop only at the individual use of technologies and innovations, without a clear initiative to unite into a single system that harmoniously affects the well-being of its inhabitants.

On the other hand, the concept needs to be tested on smaller samples and if the implementation proves successful, scaling the project to wider and more complex systems is initiated. Therefore, it was expected that the original concepts would appear in smaller communities such as Subotica, before expanding to larger ones such as Novi Sad or Belgrade.

The paper also highlighted the link between tourism and the environment, primarily “dissecting” tourism into a chain of segments, which are then symbolically exposed to the elements of the environment affected by their uncontrolled development, and finally transformed by the use of modern technologies into segments that like puzzle pieces merge into a collective vision of sustainable tourism.

REFERENCES

Adžemović, M. (2019).Ecological safety.University Singidunum, pp. 6-26, Belgrade, Retrieved September 15th, 2020 from http://master.crnarupa.singidunum.ac.rs/2019-2020/Zivotna+sredina+i+odrzivi+razvoj/Ekoloska%20bezbednost%20-%20Mesud%20Adzemovic/).

AlexandreGarrido Blog. (2020). Myth or true: Following safety protocols will transform tourism operations less sustainable. Retreived on September 15th, 2020 from https://turismosustentavel.blog.br/2020/10/27/myth-or-true-following-safety-protocols-will-transform-tourism-operations-less-sustainable/

Beljanski, N. (2018). Ecological responsibility of tourism.TIMS Acta 12, 37-45, Novi Sad, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5937/timsact12-15846

Božić, A., Milošević, S. (2019). Ecological responsibility in the hotel industry. TIMSActa 13, 51-60, Novi Sad, DOI:10.5937/timsact13-20598

Buhalis, D., Amaranggana A. (2015). Smart Tourism Destinations Enhancing Tourism Experience Through Personalisation of Service, Springer International Publishing, pp. 377-389, Switzerland, DOI 10.1007/ 978-3-319-14343-9_28

Čekrlija, S. (2017). Ecotourism and sustainable resource management. “Svarog”, 14. (227-235), Independent University Banja Luka, Banja Luka, DOI 10.7251/SVA1714227C

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Dražić, G. (2020). Sustainable tourism. University Singidunum, Faculty of Tourism and HotelManagement, Belgrade, Retrieved on September 15th, 2020 from https://singipedia.singidunum.ac.rs/izdanje/43277-odrzivi-turizam.

Koo, C., Shin, S., Gretzel, U., Cannon Hunter, W., Chung, N. (2016). Conceptualization Of Smart Tourism Destination Competitiveness. Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 26 No. 4, 561-576, http://dx.doi.org/10.14329/apjis.2016.26.4.561

Marković, S., Perić, M., & Mijatov, M. (2016).Application of comparative EU indicators: The city of Uzice case study (Serbia).Journal of the Geographical Institute” Jovan Cvijic”, SASA, 66(2), 255-271. DOI: 10.2298/IJGI1602255M.

Milošević, M. (2009). Impacts of tourism on the quality of the environment in Europe (Bechelor’s thesis), Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, UniversitySingidunum, pp. 10-16, Belgrade.

Ontotext. (2016).Linked Data Paths To A Smart Tourism Journey. Retrieved September 15th, 2020 from https://www.ontotext.com/blog/linked-data-paths-smart-tourism-journey/

Theobald, W. (2005).Global Tourism-Third Edition. Elsevier Inc., pp. 33-52, Amsterdam,Netherlands, ISBN: 0-7506-7789-9.

Vargas-Sanchez, A. (2016). Exploring the concept of smart tourist destination. Enlightening Tourism,A Pathmaking Journal, Vol 6, No 2, pp. 178-196, ISSN 2174-548X, Retrieved September 15th, 2020 from https://www.academia.edu/30399422/EXPLORING_THE_CONCEPT_OF_SMART_TOURIST_DESTINATION


74

Marija Stojanović*,Nikica Radović,Angelina Njeguš


Correspondence: Marija Stojanović


POSSIBILITIES OF SUSTAINABLE AIRPORT BUSINESS

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: Raising awareness of the negative impact of air traffic on climate changes with the greenhouse effect is increasing, so airports are also expected to contribute to reducing its impact on the environment. The airport area has the greatest negative impact not only because of harmful exhaust gases, aircraft noise, but also because of seizure of green areas, fragmentation of natural wildlife habitats, depletion of non-renewable natural resources, energy consumption, generation of waste left behind by tourists, soil and water pollution which are just some of the negative effects that air traffic has on the environment. Negative impacts on the environment extend to the land outside the airport, which can further affect the efficiency of the airport, and thus the sustainable development of the airport. Air travel has made it easier for tourists to get to the other side of the world faster, and the LCC has made transportation accessible to a large number of people. The increased number of tourist arrivals has its positive and negative impact on the population, which is reflected in the quality of life and health of people living near the airport. Reducing the negative impact of air traffic on the environment should be the main goal of airport management. The paper analyzes the sustainable development of the airport with reference to Constantine the Great Airport in Nis, as well as several good examples of airport practice in the world.

Keywords: sustainable airport development, airport sustainability, sustainable air traffic, Constantine the Great Airport


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-74-79

INTRODUCTION

The increase in the living standard of the population resulted in a greater possibility, desire and need to travel, and therefore to an increase in the air traffic intensity. Air transport has many advantages compared to the other forms of transport: faster and better quality of transport, cover-ing long distances, safer transport, etc., and according to the UNWTO, 58% of tourist movements in 2018 were realized through air transport (UNWTO, 2019). In order to contribute to the reduction of the negative impact of air traffic on the environment (pollution as well as aircraft noise), operational procedures which air carriers should implement during the take-off and landing have been established (for ex. the Chicago Convention or Directive 2002/49 EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the assessment and management of environmental noise).

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The local population living near the airport has several health issues due to the aircraft noise: they suffer from sleep disorders, stress, and hypertension, have difficulty working as well as concentrating.

In accordance with the principles of sustainable tourism at the destination, there must be cooperation of all the actors in order to meet the needs and expectations of tourists and achieve certain economic effects by connecting foreign investors interested in investing in the region of the airport service area. In addition, it should enable the inclusion of the local population in providing services to tourists which would be beneficial for the local community, and which in turn would protect and improve the local environment thus enabling the preservation of cultural heritage.

Nis, as an international tourist center with Nis Spa, along with the mountain centers Kopaonik and Stara Planina, as well as Sokobanja which gravitate towards it, enables the development of health tourism, rural tourism, cultural tourism, winter sports and congress tourism in this part of Serbia. Having in mind the increasing global need for air traffic as well as its influence on the development of tourism in Serbia, the offer of airlines at Constantine the Great Airport in Nis has been expanded in order to attract more tourists.

The benefits that Constantine the Great Airport brings to the city of Nis and its surrounding area are not only reflected in the positive effects and the satisfaction of people who live there, but also in the increased number of foreign visitors, higher accommodation occupancy rate, larger number of employees, increased investments of foreign companies in the southern Serbia industrial development, infrastructure development and better connections with other cities in the region, the organization of numerous festivals, cultural events and tourist attractions in Nis which are becoming more accessible to foreign tourists. Gastronomy and wineries contribute to positive image that foreign travelers get about this part of Serbia. In addition, the proximity of the airport to the mountains and spas is an advantage that should be used for further development.

SYNERGY OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AND AIR TRANSPORT

Although air traffic, as a basic means of mobility in the global society, has a positive effect on the development of tourism, traffic, economy and quality of social life, it also has negative impacts on the environment and people, especially those living near the airport. Ensuring the development of sustainable transport occupies a very important place in the EU Sustainable Development Strategy and is essential for the society and economy. Sustainability is becoming synonymous with “growth permits”.

Sustainability at small airports cannot only be seen as “green” but must also have a holistic approach to sustainability that enables EONS: (ACRP Synthesis 69, 2016)

E - Economic viabilityO - Operation efficiencyN - Natural resource conservation - ecological sustainability, air quality improvement, water quality preservation

and conservation, climate change, conservation of energy / renewable sources of energy, noise reduction, waste management, recycling, land and property use

S - Social responsibility

Figure 1. Holistic approach to sustainability at small airports - EONS

Source: SAGA – Sustainable Aviation Resource Guide, p.56

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IATA (International Air Transport Association) members are persistently committed to reducing green-house gas emissions. One of the main elements in achieving these goals may be the introduction of low-carbon (SAF) Sustainable Aviation Fuels or the introduction of electric aircraft. Achieving these goals requires government support at the national and international levels. What is necessary is the professional education of all participants at the airport, as well as state support to producers in the production of alternative sustainable jet fuel. Constantine the Great Airport could contribute to sustainability if it insists on landing only planes that use biofuel, but the EU has not yet shown sufficient readiness to support the decarbonisation of air traffic which requires raising public awareness about reducing CO2 emissions. It is recommended to enter the carbon accreditation process and obtain an international certificate which would indicate a business that is in line with the goals of sustainable development. Given that airports with smaller capacities, such as Constantine the Great Airport in Nis, do not have sufficient financial resources to support themselves, as well as to commit themselves to sustainability efforts in accordance with the goals of sustainable development, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has launched the initiative through an airport improvement program, providing support for the development of sustainable master plans and necessary documentation for the sustainability of airports. This would give the airport an advantage in the market which is the basis for future growth, and the airport could promote itself as a socially responsible company (ACRP Synthesis 69, 2016).

Constantine the Great Airport in Niš is located in a zone with very favorable weather conditions, which is an important reason for its use as an alternative airport compared to other airports in the region. With the introduction of numerous LCC (Low Cost Company) lines, it has become attractive to travelers in the wider region as well. According to the Nis Airport data, which show that the tendency of growth of the number of passengers at the airport is constant, there is an increase of 57.8% in January 2020 when compared to January 2019. The capacity of the airport is three planes per hour and a total of 100,000 service passengers, which indicates the fact that the airport has exceeded its carrying capacity in the last 3 years. In 2019, it served 422,255 passengers with a total of 3934 air operations (www.nis-airport.com/en/traffic-figures/). The solution to the problem of the airport carrying capacity is seen in the construction of a new or expansion of an existing airport facility, which can take into account the use of energy efficient materials and thus reach some of the goals of sustainable development.

Smaller airports, such as “Constantine the Great” in Niš, must generate revenue in ways other than fees for airport services, fees for the use of passenger terminals, fees for parking aircraft, government investment, certain commercial services offered by the airport, renting advertising space inside and outside the airport, selling fuel, renting office space, facilities and land, passenger car parking services, transfer services, etc. Recycling programs can pose an additional income that can generate a financial benefit by selling recyclable materials or using LED lighting and can lead to better economic effects by having cheaper bills for electric energy consumption, and at the same time, they represent a form of participation in achieving sustainability goals (ACRP Synthesis 66, 2015).

Launching and implementing sustainability programs at Constantine the Great Airport can have many benefits: increased business competitiveness, reduced operating costs, efficient and greater use of assets, reduced environmental and noise impact, optimization of new and better technologies, improved working environment for employees - higher labor productivity, a useful tool for engaging stakeholders, creating partnerships, improving passenger satisfaction, attracting business to the airport.

The introduction of sustainability at the airport must go step by step:

◆ Short-term: awareness building, improving sustainability through technology (awareness training, human resource management and internal communication).

◆ Medium term: sustainable business - sustainable facilities, efficient energy, security including bio-sensors, robots, data management.

◆ Long-term: implement a disruption plan (crisis management), use of security platforms, strong inter-national cooperation of the authorities, smart safety equipment, 0 emissions from air traffic, redirection of protective personnel due to the use of robotics, etc.

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We can list several selected cases funded by the FAA as good examples of the introduction of sustainability at small airports in the world (ACRP Synthesis 69, 2016). The main goal of these examples is to show the ideas of the sustainable development initiative implemented at small airports around the world, which can be applied at Constantine the Great Airport. Although small airports have much less resources (financial resources, staff, facilities) compared to large airports, they should be implementing sustainable initiatives. They are more innovative when it comes to the implementation of sustainability, and thus they find cheaper solutions for the implementation of plans for sustainable development. The main application should not be focused on the number or scope of implemented initiatives, but on the necessary transformation of the ways personnel think which would lead them to think in a sustainable way when conducting business operations and making their business decisions.

EXAMPLE 1: Airport in Colorado - web sustainability platform

The first state to be funded by the Federal Aviation Administration is Colorado. Airports in Colorado have created an Internet web platform for customizing airport sustainability plans. After developing a network tool that enables airport staff to insert distinct parameters and answer various questions, a sustainability plan has been created. Today, it has an online information management system available to all airports in Colorado. The implementation of this segment of sustainable business at Constantine the Great Airport and the development of a web platform would innovate the existing business processes.

EXAMPLE 2: Airport Riverside – California

This airport sought to reduce electricity consumption so it replaced all lights on the runway, parking lot, taxiways with LED lighting. The power of light has improved, and energy consumption has decreased significantly. Motion sensors are installed in the building which allows them to turn off automatically if the office space is empty. In order to reduce water use by 25% due to urban drought and participation in austerity measures, Riverside Airport replaced grass and vegetation on 30% of its surface with gravel and concrete and they replaced urinals with lower water flow in men’s toilets by means of which they reduced the amount of water used in rinsing. Based on this example of good practice, with the possibility to implement LED lighting at Constantine the Great Airport, the costs of electricity that surpass the other fixed operating costs would be minimized.

EXAMPLE 3: Airport Lakeland Linder in Florida

In order to significantly reduce airport utility costs, Lakeland Linder airport has implemented a plan to produce renewable energy by building a solar field on its surface. In cooperation with the city, the airport ceded the city’s land and installed over 18000 solar panels on 40 hectares of the airport area. This is the first solar field at the airport of a smaller size that generates over 9 million kW/h of solar electricity annually and saves over 250000 US dollars in energy credits per year. As a result, the airport’s electricity costs are almost eliminated. By analyzing the possibilities of valorization of sustainable energy sources in the city of Nis, it is estimated that this good example of practice could be implemented in the businesses of Constantine the Great Airport and thus contribute to minimizing business costs and increasing profitability.

SUSTAINABILITY OF AIR TRAFFIC AT AIRPORTS USING GIS

In line with the goals of sustainable development, there are many benefits of applying GIS in the responsible business and that entails the following: reduced CO2 emissions, noise reduction and environmental protection, the possibility to monitor variables, make real-time analysis, deliver sustainable growth, share the technology to ensure accurate data use within the organization and share resources necessary for further sustainable development. When using GIS, one can look at the current situation on air quality and determine the future scenario in the processes of expanding the capacity of air traffic. By digitally managing airport intelligence information, airports will operate more efficiently and sustainably (Ağaçsapan and Çabuk, 2019).

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The goal of the airport should be: to provide not only sustainable, safe and ecologically friendly business processes, but also modern and efficient airport infrastructure, high quality service, and to hire a talented and motivated team of employees. The application of modern technology affects the development of tourism and the aviation industry, and consequently its sustainability which is why the application is necessary. Despite large efficiency gains, total carbon emissions will continue to grow with tourism growth, indicating the need for more innovative and progressive business models that enable companies to operate in an ecological and sustainable manner.

By combining BIM technology (Building Information Modeling) and GIS, the system is enriched with many tools, such as takeoff amount, cost estimation, structural safety analysis, four-dimensional workspace where various operations can be done, such as building performance simulation, planning, managing resources and the site. Furthermore, the system also incorporates a tree structure and a 3D graphic system that enable the visualization of temporal, relational, hierarchical, and spatial information. Alongside with the advanced 3D graphics platform and BIM technology, projects regarding future designs related to the sustainable expansion of airport capacity will be developed, and this would be the main goal of introducing the location at the airport (Ponjavic and Karabegovic, 2019). A well-designed space of airport buildings and infrastructure as well as performing complex business processes at the airport provide the opportunity to reduce the negative impact on the environment and indicate a contribution to more sustainable practices. An increasing number of airports as well as owners of other properties associated with airports use BREEAM and CEEQUAL technology to assess the viability of the facility (Leonard and Nicholson, 2020).

CONCLUSION

The main goal of this research work is to place emphasis on the necessity of sustainable infrastructure in the construction of the airport complex in Nis and its importance for the city, region and even the state. The offer of LCC, which influenced the attraction of an increasing number of foreign tourists, enabled the development of the tourism economy of this part of Serbia and, at the same time, influenced the life of the local community. The idea is to point out the necessity of cooperation between the airport and all partners and state entities for the purpose of planning and implementing environmental protection measures in accordance with the standards and best practices. It is necessary to set sustainability goals at all levels of airport management as well as continuous monitoring and implementation of operational procedures. Air traffic will continue to be the fastest and most comfortable way to travel, especially when it comes to covering long distances. Innovations in the business processes of Constantine the Great Airport, both in terms of information and communication and through the application of renewable energy sources, can greatly improve the business and image of this airport, all with the aim to develop sustainable and responsible tourism. In order for the business to be responsible, our obligation is to minimize damages caused by air traffic, and negative impacts brought by over-tourism every year, so that the development of tourism in this area can progress and coexist with the environment.

REFERENCES

Ağaçsapan, B. & Çabuk, A. (2019). Sustainable Aviation: GIS For Airport. GSI Journals Serie B: Advancements in Business and Economics, 2(1).

Kambouroglou, P. (October 2019). The airport’s sustainability agenda – contributing positively to a better planet and AVSEC. from http://www.airport-business.com/2019/10/airports-sustainability-agenda-contributing-positively-better-planet-avsec/, Retrieved: January 21, 2020

Nis Constantine the Great Airport. Statistics, from http://nis-airport.com/en/traffic-figures/, Retrieved: February 4, 2020

IATA, Developing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), from https://www.iata.org/en/programs/environment/sustainable-aviation-fuels/, Retrieved: January 31, 2020

Leonard, D. & Nicholson, I. (2020). “How to make airports sustainable” International Airport Review, issue 03, Jun 2020, p.43-45

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (2016). ACRP Synthesis 69, Airport Sustainability Practices Drivers and Outcomes for Small Commercial and General Aviation Airports, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/23486, p.16-25. Retrieved: January 21, 2020

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2015). ACRP Synthesis 66, Lessons Learned from Airport Sustainability Plans. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/22111, p.18

Ponjavić, M. & Karabegović, A. (2019). Location Intelligence Systems and Data Integration for Airport Capacities Planning. Computers, 8(1), 13.

Sustainable Aviation Resource Guide, Planning, Implementing and Maintaining a Sustainability Program at Airport. (2010). SAGA Resource Guide, p.56

UNWTO Tourism Highlights (2019). UNWTO, Madrid, https://www.e-unwto.org/doi pdf/10.18111/9789284421152, Retrieved: April 21, 2020

Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals – Journey to 2030, UNWTO, Madrid, January 2018, https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/epdf/10.18111/9789284419401, Retrieved: January 21, 2020


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SUSTAINABLE RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN CANTON X OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: Despite its favorable position in the Adriatic Sea hinterland and its good connection with the emitting markets, Canton X is still underutilized tourist destination – “terra incognita” for all but skiers and passerby travelers heading toward Adriatic coast. In similar territories, holding precious agriculture traditions, valuable products, and rich and diverse cultural and natural heritage, rural tourism was already successfully introduced. In this respect, the hypothesis that rural tourism could become the backbone of the future Canton X rural economy seems easy to prove. Yet, considering existing tourist attractors and factors, as much as services provided, rural tourism development seems not to be as simple task as presumed. The line of weaknesses and shortcomings are detected in its value chain requiring numerous interventions, as much as integrated, area-based developments approach. The fragile Dinaric natural environment and complex socio-economic features of the region appear a chal-lenge, rather than a simple opportunity. Besides discovering frames, potentials as much as concerns related to rural tourism development, this paper is also attempting to model rural tourism for versatile use of available resources which can contribute to sustainable diversification of Canton X rural economy while keeping the environment safe and social fabric inherently preserved.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, area-based development, tourism in fragile environments, Dinaric Arch.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-80-91

INTRODUCTION

Canton X is one of the most attractive areas in Balkans. If the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development criteria are applied, Canton X is entirely rural. 68.33% of the population lives in rural areas and the rest in small urban centers. It is an authentic and tremendously attractive Balkan rural area with the immense heritage and valuable living rural traditions. In similar rural environments world-wide, rural tourism is introduced as a valuable economic activity, being capable of mobilising human and natural resources to improve liveli-hoods of local rural communities. Although mainly well accessible, Canton X is left behind, widely known for only few of its products - skiing on Kupres, Livno cheese and Glamoč potato, while view on its immense cultural and natural heritage remain blurred.

Suzana Đorđević - Milošević*,Boris Vakanjac,Mesud Adžemović




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Apart from the urban centers, cantonal economy is highly dependent of primary sector, with the considerable contribution of subsistence farming. Population of Canton X intensively out-migrates, due to the extreme dissatisfaction with the quality of life and unemployment in rural areas. Therefore, rural development has been defined as one of the main economic, social, and environmental challenge by Canton X Government; local economy should be diversified, while primary and further secondary industries more efficient and better valorized. The fundamental hypothesis is that the sustainable rural economy diversification based on numerous underutilized resources supposed to create new employment opportunities and consequently improve liveli-hoods. Tourism has been recognized as the key sector, which can drive it through facilitating establishment of firm synergies between various economic sectors. Rural tourism is observed in Canton X as a potent economic activity capable to utilize multifunctional features of agriculture and absorb local products. To confirm this hypothesis, cantonal resources should be thoroughly explored, risks and constraint understood, and possible rural tourism development scenarios created and rated. This research was preceding work on a feasibility study for rural tourism development in Canton X.

LITERATURE REVIEW

According to the Voluntary National Reviews, tourism appears to be largely recognized as a high-impact sector with potential to advance all Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) (United Nations Development Programme, 2018). From the beginning of this century, numerous authors have attempted to prove that rural tourism is one of the most important factors for securing the sustainable rural development (Stagl, 2006, Udovč and Perpar, 2007, Nurkovic and Dzeko 2014). Of course, the capacity of rural tourism to contribute to the resolution of problems in rural areas was evolving, depending on how a number of critical issues was resolved, its organization improved, participants expanded and support policy built as predicted by Keane (2000). Tourism, as much as rural tourism as its segment, is after all lessons learned seen as an opportunity to advance with the SDG, but also the one who can challenge some. Challenges enlisted were mostly related to SDGs 12, 14 and 11 with the emphasis on „Responsible Consumption and Production“ (United Nations Development Programme, 2018). Heritage-based tourism such as rural tourism, depend in large extent of the cultural and natural heritage sustainable use and might have complex financial and cultural consequences (Ničić, 2015).Therefore, selection of resources and modes of their exploitation should be part of business environment analysis as much as the risk assessment should precede design of risk mitigation measures. In that case creation of different tourism development scenarios will have much more chance for success. This research is exploring potentials and designing rural tourism which can hold SGD achievement in an extremely socially and environmentally fragile rural region in West Balkans – often called simply “Livno area” although wider - the territory of Canton X of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

METHODOLOGY

The overall goal of this research is to identify the most feasible rural tourism features which can contribute to socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable rural development in Canton X. The study is targeting part of the territory of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina situated in its west-south-west part, along the border with Republic of Croatia. It is predominantly mountain region situated in Dinaric Arch, which belong to six municipalities, namely: Bosansko Grahovo Drvar, Glamoč, Kupres, Livno and Tomislavgrad (former Duvno).

The introductory desk work was completed to explore the policy and legal frames for the rural tourism development in Canton X. The following survey was conducted with participation of 30 local food and drinks producers (farmers and entrepreneurs), to explore their attitudes regarding the value of the environment in which they live, the resources they have, as well as comparative advantages in relation to other areas in the function of developing rural/agro-tourism products and its placing on the market. The survey contained 16 questions, open and closed. Identification and estimation of tourism assets was conducted in a participatory way with the group of regional stakeholders, members of the Cantonal rural development strategy development group, using simplified Factors attractors and services analysis (FAS) methodology (Fayos-Solà at al, 2014).

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Data were analyzed in stakeholders groups to provide estimation of the suitability of the position, traffic and infrastructure, relations & networking with other commercial & public entities, tourism marketing system, organization and management, assessment of the support to tourism development and position of tourist products in Canton X. An extensive survey of Canton X territory was conducted on the field for getting wide picture of the space and individual overview of the potentials for rural tourism development and complemented with the desk research. Findings from this survey were summarized and exposed to Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats (SWOT) analysis for estimating conditions for rural tourism development. Data were analyzed in groups to provide estimation of the suitability of the position, traffic and infrastructure, relations & networking with other commercial & public entities, tourism marketing system, organization and management, assessment of the support to tourism development and position of tourist products in Canton X. Selected development models were exposed also to the risk assessment.

RESULTS

The Law on Tourist Activities (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2009a) and the Law on Catering Services (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2009b) exist in Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation, but defi-nition “rural tourism” is not mentioned within these regulations. The tourist sector of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina legislation is using descriptive for touristic activities carried in rural areas and villages (Sivrić, 2020). Bosnia and Herzegovina Rural Development Strategic Plan 2018-2021 Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, 2018) is enlisting rural tourism as the potential activity for rural development, defining rich natural and cultural heritage of the country as capital providing possibilities for diversifying rural economy. The Law on Agriculture, Food and Rural Development of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2008) have included measures supporting diversification of economic activities in rural areas and measures targeting improvement of the quality of life in rural areas: support for introducing supplementary activities and, so called, non-agricultural services, measures to improve rural areas and preserve the natural and cultural heritage and other associated measures. Rural tourism is recognized as feasible also in Tourism Strategy for Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2011-2021 (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2011).

Canton X Development Strategy for the period 2016-2020 (Vlada Herceg-Bosanske Županije, 2016) emphasizes that the Canton space is special, preserved, and unique which provide opportunities for the development of various forms of tourism and therefore declares as one of primary goals sustainable development of tourism as much as the necessity of preserving the integrity of resources to create a competitive tourism product. The development model of Canton X presented in the Development Strategy of Canton X (Vlada Herceg-Bosanske Županije 2016) is based on the principles of sustainable development, given the need for simultaneous valorization, as well as the preservation of natural resources and cultural and historical heritage. Given the commitment to sustainable development in the function of improving the local population, the development of winter tourism, ecotourism, adventure tourism, ethno-tourism, cultural tourism, or the development of experiences that will combine the elements (parts) of the mentioned forms of tourism are acceptable for this area. Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development in Canton X, 2018-2024 (Vlada Herceg-Bosanske Županije, 2018) provide vision and objectives for agricultural and rural development. Investment support to the development of the tourism sector is seen as a relevant instrument intended for creating new employment opportunities and income generation in rural areas of Canton X.

Regional potentials for rural tourism through small producers of local food and drinks introspective

Farmers and entrepreneurs producing local food and drinks have ranked the quality of water, air and agri-cultural products, as the main assets for tourism. 28 respondents from 30 are most proud of their surroundings and / or villages, natural beauty of the countryside, landscapes, healthy environment, winter lake tourism, and mountains, but also hospitality and hard-working population, and preservation of tradition in culture. The perception of the respondents (19 out of 30) is that it is an abundance of nutritious wild and medicinal herbs, the production of local brandy and quality honey, authentic dairy products for this area (cheeses) is as much attractive potential for tourism development as the regional history and good conditions for winter activities.

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Basic resources / events / products by which the area is famous are rated on the scale from the grade 1 - not relevant to the 5 - most significant. The importance of natural and cultural resources, the quality of the environment, the specificity of breeds of animals, conditions for tourism, hospitality, and gastronomic offer, got the highest ranks. Highest figures respondents have used to rank the quality of water, air and agricultural products, while the lowest are granted to events. 25 of 30 respondents think that there is a possibility of better linking of tourism and gastronomy, and that this relationship will attract more tourists. Better legal regulation is required to make this possibility achievable. 19 respondents are interested in tourism as an additional activity, and up to now, only one agricultural holding and cooperative have been involved with the tourist activities, through participation in short food supply chains. Respondents are rarely familiar with the production of products with medicinal properties or other positive effects (11 respondents did not answer, while others listed honey, tea, cornelian cherry, goat milk and cheese).

When asked “What are the typical services / tourist activities of the region”, most respondents listed winter sports, hiking, hunting and fishing, one respondent said gastronomic services, while other respondents listed attractive for nature areas or cultural and historical monuments. Wild fruits harvesting, cutting wood for heating and technical use, hunting and fishing and local events were identified by respondents are highly important economic activities based on local ecosystems services. The role of hunting is estimated as modest and insufficient. The hunting for wild boar, deer, bear, and trout is mentioned as present, but very few respondents mentioned the other game species.

Products that, in the opinion of the respondents, have the greatest potential for placement through the tourist offer are cornelian cherry products, honey, meat products, Livno cheese, Livno beer and home-made preserves. Several respondents commented that these products only have a perspective if they get legal protection. Such law is needed as soon as possible. Only few respondents think that traditional local products/services can be profitable, but only if subsidized. The majority think that Canton X products are underestimated on the market (too cheap considering their quality). Responders think that their products are better than similar from other regions because they are produced in a traditional way and related to biodiverse biological resources such as pastures for instance. They believe that promotion of traditional regional food, through rural tourism can help them sustainable develop regional rural economy, which is a positive sign that they can easily fit with the global strategies for diversification of rural economies (Đorđević-Milošević, 2020), as much as the philosophy of shortening food supply chains for promoting small farms. The positive attitude of the kind is opening widely entrance for the promotion of the alternative livelihoods (Đorđević-Milošević and Milovanović, 2014 and 2020) in this fragile natural environment. Sustainable rural development models which are developed in last decade (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008, Đorđević-Milošević and Milovanović, 2012) will correspond to both natural environment and local communities in Canton X.

Potentials for rural tourism development as seen by regional rural development stakeholder group

Deepening of the knowledge about the potent solutions continued with the identification and estimation of tourism assets with rural development stakeholders group. Relevant tourism factors, which have not yet been developed, were rated with an average grade of 2.87. The lowest rated were capital factors (1.83), due to the limited access to financial support in Canton X. The human capital allocation factors were rated with 1.91, due to the emigration of professional labor; this factor should be considered as a major threat for the further development of rural tourism in Canton X. The overall average score of natural factors in Canton X, according to the analysis of the stakeholder group is 4.88. Out of 17 identified natural factors, a group of stakeholders had assessed the biodiversity and beauty of natural factors, as well as potentials of micro-location, that have the potential to attract the tourists. Canton X is an area rich in rivers and lakes, that had been identified by the group of stakeholders as the main factors for tourism development were: the Unac River, the Prekaj Lake, the Bastaško Lake with spring and Bastašica stream, Hrast and Busija Lakes, the Ždralovac Lake, the Kukavica and Buško Lake, and artificial Preodac and Borovačko Lake, as well as a number of attractive mountain destinations and caves (more identified natural factors with a high potential for attracting tourists were also mentioned.

As the most relevant social/human factor, besides the enthusiasm in local community, whose significance was emphasized by stakeholders from Drvar, was a lack of professional labor.

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This is the result of the long history of outmigration of professional personnel (longer than the postwar period, since outmigration was intensive already from 60 s of the 20th century), which already undermined local economy. The final assessment of human factors and the level of development according to the analysis of the stakeholder group is 1.91 out of 5. Canton X rural areas according to the analysis of the stakeholder group is an area with very limited financial capital and the availability of favorable loans. The average mark for the capital factors was low - 1.83 out of 5. Internal investment potential insufficient while rural areas of Canton X are not attractive enough for external investors. Small number of investments in rural family households derive mostly from local people working abroad.

Traffic Infrastructure factor: Road infrastructure was rated as 3.2 by the group of stakeholders of Canton X, however, this average does not reflect reality prospective since the stakeholders of Glamoč municipality point out that regional road network in their municipality continuously degrade, while the municipality of Grahovo did not evaluate the road infrastructure at all, having major gaps spread through the territory with no chance to be filled. The air infrastructure, on the other hand, is rated at 1.67, although Livno is on its way to upgrade their sports airport to the regional one.

Attractors The classification of attractors is based on the natural, cultural and elements of activity centers. This shapes relevant tourist attractions in Canton X. Through the list and analysis of tourist attractions performed by the group of stakeholders, the final score is 3.77 which shows great endogenous impulse for the development of the tourism sector. Group of stakeholders have identified 11 major natural attractors and rated it as an average of 3.55, reflecting a high degree of their value in attracting tourists, while the average rating of potential for the future is 4.81, indicating the great potential for their increase of the attractiveness in the future. The average assessment of the current situation encompassed visitor ratings, beauty and accessibility for tourism; while the average assessment of the potential for the future included: the possibility of improvement, the increase of visitors and the improvement of accessibility for the future.

The group of stakeholders rated cultural attractions as 3.9, indicating a high level of value of cultural attractions in Canton X as a tourist resource. This average assessment of the current situation reflects a high level of value in the offer of existing tourism products related to cultural attractions, while the average assessment of the potential for the future, which is 4.40, indicates the existence of the solid ground for tourism development. The average assessment of the current situation encompassed visitor ratings, beauty and accessibility for tourism; while the average assessment of the potential for the future included: the possibility of improvement, the increase in visitors and the improvement of accessibility for the future.

Additional services support refers to the areas of the tourism industry, which support tourism activities in given destinations. The average rating of auxiliary support services in Canton X according to the analysis of the stakeholder group is 2. A group of stakeholders assessed the accommodation capacities and restaurants in Canton X with an average score of 3.23, while the average assessment of the potential for the future 4.9. The average assessment of the current situation included category ratings and capacity / availability.

Although the Split, Mostar and Zadar Airport are relatively close, the group of stakeholders, probably due to the lack of adequate terrestrial transport links, does not recognize air transport as a significant support to tourist destinations on their territory (score 2, based on only one rating from Livno, which have rated connection with the Split airport as satisfactory). Most stakeholders have scored the municipality’s connection by bus very low. According to the stakeholders, only Glamoč and Livno have better bus connections. The average score for inland transport is 2.13. The Municipality of Kupres points out that the lack of a bus station represents a serious problem. Stakeholders have not identified other internal transport factors (train, taxi) as significant support of tourist destinations in their area. In Kupres and Livno a bicycle rental service is available - rent a bike, which was assessed by stakeholders with a score of 2.25. Renting horse for riding tourists is available in Glamoč, Kupres and Livno and is has been rated as 2.33.

Estimating conditions for rural tourism development (an expert birds-eye view)

Strategic potentials. SWOT analysis has shown a relatively restricted set of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Nevertheless, on this basis, a wide range of strategic actions might be created to lead to the construction of high-quality tourism products. They will give a completely new character to this area, whose

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primary enormous significance stems from the existing natural and cultural heritage, but also human resources existing in civil and private sector. Here, we primarily took into consideration strategic competitive advantages on which Canton X can build its rural tourism offer in the near future. The potentials which can provide strategic advantages for establishing unique offer and products can be defined as follows:

◆ Positive attitude of the population of Canton X towards tourism, openness, traditional hospitality, and a strong emotional experience that the guest experiences during his stay in Canton X.

◆ Local schools educating adequate profiles and presence of certain number of professionals educated abroad, as much as enthusiastic and knowledgeable CSO sector, could give a strong boost to tourism development if mobilized within their competences.

◆ The geostrategic position of Canton X is on the traditional caravan route of salt between the Pannonian lowland and the Adriatic Sea, today’s transversal linking European Corridor 10 and the Mediterranean Highway. Canton X represents the still undiscovered tourist destination of Southeast Europe, which in the community with the wider Dinaric Balkan belt represents a perspective area for the development of sustainable forms of tourism, among which rural tourism certainly occupies a prominent place.

◆ The great unused potential of Karst region, rich in waters, mountains, and the underground, is priceless for rural tourism development with its preserved geo and biodiversity, as a unique set of attractions in this part of Europe.

◆ Ancestral heritage of monuments of different epochs and cultures, intangible cultural heritage, with significant cultural, spiritual and religious centers, cultural tradition and attractive local products – agricultural, artisan food and wildlife, as the source for economic benefits, as much as an inspiration of the multi-ethnic community.

◆ Local events that reveal the characteristics of the local community and its eternal way of combating and adapting to harsh climatic conditions and wild nature, make the area unique and more interesting than many others. This, along with the additional elements of diverse cultural and historical influences from Illyric times and Rome, through the Ottoman to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the period of the rule of communist philosophy, leads to the present and the efforts to modernize and enrich the space, while preserving its wild beauty for the future.

The main strategic shortcomings that Canton X should solve to succeed in the tourism market are:

◆ The international market still has no awareness of Canton X as a tourist destination. The reason is mostly the fact that Canton X, apart from ski and horse tourism in Kupres, never worked on the commerciali-zation of other tourist products and built a tourist offer on available resources using the experience from the world and the surroundings. There is no system of managing a tourist destination that could, along with adequate promotion budgets, raise the interest of tourists for these areas. Consequently, the Canton X is known as a transitory territory which should be passed to reach ski-centres of Kupres or the Adriatic coast, while the north-east part of the Canton X (except Drvar) remained unknown to tourists.

◆ Natural and cultural heritage is well-known but hardly truly conserved. Majority of it is exposed to degradation and devastation. For instance, due to the war destruction of cave equipment, facilitating visits of laics, from the tourist map disappeared even such attraction as it is Ledenica cave - one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful cave in the former Yugoslavia. Natural and cultural heritage will benefit in great extent if finally used for tourism, since it will bring money for their maintenance. If not used, degradation might continue.

◆ Lack of generally accepted cantonal vision of tourism, the lack of local (municipal) visions, and the lack of structuring tourism of the Canton X on the basis of dominant experience or cluster principles, except in the Kupres municipality (Federalno ministarstvo okoliša i turizma , 2009; Lugonja, 2013), completely marginalized the importance of tourism as a potent economic activity for sustainable diversification. Canton X local rural economies can benefit a lot of rural tourism as a tool to better valorize the available resources and the adding value instrument for local food and agriculture industry.

◆ Due to insufficient cooperation and coordination between different state institutions and relevant stake-holders in tourism of Canton X, established spatial-urban regulation of most current and potential tourist

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destinations and centers is still insufficiently articulated. Disappearance of original architecture and disturbance of landscape’s diversity due to the suspension of traditional farm practices, environmental incidents (illegal dumps, destruction of wetland habitats, forest fires etc.) attractiveness of the space is continuously decreasing, undermining tourism development.

◆ Insufficient awareness and/or understanding of the importance of the system of tourist experiences and the establishment of a comprehensive short value chain in preventing development of cantonal tourism products.

◆ Limited access to Canton X, or some of its tourist attractions, due to the lack of modern highways and general neglecting of local roads and communal infrastructure is slowing down economic development in general.

◆ Lack of internationally qualified hotel and tourism managers, staff with new tourism occupations (animation, entertainment, events management, theme parks coaches, interpreters centers, etc.), as well as limited employment opportunities for local tourist, gastronomy, and food production scholars.

◆ Strong outmigration and intensive depopulation of Canton X.

Considering both the strategic potentials and the main shortcomings identified, Canton X can devote itself to build rural tourism, offer diverse tourism products to the immediate surroundings (Balkan market) and European markets. Its tourism offer should combine attractive natural, historical, and social elements that the Canton is rich in. There are potentials for networking of all relevant sectors and stakeholders, to give a boost to rural tourism development. The upgrading of the roads, tourist, and communal infrastructure, which will enable local space to serve increased number of people visiting this area is, however, urgently needed. This is important to emphasize since more people moving into the region will make more crowd on roads and bring additional problems with environmental pollution, primarily due to the already insufficient communal infrastructure. Investments are primarily needed in construction of sewage systems and waste management. It is also necessary to eliminate risks for tourists that intend to come to the region, primarily by introducing final solution for removing the mines, as well as mitigating possible health risks and risks of injuries specific for the karst area through further strengthening of emergency and rescue services. Finally, Canton X need to safeguard its natural and cultural heritage (by all means), valorizing it through tourism which should be ultimately environmentally sound and sustainable in a long run.

Proposed (feasible) rural tourism activities in Canton X

The baseline analysis of the location, its natural resources, economy, and culture presented in FAS analysis and research with farmers and food producers are giving the solid basis for identifying main tourist assets which should be the fundament for designing rural tourism products. The logic behind is that rural accom-modation as basic tourism products must be combined with activities in rural environment. Guests need to feel rural life and it is the main feature of the rural tourism, but this might not be enough, so all other kinds of activities using rural resources are welcome. Below are the most relevant tourist assets of the kind enlisted:

1. Biosphere experiences of Dinaric mountain arch - Sports, recreation & adventure2. Geodiversity of Karst - Scientific and speleological tourism3. Sources, rivers and lakes - Fishing and recreation (Vacation areas - excursions and recreational tourism)4. Protected natural values - Tourism of nature protected areas5. Rare and attractive animals - Ecotourism6. Agro-biodiversity for food and agriculture - Rural Well-Being & Agro-Tourism7. Local gastronomy - Agri-tourism, Gastro tourism, Edutainment8. Rural Architecture - Agro-tourism and Rural wellbeing9. The Monumental Heritage, cult personalities and celebrities - Cultural tourism10. Local traditions - Event tourism11. Spirituality, Religion and Lifestyles - Religious, Youth and Family tourism

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The most prospective and feasible model for rural tourism development in Canton X is based on integration with the nature and eco-tourism, including hunting tourism, adventure tourism, pilgrimage, or religions tourism. Therefore, strategic tourism positioning of Canton X should occur around the following destination types:

Canton X - The top adventure site in a natural environment (the adventure as a light motive) Canton X - The top rural wellbeing – agro-tourism destinations (hedonism as a light motive) Canton X - The top destinations for sport and recreation (activity as a light motive) Canton X - The nation’s cradle and the center of spirituality (the emotion of belonging as a light motive)

The most obvious market segments identified were those of: backpackers, guest from the seaside, tourist on a short vacation, families with small children, nostalgic city resident and expatriates, emigrants descendant, war veterans, employee under stress, recreation aspirant, retiree, locals celebrating anniversaries and friends picnicking, local hotels business guests, rural wellbeing & gastro-tourists, hunters and fisherman, the cycle tourists and bikers, mountaineers, speleologists and climbers, air-gliders, parachuters and other adrenaline addicts in the air, sport clubs trainees, artists, pilgrims, a horse devotees, photo enthusiasts & professional photographers, explorers, bird-watchers and wildlife observers, people with special needs and excursionist.

Environmental impact and risks of the proposed model

Canton X is extremely environmentally fragile due to its karst character (Kodžo et al 2015). To develop an area of such a complicity, economic activities should be extremely carefully shaped and conducted. In the case of rural tourism and its possible environmental impact it is of essential significance to understand regional karst hydrology. Rural tourism impact on environment depend a lot of its intensity and level of provided infra-structure. Detailed risk assessment was conducted and risks mittigation hints were provided for the activities in the underground and on the land surface (incl. caving, tracking, horseback and bicycle riding, hunting and wildlife watching etc.) and food supply. Other hazards with possible impact on rural tourism are also revealed, such as safety in traffic, undiscovered land mines from the war period 1992-1995 and natural risks such as severe weather and wild predators. The rural tourism impact on environment depends a lot on its intensity and level of provided communal infrastructure, but it is basically related to few types of influence which do not differ a lot from those which are widespread in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, 2018):

1. Waters and soil pollution from sewage water and waste due to the logging and activities in nature2. Air pollution with gases, aerosols, and noise due to the utilization of motor vehicles3. Water pollution due to bringing chemicals into water while swimming4. Destruction of wildlife and their habitats 5. Disturbance of wildlife in their habitats (moving or shooting)

Activities in the underground Geotourism is one among many types of ecotourism or nature tourism activities which is matching with rural tourism in karst areas such as Canton X. Cave tourism within geotourism has gained popularity bringing additional risks for the environment of Canton X. Caves as an attraction for rural tourist destinations supports rural tourism development in the countryside of many developing countries, so this challenge is acceptable for Canton X too. However, specific hazards and impacts may affect endemic geo-morphological, hydrological, and ecological peculiarities of extremely fragile karst and caves environments and require specific risks mitigation. It starts with the selection of activities to match with rural tourism. Types of activities to be considered are mainly low intensity activities and presence of small groups in caves, which is much more suitable than presence of mass tourism, which is often in the most attractive caves in the region. Organized caving and scientific and research activities are bringing tourists from a very specific niche – they are educated with environmental awareness, but they still should be observed and informed about possible risks for environment a s much as risks for themselves.

Organization of the speleo-tourist accommodation should be done out of caves in secured locations with mobile equipment for sewage and solid waste transport to safe places or existing settlements with appropriate waste management. Surroundings of caves are not suitable for any disposal of waste as it is usually advised

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to visitors in nature (digging of holes in soil for organic waste etc). The most attractive locations should be selected for placing permanent research camps with all necessary facilities (such as for instance in vicinity of Ledenica cave), electric supply and sanitary equipment. These facilities could be mobile, but this solution might not be a lever idea for majority of caves which are not available through existing road network. This does not mean that infrastructure should be immediately planned, but local transport could be organized through engagement of professional transporters (4-wheel drives, trucks) or farmers with horses, for instance.

To provide appropriate supply of water, organization of camping could include building of traditional stone tanks on the permanent camping sites or use of existing in remote villages and pastoral settlements, especially in those which are abandoned. Good arrangements with local population can provide perfect conditions for supplying visitors and cut pollution caused by increased need for intensive communication with markets in settlements. To make all concrete solutions suitable to the goal of protecting environment, it will be necessary to make detailed business plan, including environmental impact assessment.

Activities in the nature (land surface) Tracking, horseback and bicycle riding is part of geo as much as nature, nature protected areas and adventure tourism are basically not invasive themselves to the environment in areas such as karst mountain, where surface of tracks is mainly hard and rocky, yet tracks need to be planned carefully to avoid soil erosion on slopes and destruction of vegetation. Projecting MTB tracks is especially demanding. In general pollution within these activities can be caused in the same way as the one associated with caving. So, the same precautions are needed. Collection of garbage as much as fire protection and emer-gency reactions should be organized in cooperation with local community. Mountain rescue service should be extended with the alarming system on the field to react, yet precautionary measures including warnings in advance, warnings by signage and system of penalties must be predefined and available to visitors as much as their hosts. Tracks must avoid main breeding areas.

Hunting tourism should be limited to designated areas and regularly rotated to avoid long term pressure on certain habitats and populations. Control over disturbance by dogs and shooting, as much as control of poaching is a goal, and not just for the sake of conserving animal populations themselves, but also to provide economic benefits in long run. Introduction of atavistic hunting (bow hunting for instance) might be interesting for some species and territories which are easy to control. Introduction of blood tracking dogs is obligatory to prevent loses of wounded animals. It is crucial also to introduce arms check and reticulation, as much as checking skills of tourist-hunter before hunting to prevent miss in shooting and wounding of animals as much as possible. The pricelist should be changed to introduce full payment for wounded game instead of half price.

Photo-safari, and in particular bird watching should be environmentally safe activity, yet professional guiding and organization of these activities is required starting with the transport and designation of vehicle-free zones, towards type of stands and equipment selection. The safest approach to the transport in nature for hunting or watching of animals would be based on horse carriage and horseback-riding plus silent electric boats on waters, while stand should be carefully integrated in environment and made of natural materials to provide as less as possible impact on nature. Definition of the detailed plan of management of the area with unique features according to Ramsar convention will define more precisely all requirements. What is certain is that even bird watching should be limited in the areas of Veliki Ždralovac, which is a nucleus of protected landscape (reserved for scientific activities).

It is also crucial to come with consensus with foresters to permanently adjust their management practices, and exploitation of woods with hunting grounds management following Sustainable Forest Management principles. Introduction of feeding points might help revival of populations of birds of prey as much as prevent too heavy pressure on wild game. Hunting of wolfs and other predators is very attractive on the European market being forbidden in majority of countries due to their small populations or complete extinction. Canton X has no problem with protecting wolf, but with declining in pastoral traditions and extensive livestock husbandry the pressure on ungulates and wild pigs is increasing, which can cause problems of overpopulation (African fever is arriving from East to increase pressure).

Planned activities which include activities of tourists (and those within the tourism value chains supply) such as collection of wild plant and mushrooms, as much as a forest therapy should be permanently controlled. It is not expected that any of these activities should have any negative influence of environment. However, with increasing number of tourists, agriculture production will also increase, and livestock farming will tend to grow.

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The rehabilitation should go towards introduction of organic agriculture and reintroduction of low input animal husbandry to protect fragile karst environment from pollution.

With increasing number of tourists looking for accommodation in agro-tourism will emphasize the need for solving problems of sewage and waste in rural settlements as much as provision of renewable energy sources to prevent devastation of forests and decrease of the air quality. Present settlements with existing sewage management solutions cannot hold any increase of number of tourists without serious negative impact on environment.

Increase of the agriculture activities for production of additional food required by development of tourists is not going to happen soon, since now surplus of some agriculture products have first to be consumed, yet sooner or later initiative to increase production might bring an idea of intensification back on the top causing problems to environment. On the other hand, if proper farming systems are selected to support high nature value concept landscapes of Canton X might become even more attractive and local gastronomy get more attention. Development of rural tourism will bring problem with maintaining grasslands in forest zones also on the top of priorities. Namely, grasslands which are not managed tend to enter natural succession. The process has started by invasion of shrubby vegetation. Maintaining attraction for semi-natural vegetation, as much as diversity of landscapes is necessary to provide development of rural or any other kind of tourism. This imperative will help rehabilitation of the cultural landscapes of the area.

Proposed tourism products do not demand development of additional road infrastructure, so it has no potential impact on environment considering fragmentation of habitats and pollution as already mentioned. However, indirectly, development of rural tourism in the area will have an impact on the environment through potentially increasing traffic on existing roads. Increase will be provided also with increased need for mobility of people and goods within the region, which might not become an immediate problem, but it will be gradually increased. The environmental threats may occur also on the side of ineffective tourist management at most attractive natural resources. Other risks with possible impact on rural tourism are safety in traffic, undiscovered land mines from the war period 1992-1995 natural risks - natural disasters and weather (especially winter), and wild animals (snakes and mammal predators). Building adequate wildlife wardens/rangers service might be foreseen for developments align with destination management system establishment.

CONCLUSIONS

The main conclusions were conceived to promote rural tourism as a perspective way for supporting rural development of Canton X and confirm that rural tourism has potentials as a value adding instrument and market for local products. The seriousness of gaps in the heritage conservation must be filled, institutional support and networking of local stakeholders strengthened to provide favorable frame for strengthening and shorteing local value chains.

1. Canton X has very suitable geostrategic position. Being on the historical road between the Pannonian lowland and the Adriatic Sea (today’s transversal linking EU Corridor 10 and the Mediterranean Highway), it is promising a good connection with emitting markets, yet lack of the modern highway might slow down tourism development.

2. Presently, tourism is a relevant source of income for very small number of rural households in Canton X. Despite opportunities which derive from introduction of rural tourism, rural households hesitate to diversify their economies due to insufficient labor force and skills, insufficient demand and poor market access, excessive financial risk, insufficient own capital, and expensive loans, while other sources of financial support still appear just occasionally.

3. Positive attitude of the population towards tourism and tourists, their openness and natural hospitality ensuring strong positive emotion that the guests experience during their stay is a promising asset for rural tourism development.

4. Canton X educates adequate high school profiles; yet, employment opportunities for local tourist, gastronomy and food production graduates are very limited.

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5. Tourism in the region has a deficit of professionals with new tourism occupations which require higher education. Exhaustive outmigration, which is a consequence of the scarce employment opportunities, continuously degrades human resources. This might slow down further development of tourism and prevent introduction of new tourist products.

6. Rural tourism seems to be the quality option for diversification of income and employment opportunities ‘creation since high quality supply chains for food and beverages and activities in rural environment on demand on the modern tourist market exists (although with limitations) in Canton X. Rural tourism might be an efficient buster for revitalization and further development of both primary and secondary sectors which can in return provide supply through short value chains.

7. Tourism might provide better valorization of local food in Canton X. Rural tourism is a perspective way for supporting creation of the innovative short value chains which can play role of adding value instrument and market for local products (shortening value chains for local agriculture, forest non-wood and artisan food products) so it’s suitable for interweaving in fragile Canton X rural economy.

8. Both eco-tourism and tourism of special interests, which include fishing and hunting, birds-watching, photo-safari etc. are possible due to availability of rich biodiversity resources. Existing infrastructure in hunting grounds represents a good base for hunting tourism development. Flora and fauna also have potentials to support diverse other activities, including edutainment and school tourism, short holidays, and family tourism as much as scientific/research tourism etc.

9. Territory of Canton X contains numerous natural and cultural tourist attractors over relatively small distances. Majority of these are not used for tourism and exposed to degradation. The main attractors for rural tourism of the region will remain its natural and cultural heritage. Therefore, rural tourism must be complemented with the offer of activities which are upgrading traditional experience towards adventure and wellness experiences.

10. Environmental risks are numerous and complex due to the specific nature of the area (karst), but also its recent history (remaining of the civil war), so the mitigation of these risk should precede every devel-opment action. The authentic local products can enrich the offer through gastronomy, but also events and animation. Their rehabilitation is of importance also for maintaining diversity and originality of landscapes. Rural tourism is a perspective way for supporting creation of the innovative short supply chains forest non-wood and artisan food products) so it’s suitable for interweaving with fragile Canton X rural economy as a tool for promoting both primary and secondary industries with mutual benefit.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The paper represents the results of research within the FAO Project GCP/BIH/008/HUN.

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Daniela Cvetković1*,Tanja Kukobat2

1Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia2Environmental Affairs Officer at the Municipality of Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia

Correspondence: Daniela Cvetković


POSSIBILITIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN ECOTOURISM IN PROTECTED AREA ’’VELIKO RATNO OSTRVO’’

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: The principles of sustainable tourism can be best perceived on the example of the ecotourism, i.e. a form of tourism that promotes the protection of natural areas through environmentally responsible behavior of tourists and the tourism industry along with the active participation of the local community which contributes to the economic development of eco-destination. Ecotourism is often associated with the stay of tourists in protected natural areas, located in remote, rural areas. Nowadays, the role of protected areas located close to major urban centers gains in importance in the development of urban ecotourism. The Landscape of Outstanding Features (LOF) «Veliko ratno ostrvo» is one of the protected areas in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade. It stands out for its specific position at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, preserved wetlands and forest ecosystems, great species diversity, especially in ornithofauna, history and exceptional potential for ecotourism development. The aim of this paper is to present a detailed analysis of the ecotourism potential of the protected area located in the center of the metropolis, and to indicate the types of ecotourism activities that can be successfully implemented without compromising the natural values of the «Veliko ratno ostrvo».

Keywords: ecotourism potential, types of ecotourism, urban eco-destination, urban protected area, Veliko ratno ostrvo (VRO).


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-92-102

INTRODUCTION

The second half of the 20th century was characterized by the intensive and unrestrained tourism development, which has consequently resulted in increasing environmental degradation and excessive exploitation of natural resources. This led to a gradual acceptance of the new tourism development concept, so-called sustainable tourism, which is aligned with the capacity of the environment and rational use of natural resources on which it is based. Sustainable tourism should ensure long-term economic growth while respecting the socio-cultural authenticities of tourist destinations and preserving their natural and cultural heritage (UNEP and UNWTO, 2005).

Unlike other economic activities, the development of tourism in a given area depends to a great extent on the quality of the environment and the degree of preservation and attractiveness of its natural and

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cultural values (Novaković - Kostić & Trumbulović, 2016). In this regard, the perspective of sustainable tourism development can be observed through the function of nature protection and landscapes with preserved nature viewed as increasingly desirable tourist destinations.

The principles of sustainable tourism can be best perceived on the example of the ecotourism, i.e. a form of tourism that promotes the protection of natural areas through environmentally responsible behavior of tourists and the tourism industry along with the active participation of the local community which contributes to the economic development of eco-destination.

Ecotourism is often associated with nature-based travel of tourists to protected areas where the main components of the tourist offer are their natural characteristics such as climate, relief, geomorphological and hydrological phenomena, preserved ecosystems, wetlands, landscapes, diverse flora and fauna, etc.

In addition to these natural features, a significant element of the tourist offer of certain ecotourism destinations are anthropogenic attractions (cultural and historical monuments, archeological sites, medieval fortifications, monasteries and churches, cultural landscapes) as well as intangible cultural heritage (customs, traditions, folklore, local crafts, music) based on the socio-cultural identity of the local community.

Based on various criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), protected natural areas are classified into certain categories (IUCN, 1994, p.7). In almost all of the categories of protected areas, it is possible to develop different forms of sustainable tourism following the prescribed regimes of protection (Eagles et. al, 2002). Some forms of tourism and recreation appear as the primary management goal in the categories of protected areas such as national parks, natural monuments and protected landscape or seascape (IUCN, 1994, p.8).

While protected areas represent a resource basis for the development of ecotourism (Cvetković & Đorđević, 2011), ecotourism is also a significant tool that, through economic instruments, could provide a source of funding for nature protection and generate income for local communities (Stojanović, 2011).

Through various educational and research activities as well as various forms of outdoor exercise in nature, ecotourism enables a visitor from urbanized, industrial areas to spend some time in the natural environment, develop eco-friendly behavior and environmental awareness and become a new factor of promoting its preservation, protection and sustainability.

When it comes to ecotourism development in protected areas, it is usually referred to the areas located in remote and less densely populated, rural areas.

Nowadays, when considering world population growth that is followed by urbanization, industrialization, land-use change, space modification, and often destruction of natural ecosystems and landscapes, a role of protected areas located close to major urban centers is substantial for improving the quality of life in an urban environment but also for the development of urban ecotourism.

Urban ecotourism opens new perspectives in the field of tourism and compared to traditional ecotourism offers certain advantages in terms of financial viability, since it may generate more revenue by attracting a large number of potential tourists and providing specific ecotourism experiences in urban settings (Dodds & Joppe, 2001; Higham & Luck, 2002; Page & Hall, 2003).

This paper aims to present a detailed analysis of the ecotourism potential of the protected area located in the center of the metropolis and to indicate the types of ecotourism activities that can be successfully implemented without compromising the natural values of this protected area.

For the purpose of this research, one of the protected areas in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade has been selected as a case study. The Landscape of Outstanding Features (LOF) “Veliko ratno ostrvo”, stands out for its specific position at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, preserved wetlands and forest ecosystems, great species diversity, especially in ornithofauna, history and exceptional potential for ecotourism development.

The main objective of this research is to explore the possibilities of urban ecotourism development in the “Veliko ratno ostrvo”, propose an innovative model of sustainable ecotourism development through a rich ecotourist offer providing a range of visitor experiences as well as to point out that only with adequate valorisation of its potential “Veliko ratno ostrvo” can become a significant urban eco-destination of Belgrade.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The essence of the concept of the sustainable development has been thoroughly elaborated in the report entitled “Our common future” published by the World Commission on Environment and Development, according to which sustainable development implies such development of a society that allows the needs of both current and future generations to be fulfilled, while protecting and preserving the environment and natural resources (WCED, 1987).

The early 1970s were marked by increasing discussions about the negative impact of economic development on the environment, finally resulting in a general international agreement that further economic and social progress will not be possible without the adoption of a sustainable development strategy. The agreement was reached at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The largest international meeting of the UN ever held (the first Earth Summit) gathered representatives of 178 countries and it will be remembered for the adoption of the series of documents and legal instruments through which the concept of sustainable development received its full affirmation. Global Sustainable Development Action Plan for the 21st century, called Agenda 21, was one of the most important documents adopted at the conference. Agenda 21 is a comprehensive program of actions to be undertaken at all levels (global, national and local) to address burning issues in any economic activity characterized by a strong anthropogenic impact on the environment (UNCED, 1992).

Given the fact that tourism is one of the fastest-growing economic sectors, showing a number of both positive and negative effects on the development of tourist destinations and based on the general principles of sustainability contained in Agenda 21, a special document Agenda 21 for the travel & tourism industry, was jointly adopted by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the Earth Council (EC) in 1995 (WTTC, WTO and EC, 1995). This document represents a program of activities in the field of travel and tourism, aimed to define the operational framework of all participants in tourism sector in the direction of sustainable tourism development at the institutional level (Jegdić, 2011). As a main task of hotel companies and travel agencies, this document imposes the necessary activities in priority sectors such as waste reduction, recycling, wastewater management, energy efficiency, clean water resources management, land use planning, and management, etc. (Bošković, 2008).

Due to its specific characteristics, tourism is one of the economy sectors which can significantly contribute to the implementation of the environmental, economic and social sustainability as well as achieving sustainable development goals (CSD, 1999). In ecological sense, tourism industry depends on the natural resources but the negative effect of tourism development on natural resources and environment is less pronounced, compared to other industrial branches. From an economic point of view, tourism provides real opportunity for employment, poverty reduction, fostering regional development, long-term profitability of the tourist companies and also for generating funds to protect natural landscapes and ecosystems and preserve natural and cultural heritage sites. The social aspects of sustainability are reflected in the increasing awareness of tourists on environmental conditions of destinations and other issues concerning the impacts of their travelling on the environment at the destination, as well strengthening interaction between visitors and local (host) communities.

World Tourism organization (WTO) believes that the sustainability guiding principles and practices can be applied to all forms of tourism and different types of tourist destinations, involving mass tourism, as well as various market segments of the tourism industry (UNEP and UNWTO, 2005).

Furthermore, UNWTO (2005) has given one of the most cited and widely accepted conceptual definitions of sustainable tourism according to which sustainable tourism takes into consideration not only current environmental, economic and social tourism impacts, but also future impacts, whilst referring to the present and future needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and the local community.

Along with raising awareness of the need for a more responsible and humane attitude towards the natural environment and as a response to the growing interest of a certain group of tourists for a new type of experience and vacation in areas with preserved nature, a new, alternative form of sustainable tourism - ecotourism has emerged in the 80s of the last century.

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The main components of ecotourism by which it differs from the wider concept of sustainable tourism, are emphasized in the most important document addressing ecotourism, the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism adopted in 2002 at the World Ecotourism Summit in the framework of the UN International Year of Ecotourism: (1) contribution to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage; (2) involving local and indigenous communities in ecotourism development and contribution to their welfare; (3) the interpretation of natural and cultural heritage to visitors; (4) encouraging independent travelers, as well as organized tours for small size groups (UNEP and WTO, 2002).

As a sustainable version of nature-based tourism, ecotourism includes a set of principles to be followed when planning its development: (1) minimize negative impacts; (2) increase environmental and cultural awareness; (3) create positive experiences for both visitors and hosts; (4) ensure direct funding for conservation and protected area management; (5) generate profits for both local people (family business) and private industry; (6) deliver unforgettable, meaningful, quality experiences to visitors; (7) design and construct facilities and infrastructure with low impact on the environment; (8) lowest possible consumption of non-renewable resources; (9) foster respect and promote the rights and culture of the indigenous people and strengthening the partnership with them; (10) establishment of educational and training programs (Wood, UNEP & IES, 2002; McLaughlin, 2011; Lackey et al., 2019).

Although ecotourism is small scale within niche tourism marketplace, it is considered to be one of the rapidly growing segments of the tourism industry worldwide (Wood, UNEP & IES, 2002).

While traditional ecotourism involves travelling to relatively unaltered and uncontaminated natural areas (Ceballos-Lascurain, 1987), modified areas that offer some degree of naturalness in urban settings can be acceptable likewise as an ecotourist destination (Higham & Lück, 2002).

The concept of urban ecotourism was first defined by Blackstone Corporation in 1996, as „one of the sustainable ways of travelling in urban areas“ (Wu et al., 2010). During the first International Urban Ecotourism Conference, held in 2004, in Canada, concept of urban ecotourism has been revised and recognized as an opportunity to conserve and restore natural and cultural heritage, support social diversity and maximize economic benefits to local community through employment creation, educate visitors and residents on envi-ronmental matters and enhance the quality of life in urban environments (Urban Ecotourism Declaration, 2004).

According to some authors, there are several advantages that urban ecotourism offers compared to the traditional ecotourism, which are as follows: 1) Environmental impact - urban ecotourists do not travel long distances to tourist destinations, so they may use existing infrastructure and public transport; 2) Restoration of natural areas - natural values can be renewed through implementation of restoration projects (habitat creation for endangered and migratory species, afforestation, dredging of muddy sections of watercourse etc.) while providing exclusive ecotourism experiences; 3) Interpretation and education - promotion of nature protection and sustainability to a wider public in urban settings in order to influence their environmental behaviour; 4) Financial viability - this type of ecotourism attracts a wider scale of social categories and a larger number of visitors during the year and is usually less affected by seasonality than other types of tourism, which has an impact on employment and revenues; 5) Advantages in the field of destination marketing - city promotion is enriched by ecotourism offer (Dodds & Joppe, 2001; Higham & Luck, 2002; Page & Hall, 2003; Okech, 2009; Freslon, 2010).

DISCUSSION

Study area: The Landscape of Outstanding Features (LOF) “Veliko ratno ostrvo”

The “Veliko ratno ostrvo” is a river island created as a unique geomorphological formation, at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, during the 16th century. South of the Great War Island, in the Danube armlet (Dunavac), there is the “Malo ratno ostrvo”, about 700 m long. With a total area of 211.38 ha, the island territorially belongs to the municipality of Zemun, and administratively to the city of Belgrade.

Situated between the Belgrade fortress Kalemegdan in the east and the Medieval fortress of Zemun, Gardoš tower in the west, the island had a key strategic position in military operations during the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian era, which is the reason why it is called “Great War Island”.

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The island is mostly covered with the complex of the wetland forest ecosystems of white poplar (Populus alba) and black poplar (Populus nigra) and the communities of alluvial forests of the white willow (Salix alba) (Amidžić et al., 2007). Abundant vegetation consists of aquatic and marsh communities and is directly dependent on the flooding and groundwater regime.

Well-developed vegetation and the presence of wetlands and open water surfaces provide food and habitat for breeding and nesting of a substantial number of internationally important birds, among which is a protected species - the white-tailed eagle, the largest eagle in Europe.

During springtime flooding, numerous fish species enter the permanent or ephemeral ponds for spawning needs, so the Island is officially proclamed as one of the natural fish spawning area within the fishery area “Danube III”.

In 2005 “Veliko ratno ostrvo” was placed under the protection, by the Decision of the Assembly of the City of Belgrade as a landscape of outstanding features, in order to preserve picturesque landscape features and undisturbed habitats of natural rarities, rare and endangered wetland birds, as well as to protect representative morphological and geological formations - river island (Decision, No. 501-362/05-XII-01). The manager of the protected area is the Public Utility Company “Zelenilo Beograd”.

According to the international classification (International Union for Conservation of Nature - IUCN), the “Veliko ratno ostrvo” belongs to the IV category - Habitat/Species Management Areas. The presence of 196 bird species was recorded on the island, most of which have the status of internationally significant species, wherefore the island is on the list of Important Bird Area (IBA). Veliko ratno ostrvo is also a part of Emerald network (European Ecological Network of Protected Natural Areas).

Protection regimes at protected area “Veliko ratno ostrvo”

In accordance with the Law on nature protection (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 36/2009, 88/2010 and 91/2010 – corr., 14/2016 and 95/2018 - other law), the protected natural area “Veliko ratno ostrvo” is categorized as a significant natural area, within which three zones with different protection regimes have been determined: regime zones of I, II and III degree of protection (see Fig. 1).

A three-level protection regime has been identified in Study on protection (INPS, 2002) as follows:

1. Nature protection zone (first protection regime) - with the character of a special nature reserve, includes Malo ratno ostrvo, shore-zone of “Veliko ratno ostrvo” (towards Danube and Sava foreland), forest complex, wetlands within Veliko ratno ostrvo, water surfaces surrounding Malo ratno ostrvo.

2. Recreation zone (second-degree protection regime) - comprises the inner parts of “Veliko ratno ostrvo”, the former farmland still used in that status in present, grasslands of coastal area towards the Danube forland, which are now partially occupied by illegal objects mostly in a very dilapidated condition and the former grasslands threatened by invasive species, as well as location of the public pier with controlled public traffic route and protection zone with a width of 10 m connecting this site with the Lido beach. Within this protection zone, an open rustic amphitheater in nature is located, intended for the realization of educational camps and other promotional activities.

3. Tourism zone (third-degree protection regime) - involves the Lido beach with planned expansion where an organized tourist-recreational offer and new contents could be provided. Lido beach is traditionally used as a picnic area for the residents of Zemun. It is extremely visited in summer, even though is poorly infrastructurally equipped.

General measures of protection and use of the protected natural good, which prohibit certain activities and works that may have significant negative effects to representative biological, geomorphological and other natural values and fragile natural ecosystems of the protected area are applied in all three protection zones (PUC “Zelenilo Beograd”, 2010).

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Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the boundaries of the protected area “Veliko ratno ostrvo” with the prescribed protection regimes

Source: https://i.imgur.com/IbiThD0.jpg

When it is talked about the ecotourism development of the Great War Island so far, it can be said that the preservation of the area has not always been in accordance with the existing legal protection (Malinić, 2016).

Analysis of permitted landscape changes and activities that could be implemented with the intention to attract eco-tourists

Natural and generated values of the LEF Veliko ratno ostrvo are the basis for the development of new resources that can be used to form a new ecotourism value. A well - planned and implemented program of sustainable educational, recreational and eco-tourism has the potential to ensure the economic development of the local community (profit, increase in the number of tourist visits, consumption, employment, etc.) and protection of natural resources.

The model of profitable ecotourism development at the LEF Veliko ratno ostrvo must provide a special tourist experience. To achieve this, many inputs have to be thoroughly considered; all the available natural and man-made resources, current and future infrastructure, possible upgrade facilities, and a deep understanding of the variable needs of the tourists. Biodiversity of the island’s ornithofauna is a major attraction, but to make a beneficial tourist product, various tourist packages have to be offered; they must satisfy the needs of different groups of visitors of all ages and preferences. Tourist packages have to include a mix of new cultural projects, education, entertainment, sports and other eco-friendly contents, as well as unusual open space activities compatible with nature protection.

A stay and activities of the visitors of the natural area represent for metropolitan residents the opportunity for a rapid change of the environment, where they would be able to spend time outdoors doing different kinds of activities. This is especially convenient for urban residents who have no time to travel to distant destinations and need to be able to quickly return to their everyday schedule. For business people from Belgrade, this natural oasis is one step away from the place of residence but brings the experience and psychophysical benefit as if they were in some remote natural area. For foreign tourists visiting Belgrade, a trip to the island is a refreshing change of activities compared to the usual activities of sightseeing in the city.

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The Great War Island with its resources offers the best combination of services for visitors who want to spend time in a natural environment, and therefore can form and offer several tourist packages which include: outdoor activities of groups of visitors (families, sports teams, youth groups, groups of children, student groups, environmental and biological associations, etc.), educational camps (day camps or overnight camps), sports and recreational camps (day camps or overnight and multi-day camps), all-day active vacation in a natural environment (provides conditions for several types of recreation like jogging, cycling, kayaking, yoga outdoors, swimming, doing beach sports activities in the adventure park, combined with bird watching from the mainland, observatory or boat, visit of the wetland botanical garden etc.), active overnight vacation in the eco-village of stilt houses (a stay in a natural environment in a special atmosphere made by sleeping in a rustic setting, night sky watching, nocturnal animals watching, boat ride and sightseeing from the river, visit to the Museum of Nature and History stilt house etc.) and educational walk routs (introducing visitors to the history, geology, flora and fauna of the island) etc.

Travel packages are created based on the fact that the island abounds in many available natural resources. The most important are the unique elements and combinations of ecosystems, non-specific for a location which is at such a small distance from the metropolis and in conditions of constant pressure from people, infrastructure, traffic and various types of pollution as well as natural pressures such as periodic major floods, an influx of invasive species and climate change. A natural resource of great importance is the Danube River which protects the island from urbanisation and shapes its uniqueness, influences on formation of rich aquatic vegetation, floodable forests and meadows, wetlands and temporary and permanent water basins inside the islands, and supply shelter and food for many species, primarily birds. Different types of habitats are a prerequisite for a lush vegetation - autochthonous and allochthonous flora, especially wet and underwater meadows and wetland forests. The geographical position of the Veliko ratno ostrvo is on the way of natural migration routes along watercourses and provides extraordinary habitat conditions for the most important feature of the island - rich ornithofauna.

To complete the ecotourism offer, it is of essential importance to build facilities that can meet all the needs of tourists while respecting the requirements of space protection and integration of facilities into the natural environment. Man-made resources- facilities which could serve to meet the needs of stay and movement of tourists on the island and do not disturb landscape and natural values are the following: info desk, stilt houses for lodging or public rustic wooden gazebo/park shelters (accommodation facilities built of natural materials, with natural lighting systems, ventilation, etc., supplied with energy from alternative sources), rustic amphi-theater (for lectures, gatherings, cultural events etc.), wetland botanical garden, bird watchtowers, astronomical observatory (stilt house adapted for sky watching with telescopes), interactive historical boards, Museum of Nature and History of the Great War Island (in a stilt house), online monitoring facility of natural activities on the island (watching activities at the white-tailed eagle’s nest etc.), info boards, replicas of the military watchtowers (Turkish and Austro-Hungarian), recreational polygon along the trail (with wooden obstacles, wooden shelters, benches, etc.), outdoor gym, plateau for exercises (yoga, tai chi, karate and other exercises and martial arts), children and youth eco adventure parks (made of natural materials), overhead suspension bridge between military watchtower posts, pier for boats, pedal boats and kayaks (for driving around the island and along the river banks), rent-a-bike facility, landscaped beach with nearby sanitary facilities (drinking fountains, showers, toilets), catering facilities, island ranger stilt house, ambulance, pedestrian bridge (between the island and Zemun quay on the right bank of the Danube River) (see Fig. 2).

Key-value for the attraction of tourists is a combination of different kinds of eco-educational and recreational activities which could be implemented with expert guidance. These activities can include biodiversity themed route like birdwatching or presenting the flora of the wetland botanical garden and observing the night sky with a telescope. Introducing a variety of ecosystems and their biodiversity is especially attractive if conducted from the boat circling around the island and along the river banks, entering the foreland armlets on the left bank of the Danube.

Given the existence of well-maintained landscaped footpaths over 5 km long as well as open meadows, which fit into the requirements of spatial protection (protection regime of degree II), the Veliko ratno ostrvo enables recreational and sports activities such as cycling, jogging, plateau exercises, exercises at the recreational track, activities in the adventure parks, swimming, beach sports and kayaking and boating.

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Figure 2. Ecotourism infrastructure at the “Veliko ratno ostrvo”

LEGEND1. Info desk2. Stilt houses/park shelter4. Amphitheatre5. Wetland Botanical Garden6. Bird watchtower7. Astronomical Observatory 8. Museum of Nature and History

of the Great War Island 9. Online monitoring facility 10. Info boards11. Military watchtowers12. Recreational polygon 13. Outdoor gym14. Plateau for exercises 15. Children adventure park16. Youth adventure park 17. Overhead suspension bridge 18. Pier 19. Bicycles rent facility20. Landscaped beach21. Sanitary facilities 22. Catering facilities23. Island ranger stilt house 24. Ambulance25. Pedestrian bridge

Source: Derived by Authors

Excerpts from strategic documents that support the proposal for the development of eco-tourism needs

General Regulation Plan of Building Area in Local Government – City of Belgrade (Official Gazette of the RS, No. 20, dated March 21, 2016) singles out three key recommendations for tourism development. The first of them is the Landscape of Outstanding Features “Veliko ratno ostrvo” within which is three established zones for a protected area with different protection regimes. The protection regime of the III degree is applied for Lido Beach with an extension, and allows the location of tourist-recreational facilities within the area.

The Landscape of Outstanding feature “Veliko ratno ostrvo” is listed in the Tourism Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia for the period from 2016 to 2025 (MTTT, 2016) among the locations on the territory of Serbia attractive for bird watching and the location for gathering of a large number of species and specimens of birds. The document mentions the concept of nautical tourism and sightseeing of Belgrade from the river. The “Veliko ratno ostrvo” is also mentioned as one of the attractive locations for different types of recreation. Sports tourism and eco-tourism are, among the others, mentioned as a high-quality value for the tourist services offers.

Tourism development strategy of the Zemun Urban Municipality 2010-2016 (Gradska opština Zemun, 2010) devotes a lot of space to the “Veliko ratno ostrvo”, especially to “Lido” beach and emphasizes the potential of the development of eco-tourism and sports recreational tourism on the island. The document also draws attention to the impact of the uncontrolled use of resources on the environment. However, it also underlines that Veliko ratno ostrvo is one of the important elements of tourist infrastructure and that its development is a very important tool for the improvement of the quality of life of the local population.

Local environmental action plan (LEAP) of the Zemun Urban Municipality 2018 - 2021 (Gradska opština Zemun, 2018a) describes in detail history, infrastructure and resources of the protected natural area the “Veliko ratno ostrvo”, its use for sports, recreational and educational purposes and provides a conclusion that there is a perspective, due to the richness of ornithofauna, of development in the world of growing exclusive bird watching ecotourism. In order to popularize nature protection, ecological camps and ecological walking tours are traditionally organized on the “Veliko ratno ostrvo”.

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The main strategic document of the Zemun Municipality concerning tourism, Tourism and Culture Development Program of the Zemun Urban Municipality 2018-2021 (Gradska opština Zemun, 2018b) identifies the “Veliko ratno ostrvo” as the resource of great importance for the development of tourism and culture, as well as for the improvement of a tourist offer.

CONCLUSION

As a representative example of a protected area which has great potential for the development of urban ecotourism, this paper cites the LEF Veliko ratno ostrvo, a unique natural landscape characterized by the presence of sensitive ecosystems, preserved wetlands and floodplain forests, with a specific geographic position at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube rivers, between Belgrade and Zemun, but also with turbulent historical heritage. Therefore, this area has a great preconditions for the development of all forms of ecotourism, primarily bird watching, followed by excursion-recreational, scientific-research, cultural-educational, nautical, excursion and bathing tourism. Although the Management plan for the Veliko ratno ostrvo emphasizes the development of sustainable ecotourism as one of the long-term goals for protection, preservation, improvement and sustainable development, the current practice shows that resources are minimally utilised and brought to use. The paper presents one of the possible models of ecotourism development on the Veliko ratno ostrvo, which is based on a diverse ecotourism offer with the support of appropriate ecotourism infrastructure. Touristic valorisation of the Veliko ratno ostrvo through the ecotourism development would enable the establishment of a financial mechanism for the preservation of its natural resources and values that are used by visitors. A precondition for the development of economic instruments for nature conservation could only be provided by active promotion of an urban eco-destination, attracting diverse range of visitors from passionate nature lovers, bird watchers, adventurers, researchers, schoolchildren and students, to other youth and adult groups and ecotourists. Ecotourism development planning must be harmonized with the prescribed protection of landscape values, conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development of the LEF Veliko ratno ostrvo. The major factors threatening the protected area such as invasive introduced species, water pollution by untreated city sewage, anthropogenic pressures on the ecosystem, illegal constructions show that the protection fails to fully establish an effective protection mechanism in practice. Consequently, in this paper we suggest that the space that has already been degraded by illegal construction should be repurposed and existing illegal objects be replaced with ecotourism infrastructure, which will ensure rational use of an area for ecotourism development. The manager should make a decision on the expansion of the second and the third protection zone by a special act which will enable establishing necessary facilities in the areas where the active protection measures and sustainable use of natural resources of the protected area have not been conducted. Setting a clear goal - realization of economic profit and conservation of natural resources, leads us to the conclusion that only sustainable use of the natural resources, supported by financial instruments could preserve nature in the modern world. In order to achieve well managed ecotourism development planning, all of stakeholders from protected area manager, professional and scientific institutions, local and city government, travel agencies and other users should be involved. Special attention must be given to the active participation of the local community, as an important factor which recognizes the natural values of the island as an inseparable part of its own identity and can contribute to the sustainable development of the Veliko ratno ostrvo.



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103



Dobrila Lukić1*,Aleksandar Joksimović2

1Eight Belgrade Grammar School, Belgrade, Serbia2Alfa BK University, Belgrade, Serbia

Correspondence: Dobrila Lukić


APPLICATION OF EUROPEAN UNION’S CULTURAL INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM – А CASE STUDY OF BELGRADE

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: Comparative tourism sustainability indicators created by the European Union provide a basis for assessing the degree of sustainability of tourism development in a given area. They are divided into five groups, namely economic indicators, social indicators, cultural indicators, tourist satisfaction and state of the environment indicators. Coding is used to determine threshold values for each indicator, while the state of tourism is assessed as critical, bearable or sustainable and thus classified in the red, yellow or green zone, respectively. This paper analyses the cultural indicators of sustainable tourism in Belgrade, which are then used to determine the preservation of cultural identity of the local population with respect to the impact of tourists. Relevant statistical data about Belgrade in the period 2010-2019, recorded by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, were used for the purpose of this paper, specifically the data on accommodation capacities and tourist turnover, as well as data on the size of the population from the last census carried out in 2011. Based on those data, values were obtained concerning the ratio of accommodation capacities and the size of the local population and tourism intensity, as cultural indicators representing a starting point for taking necessary administrative measures and actions in tourism in Belgrade.

Keywords: EU cultural comparative indicators, sustainable tourism, Belgrade, Serbia.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-103-107

INTRODUCTION

The continuous development of mass tourism has created a need to place that activity under the umbrella of sustainable development in order to preserve tourism potentials for future generations. Sustainable tourism entails the economic development of the local community, but in such a way that it contributes to the preservation of environmental protection. The European Union indicators of sustainable tourism are divided into five categories. Those are: economic indicators, tourist satisfaction, cultural indicators, social indicators and state of the environment indicators. The indicators serve to show the current state and possible development of tourism in a given destination in terms of sustainable development as well as the impact of tourism on economic, socio-cultural and environmental aspects of the destination (Ceron & Dubois, 2003).



Economic indicators show the economic effects of tourism development in a destination. Tourist satisfaction is the degree of satisfaction with the quality of the environment and the attraction of tourist motives, socio-cultural characteristics of the destination and the quality of provided services and accommodation facilities. Social and cultural indicators reflect the degree of social and cultural integrity of the local community under the influence of tourists, while environmental indicators show the impact of tourism on water resources, air, land and the diversity of flora and fauna in the destination. Each indicator has threshold values and the state of tourism is assessed as critical, bearable or sustainable, which is why these indicators are also referred to as “warning” indicators (Ko, 2005). Based thereon, three zones are defined for each indicator. Specifically, the red zone, in which the situation is assessed as critical, requiring appropriate measures to be taken for modifying the further development and control of tourism. The yellow zone indicates that the situation is bearable and any serious problems that may arise in the future could be contained by taking pre-emptive action. Finally, the green zone denotes that tourism development in a given destination is sustainable due to good management and imposing appropriate measures and activities (Jovičić, 2000; Pavlović & Belij, 2012)

THE EUROPEAN UNION’S INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Tourism destinations are the focal point of tourism activity. Eurostat data shows that in 2014, Europeans made more than one billion tourism trips, spending in total EUR 391 billion or an average of EUR 334 per trip. Responsible destination management therefore plays an essential role in ensuring that European tourism destinations are viable in the long run, which, in other words, requires implementation of the European Tourism Indicator System (ETIS) representing a common methodology towards sustainable destination management (European Commission, 2016). The ETIS was launched by the European Commission as an effective management tool, specially designed for tourist destinations to monitor performance and help destinations to develop and carry out their plans for enhanced sustainability with a long-term vision. In view of that, in order to secure continuous improvements in a destination, steps should be taken to raise awareness and engage all stakeholders, define responsibilities, collect data and analyse results. A key step in that regard is forming an interdisciplinary team consisting of all stakeholders tasked with establishing priorities, roles and responsibilities among players, stimulating cooperation and coordination and supporting management and monitoring process (European Commission, 2016).

The European Union’s indicators of sustainable tourism are a set of 43 core and supplementary indicators that can be used in their entirety or integrated into existing destination-monitoring systems. Destinations are free to choose themselves the most relevant indicators they wish to adopt and monitor in order to meet their respective needs together with the sustainability issues each destination faces. The fundamental principle of the indicator system is that destination decision-making, ownership and responsibility is shared. The core indicators represent baseline information that a destination needs to understand, monitor and manage its performance. The core indicators cover the basic sustainability aspects and provide the basis for effective destination management, allow for comparison in one destination over time and for benchmarking between a number of destinations (European Commission, 2016). Supplementary indicators allow destinations to tailor the system to their own particular needs or destination category, e.g. mountain, city, rural, coastal areas, or macro-regional and transnational dimensions. Such supplementary indicators must be tested and provided with a clear methodology if they are to be used by other destinations (European Commission, 2016).

BELGRADE AS A TOURIST DESTINATION

If compared to other tourist cities in the region, Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, can take the advantages of the cordiality and hospitality of its residents, delicious food, its geographical location, rich history, lower living standard, good knowledge of foreign languages of its residents and Serbia’s good relations with both Western and Eastern countries, which enlarges the tourism market considerably. New opportunities for the development of Belgrade as a tourist destination are reflected in its unique location at the confluence of two major rivers, the passage of international road and river corridors through its territory and airport expansion,



which creates new opportunities for tourism development. Belgrade has a very rich cultural and historical heritage as the most conquered, bombarded and destroyed city in Europe as well as because of civilisations and peoples that used to live there. The establishment of a visa-free regime for the citizens of Russia and China is an enormous potential for development of tourism given the size of those two markets. A large number of visitors from Israel, Greece, China and Turkey indicate that Belgrade attracts tourists from different parts of the world. Considering that the standard of living in Serbia is lower than in developed countries, Belgrade also has the advantage of being less costly than for instance Budapest or Sophia, which is yet another factor that influences the selection of a destination. Many studies on tourist satisfaction with Belgrade report that tourists who visit Belgrade for the first time would visit it again, meaning that they feel comfortable and secure in it, which is a prerequisite for successful development of tourism (Panić, 2018).

METHODOLOGY

The subject of this research is tourism in the territory of the City of Belgrade, analysed through the prism of the European Union cultural indicators with the aim of determining the state of destination sustainability. Cultural indicators show the impact of tourists coming from areas with different cultural characteristics on the degree of preservation of the local community’s cultural identity. This group of indicators includes the ratio of accommodation capacities to the size of the local population and tourism intensity, representing the ratio between the number of overnight stays during a year expressed in thousands and the size of the local population expressed in hundreds (Miller, 2001; Stojanović, 2006). If both indicators exceed the ratio of 1.6:1, the domicile population is under intense pressure from tourism development, meaning that tourism is far from sustainable and is classified in the red zone. Destinations with values under 1.1:1 are classified in the green zone, i.e. have sustainable development of tourism, while those with values ranging between 1.1:1 and 1.5:1 belong in the yellow zone (Table 1) (Jovičić & Ilić, 2010).

Table 1. CULTURAL INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE REGIONAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Culturalindicators

Ratio of accommodation capacities to the size of local population

<1.1:1 green zone

1.1 – 1.5: 1 yellow zone

>1.6:1 red zone

Tourism intensity

<1.1:1 green zone

1.1 – 1.5: 1 yellow zone

>1.6:1 red zone

Source: (Jovičić & Ilić, 2010)

To analyse the cultural indicators of sustainable development of tourism in Belgrade, statistical data on population 2011 was used, as well as data concerning accommodation capacities and tourist turnover in Belgrade in the period 2010-2019, recorded by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (Table 2).



Table 2. CULTURAL INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN BELGRADE FOR THE PERIOD 2010-2019

YearNumber of tourist

overnight stays during a year

Tourism intensity Number of beds

Ratio of accommodation

capacities to the size of the local population

Zone

2010 1,319,629 0.11 17,863 0.015 Green

2011 1,337,199 0.11 17,014 0.014 Green

2012 1,431,384 0.12 15,874 0.013 Green

2013 1,489,801 0.12 15,390 0.013 Green

2014 1,535,341 0.13 14,149 0.012 Green

2015 1,686,017 0.14 15,344 0.013 Green

2016 1,867,150 0.16 15,389 0.013 Green

2017 2,190,474 0.18 15,925 0.013 Green

2018 2,480,516 0.02 18,091 0.015 Green

2019 2,696,832 0.23 19,447 0.016 Green

Source: (Gavrilović D, 2010, 2019)

The ratio of accommodation capacities to the size of the local population could be defined as favourable during the entire ten-year period since there was no intensive construction of tourist facilities. It can be noticed that there was a decrease in the number of beds during the time period 2010-2014, which began to increase again in 2015. The decrease in the number of beds could be explained as the result of the ownership trans-formation and privatisation of tourist and hospitality facilities, whereas the subsequent rise in the number of beds is related to the construction of accommodation capacities. However, regardless of the construction of tourist infrastructure and supra-structure in Belgrade, this cultural indicator is still in the green zone, indicating that the construction of tourist accommodation facilities has not yet become intensive. Tourism intensity is indicative of sustainable development of tourism since results obtained for all ten years belong in the green zone due to large number of people living in Belgrade as the capital of Serbia and no major influence of mass tourism. Such low tourism intensity has had a beneficial effect on the local environment and in order not to compromise it in the future, care should be taken to set a boundary between general and tourism zoning to serve the needs of domicile population. Furthermore, this indicator can show us that Belgrade has not been a fast-developing tourist destination and therefore has a relatively low level of tourist turnover compared to European metropolises.


Cultural indicators of sustainable tourism development are subject to change since trends in the tourism market also vary considerably in real time, which can certainly be reflected in higher utilisation of capacities, an increase in the average length of stay in Belgrade and a reduction in seasonality of tourist visits. In addition to contributing to the theory of sustainable development of tourism, these results can have practical application in the territory of the City of Belgrade in terms of preserving the sustainability of development in the future. In that regard, it would be necessary to determine the carrying capacity of the destination to define the limits of permitted development. The concept of sustainable development of a tourist destination needs to be applied in Belgrade, as that is the only way in which both tourists and local residents can enjoy benefits of tourism. Benefits for the local population would be reflected in better traffic, eco-friendly urban landscaping and utilisation of renewable sources of energy, which would increase resources for new investments and development. In that regard, local businesspersons should be engaged in the tourism offer of the city, both directly and indirectly,



which would stimulate the economic growth and create new job openings and better working conditions. Tourists, on the other hand, would enjoy a well-organised and clean city offering additional attractions that represent the history and culture of Belgrade in the best possible way. That would raise the quality of tourist attractions, improve tourism and transport infrastructure, ensure that Belgrade urban zones are cleaner and greener and most importantly, increase revenue and attract more tourists.

REFERENCES

Ceron, J. & Dubois, G. (2003). Tourism and Sustainable Development Indicators: The Gap between Theoretical Demands and Practical Achievements. Current Issues in Tourism, 6(1), 54-75. DOI: 10.1080/13683500308667944.

European Commission. (2016). The European Tourism Indicator System: ETIS toolkit for sustainable destination management. Luxemburg: Publications Office of the European Union.

Јovičić, D. (2000). Turizam i životna sredina: koncepcija održivog turizma. Beograd: Zadužbina Andrejević. Јovičić, D. & Ilić, Т. (2010). Indikatori održivog turizma. Glasnik Srpskog geografskog društva, 42(1), 277-291.

DOI: 10.2298/GSGD1001277J.Ko, T.G. (2005). Development of a tourism sustainability assessment procedure: a conceptual approach. Tourism

Management 26 (3), 431-445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2003.12.003.Miller, G. (2001). The development of indicators for sustainable tourism: results of a Delphi survey of tourism

researches. Tourism Management, 22, 351-362. DOI: 10.1016/S0261-5177(00)00067-4.Panić, A. (2018). Planiranje odgovornog i održivog upravljanja turističkom destinacijom na primeru Beograda

(magistarski rad). Brežice: Univerzitet u Mariboru, Fakultet za turizam. Pavlović, S. & Belij, М. (2012). Kulturni indikatori održivosti turizma u banjama Srbije. Glasnik Srpskog geografskog

društva 42(3), 95 – 108. DOI: 10.2298/GSGD1203095P.Gavrilović, D. (2010, 2019). Statistical Yearbooks. Belgrade: Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia.Stojanović, V. (2006). Оdrživi razvoj turizma i životne sredine. Novi Sad: Departman za geografiju, turizam i

hotelijerstvo.


108

Nataša Dragović*,Milana Pašić

Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia

Correspondence: Nataša Dragović


SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN SKI RESORTS OF EUROPE AND THE WORLD

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: A specific feature of ski tourism is its dependence on climatic conditions so that activities on snow can be realized. Understanding the impact of tourism developments would help the sustainability of tourism management. Sustainability can be viewed from several aspects, the two most often considered being economic and environmental sustainability. This paper presents an overview of sustainable practices in ski resorts in Europe and the world. The aim is to present sustainable practices and to compare different ways of solving the problem of climate change, i.e. the application of adaptation strategies. Ski resorts differ in terms of resources, altitude, and geographical location. Thus, different sustainable practices are needed. The main problems that disrupt the sustainability of the destination are the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere as a consequence of mass tourism movements in the form of transport to the mountain and on the mountain, then insufficient snow at lower altitudes during the winter months. Also, deforestation, changing landscapes and disrupting the functioning of ecosystems due to the need to develop ski resorts in the form of infrastructure projects. A sustainable way of managing ski resorts should enable the smooth flow of the winter tourism season, without disturbing the ecosystem and the natural environment.

Keywords: sustainable development, environmental sustainability, ski resorts, climate changes.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-108-116

INTRODUCTION

Sustainable tourism has been studied for years, with so many defi-nitions, tools, strategies, and principles having been developed. Some of them are 1995 Charter for Sustainable Tourism, the Berlin Declaration: Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism of 1997, the Johannesburg Implementation Plan: Sustainable Tourism of 1992, the Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism of 1999, the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism of 2002, Cape Town Declaration: Responsible Tourism in Destinations from 2002 (Ecological Tourism in Europe, 2005). The scientific litera-ture that studies tourism is increasingly dealing with environmental issues and harmful effects of tourism on the environment. Tourism development is not only going in an unsustainable direction, but is becoming unsustainable globally which may be a problem in the future



(Buckley, 2012; Gössling et al., 2012; Hall, 2011; Peeters, 2012; Peeters and Dubois, 2010; Scott et al., 2010; Weaver, 2009; Rutty et al., 2014). The effects of climate change on tourism are also great, and how tourism responds to these changes is of great importance for sustainable tourism (Scott, 2011).

The World Tourism Organization has defined development of sustainable tourism as such that it should meet the needs of tourists and hosts in a way that will increase opportunities for future development. Sustainable tourism should manage available resources without compromising the environment, biodiversity, environmental processes, and cultural integrity while meeting economic and social needs (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 1998). The involvement of all actors in tourism can achieve sustainable tourism development. These are stakeholders, each of whom has a role in tourism - local communities, hoteliers, restaurateurs, tour guides, tour operators, travel agencies, tourism organizations, NGOs, media, scientific institutions, etc. For their activities to be sustainable, they need to be involved in the planning process from the very beginning. This includes cooperation, exchange of information, and consultation in decision-making on activities that follow the sustainable development of tourism (Ecological Tourism in Europe, 2005). There are many definitions in the literature, but most of the scientific community dealing with sustainable tourism believes that sustainability should reduce the impact on the environment, close the consumption cycle to eliminate as much as possible non-economical production and reduce unnecessary investments (Epstein, 1996; McDonough and Braungart, 2002; Smerecnik and Andersen, 2011). Implementing the concept of sustainable tourism can have different results. According to some literature, there are positive effects of the concept of sustainability on visitor satisfaction (Kassinis and Soteriou, 2003), whereas there are examples when the concept of sustainability did not have concrete evidence of positive impact (Claver-Cortés et al., 2007). In order to achieve the goal of the work, examples of managing ski resorts in a sustainable way in Europe and the world are presented. The subject of the paper is to consider sustainable ski resort management practices in Europe and the world, and to examine whether current practices contain some aspects of sustainability. The task of the paper is to analyse current and future practices for ski resort management, as well as to review examples of good practice.

Sustainable practices in ski resorts

This chapter will present examples of application and development of sustainability strategies in ski resorts in Europe and the world. Based on these examples, conclusions will be drawn that indicate the problems that ski resorts face, the ways they solve the problems and what are future planned strategies for sustainability.

Examples in Europe

For ski resorts in Switzerland, a study of climate change and lack of snow during the winter was conducted. It is probable that disturbance in snowfall has risen due to tourism and its impacts thus causing the problem of insufficient snow cover for winter activities such as skiing. It is predicted that Swiss ski resorts need a snow cover height of at least 30-50 cm in 100 days (a period from December 1 to April 15), in seven to ten winter seasons, so that winter activities can be carried out without problems (Buerki et al., 2003). Out of a total of 230 ski resorts, 85% should have enough snow during the winter season. The effects of global warming are likely to affect the ski resorts of the Jura, eastern and central Switzerland, the cantons of Ticino, Fribourg, and Vaud. In contrast, the Valais and Grisons regions will not have such problems because the average altitude at which the cable car terminals are located is over 2500 m above sea level. In the future, the problem may arise at the ski resorts with the average altitude of 1800 m and less. In that case, only 44% of ski resorts would have conditions for winter activities. Based on the discussions of the focus groups, strategies for adaptation to climate change was adopted, which include four groups of activities:

1. management of ski tourism by making artificial snow, development of the terrain at higher altitudes, design of ski slopes, and cooperation;

2. subsidies which include annual contributions and one-off contributions;3. fatalism reflected in the fact that neither consumers nor suppliers change their behaviour, as well as in

the fact that ski tourism can be abruptly interrupted, without any announcement activities;4. alternatives to ski tourism that should not be strictly related to snow and tourism throughout the year

(Buerki et al., 2003).



The working group for sustainable tourism of the Alpine Convention with representatives from Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Italy, Germany, Monaco and Liechtenstein wrote a document for the period from 2016 to 2018 entitled: Guidelines for innovation in Alpine tourism destinations. This report covered the current challenges and expected future scenarios for the mentioned destinations. They were assisted in this by tourism, sustainability and destination management experts who represent and implement sustainable practices. Alpine tourism destinations are facing the problem of mass tourism, i.e. the increased number of tourists. The working group concluded that areas should be established to which access to traditional vehicles would not be allowed, but e.g. bicycle rental, electric vehicles, free public transport services, etc. Also, in certain areas the number of people staying there at the same time should be limited, an offer that would schedule the arrival of people at different times of the day should be created, modern technologies such as applications for portable devices applied, and promotion of cooperation with less visited areas should be encouraged, i.e. visitor flow management (Alpine Convention, 2019).

Research by Bonzaniga et al. (2016) focused on the application of the concept of adaptation to climate change in a local discourse on sustainable tourism development. The case study was performed in the Italian Dolomites, Auronzo di Cadore, and Misurina. This research involved the local community and experts with the aim of strengthening winter tourism performance in a sustainable way. The methodological framework “Network Analysis-Creative System Modelling-Decision Support” was used, which was adapted to the needs of this case study using a combination of several tools (NetSyMoD, Giupponi et al., 2006). Primarily, all research participants were interviewed regarding this area, their views and opinions on current and future development, and sustainable tourism. After that, two workshops were held. Three strategies have been defined that differ in terms of use of natural, social, and economic resources, but their common goal is to strengthen winter tourism. Ski-intensive strategy (SKINT-intensive) means a high-tech ski centre with new lifts, hotels, restaurants, and artificial snowmaking facilities. The alternative-skiing strategy (ALTIC) consists of Nordic skiing and free-ride skiing. The “beyond-snow” (BYDSNW) strategy means giving up investing in skiing in favour of a resort based on health and family tourism, with an increase in offer that is not related to snow. According to potential future climate and socio-economic changes, the results show that the desired solution of this region is based on activi-ties away from the snow. The beyond-snow strategy (BYDSNW) may be linked to the local public transport project, as greater needs for tourist transport are foreseen in the future. An alternative skiing strategy could be successfully implemented between the lifts, while a ski-intensive strategy should be avoided as a possible mistake in the medium and long term. Elevator operators are recommended to control the optimization of the existing infrastructure and ancillary services. For Auronzo di Cadore, the focus is on traditional ski families and activities from the “away from the snow” strategy, and for Missouri, the main point of development would be an alternative skiing strategy. Certainly, the mentioned strategies will not be able to develop independently but with the support of the planned sustainable development (Bonzanigo et al., 2016).

The “Seiser Alm” plateau covers an area of 50 km2 and is located between 1700 m and 2350 m above sea level. The area is suitable for hiking, skiing, and winter sports and a destination known for a large number of overnight stays - over 350,000 on the plateau and over 1.5 million in neighbouring areas in 2014 (Astat info, 2015). In the face of a large volume of traffic on the road to the plateau, which at the same time has a very bad impact on the environment, individual transport was closed from 9 am to 5 pm with exceptions for accom-modation. Alternative access was provided by cable car. This idea was initiated by actors from the tourism sector, and later this initiative was supported by the local community. Until the realization of the idea, there were many obstacles, mostly by the local population who could not accept that access to the plateau was no longer free. This problem has been resolved with more favourable maps for the local population. Today, they are satisfied because the number of people moving on the roads has really decreased. An important result of this project is the reduction of CO2 emissions by 2100 tons per year (Arge Alp, 2015). Also, places that were not previously accessible are now developed winter destinations (Scuttari et al., 2016).

The mentioned working group also created a brochure of examples of sustainable Alpine destinations. Most of them have well-developed ski centres that implement ecological practices. In France, it is Chamonix, mainly oriented towards winter sports activities, where winter tourism accounts for 53% of annual visits. This region includes four municipalities, and their priority is sustainable movement through the region, reducing CO2 emissions, which is in line with the Territorial Plan of Energy Clusters and the Atmospheric Protection Plan.



Activities include renovation and improvement of the railway infrastructure, a renovated bus line with Euro 6 standard vehicles, six hybrid buses, two small 100% electric buses. For the flow of tourists to be unhindered, the timetables are adjusted to the seasons and the frequency of movement, that is. during the winter there are more train lines than in the summer (Alpine Convention, 2019).

Cortina in Italy is known for holding the 1956 Winter Olympics. It is one of the most famous ski resorts in Italy, where the winter season starts in November and lasts until April. The Italian Ministry of Environment Protection, together with its partners, has signed the “Cortina Charter”, committing itself to nature protection through implementation of environmental practices. This charter is especially important because it is planned for the World Ski Championship in 2021 to be held here. The result of these activities is a reduction in the impact of winter sports activities, an increase in resource efficiency, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and a reduction in energy costs (Alpine Convention, 2019).

Since 1931, Zermatt (Switzerland) has not allowed cars, except in special cases when a license can be obtained for the use of an electric or another vehicle that does not emit harmful gases into the atmosphere. Arrival is possible by shuttle train from neighbouring Tasch, and there are about 500 electric vehicles and several carriages. In this way, they enabled easier movement without crowds, reduced traffic through the promotion of slow movement in the area, noise emission, and air pollution. The city was awarded the “Energiestadt” label for fulfilling 59% of the measures through innovative techniques and thus maintaining good air quality. It also has a smart waste disposal system and produces 60% of its energy consumption with hydropower plant (Alpine Convention, 2019).

One million visits a year take place in the city of Saas-Fee, in the north of Switzerland. Like Zermatt, this city has the “Energiestadt” award with 62% of the measures achieved to receive the recognition of the Gold Standard of the European Energy Award. All pilot studies of the Alpine Convention are being held in this territory. Since the 1980s, the use of cars has been banned, except for public transport by electric vehicles. All electricity is produced from sustainable energy sources and a solar heating system has been introduced. In all wood heating systems, in this area, a filter for dust particles has been introduced to become the first alpine area without fine dust particles (Alpine Convention, 2019).

Examples in the world

Strategies, knowledge, motivation, and other drivers of all stakeholders in Utah (United States) ski resorts were examined through interviews. Those who manage the sustainability of the ski centres with their activities, either directly or indirectly, participated. The research aims to understand current and future environmental practices. To achieve this, the interviews were designed to get answers to the questions about awareness and application of environmental practices from ski resort managers, to learn the extent to which current environmental practices are effective, and whether there is a need for new improved practices within recent environmentally based managerial activities. Respondents believe that environmental practices are important and valuable for ski resorts, as well as have a positive impact on the environmental development and wealth of the ski and tourism industry. They also state that measures and efforts have been taken to support future environmental development and are aware of the challenges they face, highlighting the financial challenges as they are large financial expenses for the maintenance of ski lifts, ski slopes, and artificial snow. Last, respondents have had a positive perception that their resort would continue with environmental practices in the future and have been open to more intensive cooperation with local communities through the improvement of the existing environmental practices. Visitors who have been interviewed believe that environmental practices are not of great importance for these ski resorts and do not choose a ski resort based on whether environmental practices are implemented in the area or not (Call, 2012).

Training for eco-drivers has long been studied in the literature related to transport. Rutty et al. (2014) researched the Blue Mountain Resort in Ontario (Canada). This site is located within the UNESCO biosphere reserve. This research assesses the relationship between the economic and environmental impacts of a driver’s behaviour in a tourist environment. This is one of the ways to improve the sustainability of ski resorts, which results in a measurable reduction of harmful emissions from vehicles. The resort has confirmed the installation of technology or chips “CarChips” for tracking vehicles from their fleet, which will assess the possibility of reducing emissions. The research was conducted from 2009 to 2011 in three parts.



The first collection of the vehicle, fuel, and emission data, the second behavioural intervention, and the third collection of vehicle, fuel, and emission data after training. According to the results, at idle, the vehicle consumes an average of eight litres of fuel and emits more than 18 kg of CO2. These are average results because different vehicles were used during the research. When the data are extrapolated, a result is obtained which shows that 55 vehicles at idle consumption consume more than 42,000 l of fuel and emit more than 97 tons of CO2. The usefulness of car tracking technology has proven to be positive in terms of improving sustainability. After the training, the vehicles were monitored again and a decrease in daily CO2 emissions was observed, the average daily idle fuel consumption and the average daily idling costs were reduced by 8%. The resort has reduced fuel consumption and associated CO2 emissions. All 14 vehicles that passed the survey showed an improvement, drivers reduced overall daily speed by -14%, strong decelerations by -55%, strong accelerations by -44%, idle by -2%. Based on this, fuel consumption was reduced by -8%, and CO2 emissions by -8% (Rutty et al., 2014).

Hopkins (2014) researched the Queenstown Lake region (New Zealand), i.e. what is the main strategy for climate change adaptation in a ski resort belonging to the Queenstown municipality and how stakeholders from the tourism industry, municipal representatives, and tourists perceive current climate change adaptation strategies in terms of sustainability? The aim is to assess the sustainability of adaptation to climate change. In response to climate change, the ski industry in Queenstown can have three solutions in addition to making snow: transition to year-round tourism, formation of conglomerate business ventures, and development of slopes or terrain at higher altitudes. After interviews with stakeholders and the local population, it was possible to single out two approaches to tackle the climate change: exploiting the increased vulnerability of the ski industry in Australia and snowmaking technology. Making artificial snow can also be unsustainable, but the positive side is the extension of the ski season and the number of visitors, which increases the income from skiing. Increasingly, snowmaking is defined as a business strategy aimed at economic sustainability, and adaptation to climate change should also be environmentally sustainable. In this research, the spectrum of demand perception was identified. Differences in perceptions can be explained by the level of skiing skills, type of skiing and age, as well as worldview and social needs. The differences between the participants in the research, i.e. there are moral and ethical conflicts regarding skiing, snowmaking, environmental sustainability, and resource consumption. Sustainable tourism in Queenstown, and the whole of New Zealand, requires more attention. Strategies that would be sustainable must include strategies for adapting to climate change and resource consumption. To address unsustainable strategies, organizational structures and intentions need to be con-sidered. This study also showed results that show a discrepancy between different types of skiers, i.e. skiers on the piste are more willing to accept the technology of making snow, unlike skiers off the piste (Hopkins, 2014).

There are 12 commercial ski resorts in New Zealand, and some of them share information and communicate about environment issues on their website. It is a process of disseminating information and implementing communication practices related to the environment. The ski resorts included in the research are Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Mt Hutt, Ohau, Porters. Data collection was performed in three ways: annexation of managers who have a significant role in communications with the environment, interviewing skiers, and collection of all communications with the environment that met the conditions of possible production at the mentioned ski resorts. Other individuals who play significant roles in creating or disseminating communications with the environment are also considered. The results of the research were divided into four groups. The first group included conclusions and discussions about how the transport of skiers manifested itself in communication with the environment and how managers and skiers perceived it. The second group analysed the ability of ski areas to use communication with the environment to build legitimacy without solving the problem of transporting skiers. The third considered the lack and implications of “green fatigue”, identified in this study, on social legitimacy. The last one considered how these dynamics affected the prospects of ski area expansion plans and the role of such developments in fostering additional transport-related emissions. The first group gave results that showed that the respondents were not so aware of climate change, but that they felt that the environment was in some way disturbed and endangered. Also, it could be concluded that ski area managers had responsibility only for the local environment and that transport was outside their jurisdiction. For example, representatives of the Ohau ski resort stated that people crossed half of the world to come to New Zealand, thus they would have to be transported by a certain means of transport, thus already causing the emission of harmful gases. However, there is no public transport to the Ohau ski area, and they do not promote active driving. What is represented is the measurement of harmful gas emissions, but not caused by transport, but by the operation of the ski resort.



The second group of results showed that respondents were aware of the vulnerability of the environment and therefore pointed out that publishing information about communication with the environment affected employees in organizations by publicly showing their views and perspectives on the environment. Also, they did not want to show in any way that they did not respect nature and believed that their activities were in accordance with sustainable principles. The third group of results showed that there was a lack of “green fatigue” among skiers, i.e. that skiers did not often have the opportunity to see environmental messages and the like, while ski managers said that skiers viewed the ski resorts themselves as ecological. Therefore, skiers were not particularly critical of ski resorts and their approaches to environmental communication. Ski area managers believed that the lack of “green fatigue” among skiers stemmed from three factors: New Zealand ski areas have adopted a restrained approach to communication with the environment, their ski industry is smaller than some in neighbouring countries and New Zealand presents itself in an environmentally friendly light. The fourth group of results showed that the managers of the Ohau ski resort recognized in their guests that they loved the wilderness that surrounded their ski resort and that was why they come. In interviews, skiers expressed awareness of the impacts that could result from expanding the ski area, but most were in favour of preferring larger ski areas with additional terrain and better infrastructure. Those who were against the expansion of the ski area pointed out environmental reasons such as large crowds, more negative impacts on the environment, and that there is already sufficient infrastructure (Spector, 2017).

DISCUSSION

The examples in the previous chapters show that ski resorts around the world, regardless of location, size, equipment, number of tourists, have the same problems with climate change and strategies for adapting to these changes, which are in line with the sustainability principles. The lack of snow cover during the winter months is one of the consequences of climate change, which prevents the normal operation and functioning of ski resorts compared to the previous years. Examples in Europe are ski resorts in Switzerland, which are located at an altitude of less than 1800 m, or parts of ski resorts at high altitudes, but which also have ski slopes at lower altitudes. Possible solutions are mainly making artificial snow, certain alternatives to skiing, subsidies for ski resorts, and the like. Making artificial snow may be a temporary solution, but in the long run, this solution will not be sustainable because large amounts of resources (e.g. electricity) are used to produce snow. Furthermore, the countries of the Alpine Convention face the problem of mass tourism and at one point they resolved that problem with alternative modes of transport. This means a ban on one’s own vehicle in certain areas in order not to disturb the ecosystem, i.e. the functioning of flora and fauna. Ski resorts in the Italian Dolomites have tried to establish various sustainable strategies to strengthen the offer of winter activities but in a sustainable way. These are strategies such as building a ski centre that will provide high technological performance, investing in Nordic skiing and skiing off-piste, but also strategies that regulate and promote activities away from snow. Also, there are various regulations, charters in European ski resorts that represent ecological practices and ecological behaviour, such as the Cortina charter in the eponymous ski resort in Italy, France CO2 emissions are regulated through the Atmospheric Protection Plan and the Territorial Plan of Energy Clusters. Zermatt in Switzerland does not allow access to ski resorts except in exceptional cases and which, like the Saas-Fee ski resort (Switzerland), have the character of an energy city (Energiestadt). The Alpine Convention allows frameworks for sustainable practices to be regulated by local and regional development plans so that regions and provinces in Italy can make their own rules for land management during construction. At the European level, there is a framework called Environmental Impact Assessment and it has been imple-mented in national legislation.

One way to analyse environmental awareness among ski resort managers and visitors is through interviews. The interview technique was used in Utah ski resorts in the United States. Respondents believe that environ-mental practices are important for development of ski resorts and to help and enrich the tourist offer. They also state that they implement sustainable tourism practices, but that they have certain financial difficulties. Although they face these problems, they will continue to implement sustainable practices and cooperate more with other partners. Contrary to these views, skiers do not consider sustainable practices important for the future development and operation of ski resorts, and for them, implementation of sustainable practices is not one of the factors when choosing a ski resort.



Transport is listed as one of the factors that harm the environment, meaning the transport of tourists to a particular place. The Blue Mountain Ski Resort in Ontario has installed CarChip technology to track vehicles belonging to managers and all other businesspeople at the ski resort. Cars, fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions were analysed. Drivers who participated in the research had previously had training on environmental driving. The result of the research showed that 55 vehicles at idle consume more than 42,000 l of fuel and emit more than 97 tons of CO2. After the training, the results of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions were reduced by 8%. Therefore, tourist transport can be regulated in an acceptable way considering environment protection and implementation of sustainable tourism practices.

In Queenstown, New Zealand, ski resort managers, stakeholders, and the population were interviewed about sustainable tourism business strategies. They agreed that they can respond to climate change in two ways, by exploiting the increased vulnerability of the ski industry and making artificial snow, which is the case with most ski resorts in the world and Europe. In New Zealand, the authors also researched people’s attitudes towards transport in ski resorts, the existence of “green fatigue” among skiers, and how communication strategies with the environment are implemented. The results showed that people were not largely aware of climate change, but that the environment was changing over the years. Also, they have not experienced much “green fatigue” because the state sufficiently promotes sustainable practices. Most agree that ski areas need to be expanded to have more quality facilities and infrastructure.

CONCLUSION

Ski resorts face the same problems. Primarily, length of the winter season is reduced due to warmer days and insufficient rainfall caused by climate changes. That is why most ski resorts resort to strategies for making artificial snow. Especially ski resorts located at lower altitudes (below 1500 m), while skiing resorts above 1500 m above sea level still do not have major problems with lack of snow. Making artificial snow is useful for those who manage ski resorts, but over time, this practice can reduce the number of available resources such as water and electricity, without which making snow would be impossible. Ski resort managers should already be thinking about future strategies. Some ski resorts supplement the lack of winter season with activities during the summer season or other months when there is no snowfall and thus enable the economic sustainability of the resort. This is very important because tourists have facilities on the mountain throughout the year, so it is possible to keep them longer and meet the expectations they have.

Transport to the mountains and in the mountains is one of the problems faced by ski resorts. Many are trying to reduce transportation on the mountain by organizing group transportation via buses, trains, and other means of transportation. There are also ski resorts that have banned the entry of vehicles that use fossil fuels for propulsion and transportation is only possible with electric vehicles. In this way, CO2 emissions are reduced, which causes great damage to nature. The problem with transport is bigger in ski resorts that face mass tourism, and then it is difficult to control it. Creating an offer that will not cause dissatisfaction due to the impossibility of its own transportation for tourists is the task of all ski resort managers.

Impacts on land through the construction of roads and infrastructure also negatively affect the ecosystem and disrupt its normal functioning. With the development of ski resorts, the need to build more increases, forests are being cleared for the construction of roads and ski slopes. All this disturbs the normal life of the plant and animal world. Certain permits are required for construction, especially in protected mountain areas. Laws and regulations control construction, but as more are built and nature changes, so will laws have to be stricter and adapted to future predictions for the environment and climate change.

For these measures to be successful to the greatest possible extent, the cooperation of the government, local bodies, ski resort managers, other tourist participants in creating an offer for tourists, the local population, and, of course, tourists are needed. Marketing strategies that will raise awareness among tourists can help concrete strategies for sustainable tourism development in ski resorts. The ski industry depends on natural conditions, and therefore there is no other way to deal with climate change than to adapt through sustainable strategies. This task is not easy because it requires a lot of knowledge, foresight, continuous cooperation, and financial resources. If ski resort managers are aware of the situation in which they find themselves, they should try to protect the environment in every possible way, as this will facilitate the implementation of climate change adaptation strategies.



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Jelena Stajčić1*,Olgica Živković2

1Dnata d.o.o., Belgrade, Serbia2Licenced tour guide

Correspondence: Jelena Stajčić


EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: Given the progressive growth in the number of tourists in the last few decades, it has begun to think in the direction of preserving tourist destinations for future generations. There was an expression - sustainable tourism, a new form of smart destination development. This concept implies the preservation of the environment and the difficulty of neutralizing one of the most popular aspects of tourist movements, and that is mass. The initial idea was to show through the work that in Balkan region there are people from the tourism sector who are thinking about the so-called green tourism and how to fit it into the current world framework or sustainable development. Following the selected topic, through positive examples from practice, a presentation of different types of accommodation capacities is given, with a large price range and a diverse offer, with a common label, and that is «eco». At the end of the study the conclusion is imposed that it is possible to fit into nature and not disturb the existing, local socio-cultural developments while achieving efficiency benefits for all participants.

Keywords: glamping, eco-hostel, slow hotel concept, eco villages, sustainability.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-117-127

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 virus pandemic has led to a crisis of global proportions, changing the existing socio-economic structures in each affected country. A state of emergency or more restrictive measures of the movement has been introduced in many countries, which has led people to think more about the importance of preserving the natural environment because escaping into nature has become a kind of spiritual, physical, and psychological elixir in these times. Therefore, the current situation was the starting point for choosing a given topic. In the continuation of the work, new concepts of sustainable tourism in different accom-modation capacities will be presented.

Slow living is a new philosophy of life that can also be applied in the hotel industry, which is to achieve harmony during your stay at the hotel and slow down the pace. A representative example in our country is Pegaz Holiday Resort in Vrnjačka Banja.



On the other hand, as a more affordable counterpart, there is the first green hostel, Eco Hostel Republik in Užice, which is constructed to be energy independent, and this is achieved by placing solar panels on the roof. At the same time, the mentioned hostel enables each of its guests to be ecologically aware and responsible while staying in their space. As a gradual transition from accommodation in cities to natural oases deep in the forest are villages that fit into the green frame, and this paper will focus on the Wind Rose, which is located on the southern slopes of Fruška gora. Finally, as a good example of sustainable tourism but without giving up luxury habits is glamorous camping or glamping. Slovenia is a leader in this type of tourism, while the idea is still in its infancy in Serbia, and two more modest glamping places with potential will be presented, Bezdan and Jandala.

SLOW LIVING CONCEPT

The one of the most rapidly growing sectors of modern tourism is travel for health. Nowadays people don’t need to be sick in order to opt for health and wellness tourism as their motive is improving and preventing overall health. Many visitors of modern health and wellness centres are unaware that the origin goes back to distant prehistory as it was believed that bath in the water results in physical and spiritual purification. From the end of the 18th century until today, Roman baths were the basis of construction now already popular wellness centres that in functional and architectural terms represent a natural and material resource for the modern development of wellness and health tourism in the world. The practice of bathing came to European civilization from Greece, so Greeks established the foundations for modern spa procedures as they were the first to use standing bathtubs and washbasins for personal hygiene. In contemporary literature there are historical records for the origin of the term spa, from the Latin word “spargere” (scatter, sprinkle) or “Sanitas Per Aquam” (lat. water to health) or from the Belgian city of Spa, where a thermal spring (Jovanović, 2015) was discovered in the 14th century. In the last decade of the past century, already the middle-aged generation of “baby boomers” showed awareness of the importance of good health by founding a wellness movement and development of the fitness industry.

Being healthy and feeling good - requires time, money and effort, which many people nowadays cannot afford. It is also important for each individual to recognize which aspect of his health requires attention in a certain period of life. There are times when more attention needs to be paid to physical health (during illness and recovery), but sometimes mental health is a priority (exposure to personal or occupational stress). The goal is to preserve health for as long as possible and improve health condition, where wellness contributes to the life quality of the individual by harmonization of its mental, emotional, physical and spiritual values. Wellness concept (Rabotić, 2013) is actually about integration of different components from the impact on improving quality of life, such as movement, physical exercise, balanced diet, relaxation and reduction of stress, but also feeling pleasure (holistic approach to health).

Slow living can be described as life philosophy, a state of consciousness and being, a meditative perspective, and methodical approach to daily life. It means connection with yourself, ones around you, and the world. Slow presents the opposite of the negative consequences “fast” has had for the health of people, societies and environment “. The Slow Living Vision is an Earth where humanity, celebrating and respecting the deep connection of all people, places and living beings, returns to you coexistence of mutually supportive communities, bioregions and economic systems – and where we, combining the wisdom of the past with a vision for the future, are ensuring the fulfilled and balanced life for all generations to come.

Pegaz holiday resort in Vrnjačka Banja

Pegaz Holiday Resort opens the possibility of a different reality in which presence now and here becomes a source of personal and social change which actually is the essence of existence. However, in order to master change, we need to master slowing down and thinking first. To slow down means to cultivate the awareness of the present moment, to make a conscious choice that never exhausts itself. To live slowly means to accept the principles that are naturally given to us: interdependence, uniqueness, simplicity, organization.



By choosing a slow life, we accept interdependence with the environment in which we exist. To slow down means to free every day from unnaturally imposed restrictions and demands of the culture of modern living and working. Slow living mode is a kind of deliberate and thoughtful everyday life, an opportunity to choose what is really important. These are all those activities that make everyday life pleasurable and give it meaning through the conscious use of time.

Hotel offer consists of 120 suites, richly equipped slow wellness spa, cosy restaurant and bar Adut, and many other facilities which present a unique experience of slowing down. Pegaz Holiday Resort is a 4-star apart hotel, organized in three parts which covers over 10,000 square meters where guests can use numerous slow living facilities. In the Pegasus Slow Wellness Centre one can chose among some of the therapeutic and cosmetic treatments, as it consists of: salt room, sauna amphitheatre, infra sauna, bio sauna, Finnish sauna, experience showers, pool, Jacuzzi, relax room, massage room, steam bath, gym (Hotel Pegaz Holiday Resort, 2020).

After one Slow weekend stay at Pegaz Holiday Resort, person will feel the difference between work that consumes himself and work that fulfils him.

Slow workshop is the next step in the concept of team building as it is the program to slow down and restore the energy of tired teams. Team slowing down and relaxation is their flagship corporate program. In cooperation with company HR manager, Pegaz Holiday Resort will design a program for the team that will renew and refresh team’s game.

Pegaz Holiday Resort offers the opportunity to have time. Busyness is not our business is an education program in small groups for everyone who wants to learn to have time. Whether you come from the culture of the business world or feel the pressure of not having time, Busyness is not our business is the appropriate program for you.

Warm colours and natural materials make every stay in the Adut restaurant a pleasant experience offering a completely new experience of enjoying well-known Serbian delicacies and desserts. Dishes are prepared from always fresh ingredients. Indulge in the magical experience of the richness of local flavours stored in a new way.

Within the Pegaz Holiday Resort complex, there is also the Dr. Gifing Centre for Preventive Medicine and Chrono Nutrition. Dr. Gifing’s office provides users with all diagnostic procedures and preventive treatments developed by Dr. Ana Gifing:

-An individual approach prevents the development of the disease and helps in the early detection and treatment of existing metabolic disorders.

-Determination of individual tolerance and intolerance to certain foods and other allergens and food ingredients with a bioresonance device. This defines the foods that the patient should consume, i.e. which should be avoided in the daily diet.

-Counselling related to physical activity - type of physical activity, duration and weekly frequency of the same.

-Detoxification with the recommended supplementation (dietary supplements based on vitamins / minerals...)

Chrono camp

The cooperation of the experts - Dr. Gifing practice and Pegaz Holiday Resort in Vrnjačka Banja, resulted in the creation of a great idea and implementation of programs designed to regulate weight, restore fitness and provide guidance for those who want to live healthy. A specially designed program lasting 2 days is a safe and effective way to regulate body weight, provide desirable effects on health, but it is also only the first step in complete and permanent weight control and improvement of general health.

The Camp program is intended for everyone who wants something more than their vacation and those for whom health is in the first place in life. It includes workshops and lectures on chrono-nutrition, organized walks in nature, under the supervision of proven experts and nutritionists.



ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS IN HOTEL INDUSTRY

It can be said that the development of eco-hotels and “green” hotels is a modern ecological trend tourism. Hotels have been intensively introducing “green” practices since the last decade of 20th century, primarily due to the influence and pressure of the public to achieve consumer satisfaction, as economic impacts that are most related to operating costs, i.e. their reduction (Tzschentke et al., 2008). Environmentally sustainable business today is the most important element of corporate social hotel business responsibilities. To gain environmentally sustainable hotel business and social responsibility it is necessary to achieve synergy on the basis of consumer satisfaction, protection of natural resources, culture, economic and general well-being (Cooper, 2012). The first “green” hotel, 100% eco-friendly, was opened by the Intercontinental Hotel Group-IHG (Fukey et al., 2014).

Green key certificate

Eco certificates and labels represent an important aspect for the ecological business of a hotel because they promote environmental sustainability and document the commitment of hotels in the implementation of measures and activities for protection and preservation of the environment.

For now, there is one eco-label in Serbia, and that is the Green Key, an award which can be considered as excellency standard in the sustainable tourism which gives Foundation for Environmental Education (2019). Since 1994 and the launch in Denmark by HORESTA (Association of the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism in Denmark), it has officially aimed to raise awareness of certain future changes in tourism and hospitality generally and increase the use of environmental and sustainable methods.

A green key means that the hotel meets an appropriate set of environmental standards. The main goal of this certificate is to encourage social responsibility of the hotel through educational, joint and promotional efforts. This certificate developed criteria for obtaining a certificate for six categories of green keys (hotels and hostels, holiday parks and camps, conference centres, small accommodation facilities, attractions, restaurants), which include a list of 13 criteria based on activities covering those areas such as Corporate Social Respon-sibility, environmental facility maintenance, environmentally sustainable facility operations, equipping and maintaining accommodation units, waste management, water and energy facilities management, food and drinks preparation, employee education (Stanišić et al., 2019).

The basis of this certificate is the assignment of keys (from 1 - the lowest rating, to 5 - the highest rating) based on the hotel’s compliance with the program of this label. The estimate is based on five main operational areas of the hotel business, including: corporate environmental management, cleaning and maintenance, en-gineering, conference and meeting facilities, food and beverage operations. In addition, the program covers nine areas related to sustainability in resource management: energy and water conservation, indoor air quality assessment, hazardous and solid waste management, infrastructure construction, land use and environmental management, community expansions.

So far, more than 3,200 facilities in 65 countries have received the Green Key (Foundation for Environ-mental Education, 2019). To obtain this eco-label hotels should confirm the fulfilment of all criteria related to education, employees, attitude towards environment, systematic application of measures and activities for protection and preservation of the environment and reducing resource consumption. This certificate was awarded in 2015 to the Radisson Blu Old Mill Hotel in Belgrade, which today operates under the name Radis-son Collection Old Mill, and then in 2016 the Holiday Hotel In in Belgrade. In 2019 Hilton Belgrade received the Green Key eco certificate. From 2019 The Hotel Zlatibor Mona is part of the Green Key awarded establish-ments. It is the only one which received certificate outside of Belgrade. Since the renovation of the hotel in 2007 they never stopped acting to create an environmentally-friendly business. From the slow food concept of its restaurant to the use of environmentally friendly practices regarding water and energy, the Hotel Zlatibor Mona knows how to care of its guests while preserving the environment. Indeed, it contributes to the local communities’ development by the employment of locals and the offering of scholarship programs for students, providing the latter with a job after graduation (Foundation for Environmental Education, 2019).



Eco hostel Republik

Since the beginning in 2012 it has been dedicated to the idea of being environmentally friendly as a themed hostel conceived on the idea of preserving and protecting the environment and saving energy. The furniture and interior are made entirely from euro pallets designed for firewood. Cabinets, nightstands and other decorative elements that belonged to the Yugoslav army skilfully changed their purpose. Solar panels are installed on the roof as boilers which use sun energy. On the other side, hostel is reducing energy consumption by using energy-saving light bulbs. However, to reduce water consumption special showerheads are used. Their future plans are to install LED lighting from solar energy on the rooftop and to install battery-saving devices that regulate the time spent in the showers and to buy dish washers to save water consumption. In order to reduce CO2 emissions, the staff helps guests to find green modes of transport, such as walking, cycling and using local trains and buses. Fig. 1 shows example how toilets in hostel are made from natural materials trying to reduce energy consumption (Next Vision, 2018).

Figure 1. Toilets in Eco hostel Republik

Source: https://www.republik.rs/green-idea/,

ECO VILLAGE

It seems that in rural areas, people who work with travel agencies or are registered on various web portals such as Airbnb or Booking.com, offering potential guests their accommodation, local food, various forms of recreation, and sightseeing first catch up with new trends and easily fit into the concept of sustainable tourism. In the countryside, people have always lived in harmony with by nature, those engaged in agriculture, fruit growing, or viticulture are accustomed to following the seasons, listening to nature to get the most out of the land, but trying not to disturb it to preserve it for their descendants. According to Rabotić (2013), rural tourism is the most complex segment of modern tourist trends, which in a narrower sense includes visits to villages and agricultural farms. It appeared in Europe only at the end of the 18th century, when individuals inspired by the spirit of romanticism set out in search of idyllic villages as a potential refuge (Rabotić, 2013). It can be said that various forms of selective tourism such as agro tourism, gastro tourism, wine tourism, hiking, cycling, ecotourism that take place in a natural environment away from the urban area intertwine and arise from rural tourism. And, all the listed forms of tourism are covered by sustainable tourism, one of the important postulates of which is the care for natural resources, whether they are providers of tourist services or users of the same. Following the development and reshaping of rural tourism in Serbia, more and more purpose-built or existing ones are being turned into eco-villages. It is a form of a settlement whose inhabitants live in harmony with nature and strive to achieve their basic goal, which is the self-sustainability of the community, environmental protection, and the improvement of living standards (Pilipović et al., 2015).

If we look at the legal framework, the Law on Hospitality (Paragraf Lex d.o.o., 2020), in article 2, paragraph 12 defines a rural tourist household as a facility or group of facilities that provide accommodation, preparation, and serving of food, beverages, and drinks or only accommodation services, located in rural areas, rural envi-ronment with elements of local landmarks and heritage.



Furthermore, article 18, paragraph 4 unequivocally states that catering facilities for accommodation of types of houses, apartments, rooms, and rural tourist households are categorized following the standards prescribed for certain types of those facilities. The next article 19 of the same law explains that the fulfilment of conditions on the spot is checked by the commission for categorization of catering facilities, which is elected by the competent minister. However, in practice this is not the case, in fact, the exact number of rural households that provide accommodation services on the territory of the Republic of Serbia is not known, because they are not registered or categorized. On the website of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, where all types of accommodation facilities are listed, there is an empty column for the total number of facilities in private accommodation, but the number of rooms is 10,047 and the total number of beds is 27,631, it remains unclear how these data were obtained, only accommodation capacities of registered households or they have resorted to free assessment (Republički zavod za statistiku, 2020). Also, it must be noted that these statistics for private accommodation include both urban and rural areas, which further distances us from the real situation. Last December, the Serbian government and the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications (MTTT) presented the “e-Tourist” project (Creative Commons, 2020), a central information system (CIS) in the field of hospitality and tourism. It is a centralized electronic system that will contain all relevant data on accom-modation providers, and will enable easier registration of domestic and foreign tourists, and thus facilitate the monitoring and collection of basic data on service providers and users, for further statistical processing. The project was done primarily to suppress the grey economy and regulate the area of renting accommodation facilities. Due to the current bad epidemiological situation in the country, the implementation deadline has been extended to October 1, 2020 and special emphasis has been placed on uncategorized rural household accommodation facilities to motivate them to apply to the Local Self-Government Units in whose territory they are located, for recording purposes. The fact is that unregistered households that rent accommodation operate outside the law, damaging the state budget by not paying the tourist local tax of 1 euro for foreign and domestic tourists, and do not pay income tax on the provision of catering services. For example. That money, if paid into the budget, could be redirected to solving infrastructural problems in rural areas.

Taking into account the above, when we talk about this year’s increase in interest in the stay of domestic tourists in rural households, we can use only an obscure descriptive method based only on oral subjective assessments of household owners, so they state that “demand exceeded their expectations and requests for accommodation during the summer months are many times higher than for the same period last year, that the capacities were filled in June until September, etc. “ On the other hand, if we compare the official statistical data for August last year, the increase in the number of arrivals and the number of overnight stays of domestic tourists in August of the current year in the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia is evident. In August 2019 the number of domestic tourist arrivals amounted to 210,509, and this year it was increased by 25.3% and amounted to 263,719. In the same month, 812,505 overnight stays were realized in 2019, and this year in August 1,000,516 overnight stays were recorded, which is an increase of 23.1%. (Republički zavod za statistiku, 2020).

Based on the presented data, we can partially report the correct conclusion that due to difficult conditions for traveling abroad, the vast majority of people turned to domestic tourism, supported by the number of inquiries for registered individual households through the Selo.rs internet portal. A good example of networking and unifying the offer is the site selo.rs, where you can find over 200 individual rural households from all parts of Serbia in one place. It is about the National Association “Rural Tourism of Serbia”(Selo.rs Seoski turizam Srbije, 2020), which was founded in 2002 by providers of rural tourism services, which are gathered in 9 associations. The site is user-friendly, where you can very easily choose the desired filters: destinations, lowest price, recommendation, last updated, guide me to get to the desired vacation home. Through the “shop” card on the site, you can order home-made products from hosts who are engaged in organic food cultivation.

Eco villages – Koštunići (Kostunici) and Ruža vetrova (Wind rose)

Two eco-villages with almost the same idea were taken with the intention, to serve as an example where one project was completed, brought to an end, and came to life, and the other is still in the process of realization. The first eco-village that was built in our country is Koštunići on the southern slope of the mountain Suvobor, near Valjevo. The village was created as part of the project “Integral Rural Development of the Suvobor region”,



which was implemented from 1997 to 2003 The ideological creator of the village is Mr. Jovan Čeković, who was born in this area and wanted to invest money in the preservation and development of the place where he came from.

Eco village has 76 beds, which are located in 4 apartments, 5 sculptures, and 7 balconies. Čardaci i vajati are wooden apartment-type houses depicting folk architecture in Serbia of the 18th and 19th centuries, only now modernized, each of the accommodation units of this type has underfloor heating, a luxury bathroom, and a TV. On the property in a separate part, there are 10 unusual round double rooms with bathrooms which are made in tubs. Fig. 2 shows a part of the barrels that were once used to store fruit and make brandy, and are now adapted for guests to stay. The settlement “Kaca” is located next to the lake, which was created by artificial means, by dividing the river Čemernica, so that during the summer season it is possible to swim and perform numerous activities on the water. Fig. 3 shows a part of an eco-village and a lake, on the shores of which volleyball and football fields were built. (Eko selo Koštunići, 2020).

Figure 2. Accommodation in old wooden barrels “Kaca” Figure 3. Artificial lake in eco-village Kostunići

Source: ekoselo-kostunici.rs/ kostunici.rs/ Source: ekoselo-kostunici.rs/ kostunici.rs/

A bio food factory was built in Koštunići, which is equipped with modern technology for processing fruits and vegetables, and the raw materials come from this area. This contributed to the involvement of the local community, motivated young people to stay in the countryside, which led to the revitalization of the place itself. The factory produces fruit brandies, sweets, honey, flour, natural fruit juices, ajvar (preserved peppers-made principally with red bell peppers, eggplant, garlic and chili pepper), and zimnica (a way to preserve fresh food like cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, or meat, or fruit in winter; one way is to put food in glass jars), (Recepti.com, 2019-2020). The value of the whole idea of preserving the village, improving the concept of eco, and developing the sustainability was awarded the “Tourist Flower” award for 2015 which is awarded by the Tourist Organization of Serbia in the category of catering facilities for accommodation.

About 1.5 million euros have been invested in the eco-village Ruža vetrova (Wind Rose) since 2015 and the complex behind which stands the company “Široki Horizont” is being built on the slopes of the mountain Fruška Gora near the monastery of Mala Remeta. Seven houses were built of natural materials, stone, and wood (Siberian cedar). All variations of the houses have a stone basement, living room, spacious porch (covered terrace), the upper part of which is built in the form of a log cabin where there are 2 or 3 rooms, depending on the area of the house. They are built on the principle of smart homes in which light sensors and air conditioners are installed, where the temperature is automatically adjusted, and electricity is used.

The plan is to build a restaurant with a summer garden, wellness, and spa centre with a swimming pool. It is interesting that by building a health trail that starts from the eco-village and leads through a picturesque forest, orchards, and vineyards all the way to the local winery, they combined the offer of these two different restaurants and provided a joint entry into the tourist market and achieved complementarity.

The eco-village Wind Rose is an interesting example because it can be observed in vivo how the project design is realized. When compared to the eco-village Koštunići, in addition to the initial similarities, one important difference is noticed when it comes to the ownership structure.



Eco-village Koštunići is registered as a limited liability company, there is also a creator of the idea, owner, and they operate on the principle of renting accommodation. On the other hand, the eco-village Wind Rose operates on the principle of the condo concept, which implies ownership of houses and apartments, i.e., investors appear, they buy a house under construction and then use it during the year when it suits them, and for the rest of the year it is under professional management of the company. The condo concept of ownership and issuance is still new in our real estate market, so in addition to fitting into the concept of sustainable tourism, it is certainly a big step in the development of eco-villages in our area and it is following prudent and economical use of all available resources. Fig. 4 shows one smaller house of 110m² and larger of 209m² out of a total of seven built. (Ruža vetrova eko-selo, 2020).

Figure 4. Panoramic view of the eco-village Wind Rose

Source: https://www.slikavest.rs/ruza-vetrova-dom-u-prirodi-o-kakvom-ste-sanjali/

GLAMPING

The term glamping officially entered dictionaries some 15 years ago, it was created by combining two well-known words, glamor and camping. Strangely these two concepts that have no points of contact and that are related to different social strata have merged. However, tourism has found it necessary to connect them. Simply put, glamping is a luxury camping and perfectly suits high-paying people who care about comfort to which they are accustomed by staying in high-class hotels but want to escape away from the busy city into a natural oasis due to overloaded with daily obligations, fast business pace, and relax in the fresh air restoring psychophysical balance. Glamping in every sense represents exclusivity. On the one hand, tents are equipped with comfortable beds, bathrooms with whirlpool tubs, equipped kitchens, coffee machines, there is often a restaurant nearby, private service, that is the part of glamor. On the other hand, the location is specific, usually deep in the woods, by a river or lake, at the foot of a mountain, under a starry sky, and it is the location that is a direct link to classic camping. If we look at the roots of glamping, we come across examples from the past. A representative example comes from the historical past of France, on the Field of the Golden Canvas (today the city of Bellingham) in 1520, 2,800 luxury tents with canopies for two kings were set up, English Henry VIII and French Francis and their numerous entourage (Kosar, 2017).

In the last decade, Slovenia has been promoted on the world tourist scene as a green destination whose imperative is sustainable development. In 2016, Ljubljana was declared the green capital of Europe. So, it is not surprising that Slovenia is the absolute leader in the region for luxury camping. One of the most representative sites for searching glamping locations around the world is glamping.com, where Slovenia ranks high second in Europe.

Garden Village Bled is in the top 10 destinations for glampers according to National Geographic, they received the Trevellers’ Choice award from Tripadvisor for the best comments from guests in continuity; for 2020 they offer several luxury accommodation facilities from 25 to 35m². Guests can stay in a glamorously equipped tent, a treehouse, a tent for two on both streams or an apartment that has heating, a kitchen with all appliances, and a private balcony. Everything is subordinated to relaxation; guests, if they want to be more active, can rent bicycles or scooters. The slogan of the resort is “Fill your lungs with fresh air”.



The enchanting landscape around the lake assures guests that sometimes it is enough to just sit by the lake and breathe to achieve inner peace. There is a possibility of gift cards for glamping, the lowest amount is 50 euros, and the highest is 1,000 euros gift certificate. (Garden Village Bled, 2020).

Serbia cannot be compared to Slovenia in terms of luxury camping, it can be said that this way of spending a vacation in the heart of nature in a more comfortable and far more expensive way has not been met with a good response in our country. However, the paper will present two places that fall under the category of glamping, but strictly speaking, they are not luxury accommodations and are more a kind of social glamping. They are taken as an example because they have the potential to develop in the direction of luxury accommodation in a natural environment.

Camp Bezdan is located on the shores of the Grand Bačka Canal, 20 km from Sombor. They offer classic tents that are equipped with 2 to 4 beds and the rental price ranges from 20-30 euros. The price itself speaks in favour of the fact that this is not the right concept of glamping, because the prices in neighbouring countries range from 110 euros and up, depending on the size of the tent and all the accompanying comforts. It has a fishing pier and the possibility of renting a canoe. The camp offers classic tents and camping places that are rented at a price of 7 euros. The good side is the location itself, which provides numerous opportunities for excursions, water sports, and getting to know the local customs and culture of Vojvodina. (Kamp Bezdan, 2020).

Jandala is located on a hill above the Danube in Krčedin, less than an hour’s drive from Novi Sad and Belgrade. It is a more developed type of settlement but also does not fit into glamping standards; accommodation units are wooden houses and rooms and it offers modestly equipped tents, but does not have all the equipment that adorns glamping locations around the world. The capacity is 30 people and interestingly it is issued only twice a month for individual inquiries, on all other days it is for groups only. It is a great advantage that Jandala has a large hall of 140m2 which is equipped with a special floor base suitable for exercises and dancing. During the summer, the charm of the estate is represented by wooden lookouts suitable for smaller meetings with an enchanting view of the Danube. (JandaLa imanj, 2019).

STATISTICAL DATA

The explanation of both tables is based on data from Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (2019-2020). In the Republic of Serbia in August 2020 compared to August 2019, the number of total tourist arrivals decreased by 34.3%. In August 2019, a total of 448,310 tourists stayed in Serbia, and we can see from Table I that in the same month in 2020, only 294,334 tourists stayed. If we look at foreign tourists, in August 2020 there were only 30,615 of them, which is a decrease of as much as 87.1% compared to August 2019, when there were 237,801 of them in the country. The table shows in yellow the increase of domestic tourists by 25.3%, which was recorded in August, when 263,719 domestic tourists stayed in Serbia, while in the same month last year, in 2019, there were 210,509 tourists.

Table I. Number of tourist arrivals in Serbia – comparison 2019/2020

Total arrivals in 2020. Domestic tourist arrivals (2020) Foreign tourist arrivals (2020)

August I-VIII Percentage change rate for August

Percentage change

ratefor I-VIII

August % I-VIII % August % I-VIII %

294 334 1 269 031 - 34.3 ↓ - 49.1 ↓ 263 719 25.3 ↑ 948 470 - 26 ↓ 30 615 - 87.1 ↓ 320 561 - 73.5 ↓

Source: Tables prepared by the authors according to available data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (2020), 264ut10avg.xls (stat.gov.rs)



The number of total overnight stays decreased by 17.1% in August 2020, compared to August 2019. Regarding tourist overnight stays in Table II, the increase in the number of overnight stays of domestic tourists is also marked in yellow. In August 2019, domestic tourists realized 812,505 overnight stays, and in August 2020 domestic tourists made 1,000,516 overnight stays which is 23.1% more. Due to the well-known situation with the coronavirus, the number of overnight stays of foreign tourists has drastically decreased this year by as much as 83.7%. This year, only 80,160 overnight stays were realized, and in August 2019, foreign tourists realized 490,339 overnight stays.

Table II. Number of overnight stays in Serbia – comparison 2019/2020

Total arrivals in 2020. Domestic tourist arrivals (2020) Foreign tourist arrivals (2020)

August I-VIII Percentage change rate for August

Percentage change

ratefor I-VIII

August % I-VIII % August % I-VIII %

1 080 676 4 354 506 - 17.1 ↓ - 37.7 ↓ 1 000 516 23.1 ↑ 3 478 439 - 20.1 ↓ 80 160 - 83.7 ↓ 876 067 - 66.8 ↓

Source: Tables prepared by the authors according to available data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (2020), 264ut10avg.xls (stat.gov.rs)

• According to Slovenian data (connection) 2,069,194 million overnight stays were registered in July 2020, including 1,398,871 million domestic and 670,323 thousand foreign.

• The number of domestic stays was increased by 154.5%, and foreign stays decreased by 66.3%, so the total number decreased by 18.5%. Overnight stays of domestic tourists are stimulated with vouchers of 200 euros each for use in the accommodation capacities of Slovenia. (Makroekonomija, 2020).


At the end of the study the conclusion is imposed that it is possible to fit into nature and not disturb the existing, local socio-cultural developments while achieving efficiency which benefits for all participants. The results of the research show that rural tourism was the most intensive in Serbia due to the existing pandemic, and in June almost all accommodation facilities in rural areas were reserved for the entire summer season, until mid of September. Burnout syndrome at work is no longer a synonym for managerial illness but affects all structures in a company from the management structure to the employees, so it is certain that slowing down and escaping to hotels that use Slow living will become a new trend in our country. This year’s health crisis has affected all sections of the population, some are returning to family farms and starting businesses, deciding to enter entrepreneurial waters, opening restaurants, renting accommodation in rural houses, growing organic food. This March when epidemic started Alliance for Innovators and Researchers in Tourism and Hospitality (AIRTH) and Tourism 4.0 Partnership joined forces for sustainable and responsible tourism development in post COVID-19 world and initiated #TourismFromZero. All this leads to the conclusion that in fact eco-tourism, perhaps even more than other forms of tourism, involves the local community, connects them with various state institutions directly responsible for environmental protection, and provides opportunities to work together on projects and apply for grants provided by numerous European funds and promotes the development of eco-tourism.



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Cooper, C. (2012). Essentials of Tourism. New York: Pearson Financial Times Prentice Hall.Creative Commons (2020). E turista. Retrieved December 1, 2020, from Актуелно (eturista.gov.rs). Eko selo Koštunići (2020). Sve o eko-selu. Retrieved September 20, 2020, from Еко село Коштунићи : Еко село

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128

Ana Aleksić1*,Obren Drljević2,Zoran Knežević3

1Event Planner doo, Belgrade, Serbia2College of Tourism, Belgrade, Serbia, JP Srbijašume3Crowne Plaza Hotel, Belgrade, Serbia

Correspondence: Aleksić Ana


COVID19 IMPACT ON CHANGING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES IN HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BELGRADE

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Abstract: Under the influence of many external and internal factors, growth and development of a company are not always straightforward or upward. No other issue as a crisis management is at the moment so interesting subject for researchers as all other theories are now not applicable if the key variables for overwhelming covid19 crisis are not conducted. Only flexible organizations, proactive managers and quick reaction can help a company doing business in hospitality industry today. The focus of this paper is to examine the relationship among crisis management practices with new product and new ideas as a reactive approach and repercussion on occupancy rate and image improvement among Belgrade hotels. Hotels in Belgrade are highly affected by the crisis; even now less than 30% of them are open, facing low occupancy rates and low profits. On the other hand, this could be seen as an opportunity for individuals to show exceptional managerial capabilities. This paper deals mainly with the actions advocated by researchers and practitioners which could help in surviving COVID 19 crisis. It summarizes and presents good examples of Belgrade hotel managers.

Keywords: crisis management, hospitality management, proactive managers.


DOI: 10.15308/Sitcon-2020-128-134

INTRODUCTION

The dynamism of market, technological, social and other factors of the micro and macro environment make it difficult for management to maintain the optimal structure of supply, organizational structure and technology (Todorović et al., 2003). In recent years, tourism industry worldwide has been hit by crises and disasters. This made the imple-mentation of crisis management one of the crucial factors for survival on the market. COVID-19 is unfortunately the most critical factor affecting the economy, and consequently the hospitality business as well. Many different factors made an irreversible change in tourism industry. Subjects in hospitality business need to be flexible and react to implement the crisis strategy. The problem becomes more complex when realizing that the crisis not only affects operators, but the suppliers, investors, and guests, as well. Crisis management refers to the strategies and tactics by which a company seeks to respond to sudden and signif-icant changes that threaten the survival of the company on the market.



Crisis situations threaten not only the reputation of the company but also affect profits, stakeholders and a number of employees (Restaurant Manager, 2018). The issue of crisis management is to ensure that, whatever situation occurs, the company will be ready to react and recover as soon as possible. Internal efficiency is primarily determined by the way in which the company organizes the work process, and external refers to the harmonization of business philosophy and value system of the environment. Flexibility of the company implies the ability to use new chances to achieve results, to avoid or minimize the impact of unfavorable activities on business with the lowest possible adjustment costs.

There are also theories, according to which, changes and crises are actually chances for a company and individuals. If management can successfully solve problems, they are no longer problems - they become opportunities. Every problem is a chance at the same time (Adižes, 2012). What is a problem for one company or a competitor is an opportunity for another. The change in the environment causing the crisis also affects competition; because of this, they all have the same problem or have been given the same opportunity. Those who are more capable of change will survive or make a competitive advantage out of the crisis. Crises will make the weak die quickly and the strong become even stronger. The crisis is good for exceptional leaders and companies - those who can successfully cope with it. In times of crisis, their weaker competitors disappear and leave the markets to them.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Businesses in hospitality industry are characterized by high fixed costs so the risk of loss-making business is higher because of the limitations and reduced funding opportunities from the third-party sources (Pindžo and Genov, 2019). The importance of government support on macro level in external crisis and improved competitiveness and cost reducing activities on the level of the organization, are the activities of strategy for survival in tourism business (Israeli, 2007). Internal activities are cost reducing activities (Israeli, 2007) and important practices in the fields of marketing, hotel maintenance, human resource (Israeli et al., 2011). One of the most important research that evaluated managers activities during crisis was conducted by Israeli and Reichel (2003). They made a list of crisis management practice activities, evaluated the importance managers assign to each practice and also the level to which managers use each practice.

The differences between strategies of local and international hotels were also interesting. Although local hotels are also realizing that crisis management is necessary, their approach is still reactive, while the hotels that were part of international chains were proactive (Sawalha et al., 2013). The concept of management best practices starts by recognizing that crises consists of three stages: “the pre-crisis/disaster stage; crisis/disaster stage; and post-crisis/disaster stage” (Shaluf, 2008; Ritchie, 2004; Faulkner, 2001; Kumar, 2000) The vulnerability of organizations to crises creates the need for thinking of the most effective ways of managing them. There is no unique, universally adopted approach for crisis management that works in all countries, situations and organizations.

Some authors appoint different crisis strategies between branded and fine dining hospitality units (Semercioz et al., 2015). Management activities, such as income and cost reductions, as well as efficiency and competitiveness improvements, are related to reactive or proactive approaches and adding customer value and gaining flexibility by the “branded” fine dining subjects. These activities are leading “branded” fine dining hospitality company to follow two strategies: customer loyalty strategy and price strategy.

Reducing costs is one of the most important topics on the series of webinars organized by the Restaurant Owner Association (Association of restaurant owners in the US) for its members at the very beginning of the crisis. If staying in business, which was the first important result to calculate, they put an emphasis on (Laube and Erickson, 2020): 1. finding cheaper finance sources, 2. cutting expenses in rent, food, beverage and salaries, 3. finding new sources of sales and cash - gift card, promotions, grocery sales, and 4. prolonging payment to suppliers.



Marketing actions and advice on actions are summarized here:

1. Communication on all levels: managers in hospitality industry realize how important communication on all levels is. Some authors suggested having one or a few spokespersons from different departments who will be in charge of representing the company and the team (Harris, 2018).

2. Care is the main issue: Managers are concerned about the guests but also about the staff and commu-nicating with them: the ones who are there and the ones who are gone. Realizing that the pandemic put focus on isolation, but a physical isolation, not social — meaning people still tend to be in touch (and probably more so even now). One of the main issues when doing business in hospitality is to show compassion, empathy, trust, care, respect, and service to the guests and clients. (Aaron Allen & Associates, 2014)

3. Communication through blogs and social channels should be on daily basis. Putting videos, films, showing employees are working in safe and clean conditions, putting menu and order button to increase sales, having the right attitude during crisis time, be sustainable and, if possible, even participate in charity for those who are in need during pandemic, such as some restaurants in USA did (delivering donated meals to CORONA workers has helped these restaurant stay in business in 2020).

4. Customer experience is set of emotional, sensorial and physical interactions between customer and company. During the crisis, it is very important to keep customer experience at the same, if not even at higher level. Asking feedback from guests is one of the methods showing engagement and improving experience management.

5. Steps in re-opening – communication with customers. Managers need to communicate what specific steps will be taken to take care of customers and employees during re-openings.

6. New innovative products - keep up with innovations and adjust product to the new era of online events and gatherings. Introducing possibilities for hybrid events (Wikipedia, 2020) – meetings that combine a “live” in-person event with a “virtual” online component.

The issue of this paper is to focus on actions of Belgrade hotels managers during COVID 19 in order to evaluate if they apply some of the best practices during crisis and how innovative they are when fighting with the new type of crisis caused by pandemic. The best practices examples from the literature, used in this paper, are summarized in the Table 1, as presented in (Israeli et al., 2011).

METHODOLOGY

Less than 30 percent of hotels were open in June in Serbia, 112 out of 380, and due to the pandemic in June the occupancy rate was only 10.16 percent (HORES, 2020). After the end of the period of state of emergency, tourists started visiting all the hotels located out of Belgrade as the borders were closed, so we had a tourist boom and all tourist places fully booked – mountain hotels, rural houses, spas. Statistic data for Belgrade were much different than for the rest of Serbia – in July only 8% of the accommodation capacity of all hotels in Belgrade was booked. Compared to the number of visitors for July 2019, it was 88% lower and number of overnights was 82% lower. From the beginning of the year until July, occupancy was only 13%. Some information indicate occupancy rate for August of only 3%. Due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, state of emergency and other restrictions, most hotels and restaurants were closed for three months and had reduced turnover (HORES, 2020). In period of the three months only few hotels were opened – among them Crowne Plaza, Hilton and Radisson Blu.



Table 1. Practices in crisis management

Sector Practice

Human resources

Laying off employees to reduce labor forceUsing unpaid vacation to reduce labor forceReducing the number of workdays per weekFreezing pay ratesReplacing highly paid employees with new low paid employeesIncreased reliance on outsourcing

Marketing

Marketing to domestic tourists in joint campaigns with local merchantsMarketing to domestic tourists with focus on specific attributes of the locationPrice drop on special offersReducing list priceMarketing to foreign tourists with specific focus on the location’s distinctive features and relative safetyMarketing and promoting new products or services (family events, catering)Marketing to new segments

Cost reduction

Cost cuts by limiting hotel servicesCost cuts by postponing maintenance of the building (cosmetics)Cost cuts by postponing maintenance of the engineering systemsExtending credit or postponing scheduled payments

Government

Organized protest against the lack of government supportIndustry-wide demand for governmental assistance with current expensesIndustry-wide demand for a grace period on tax paymentsIndustry-wide demand for a grace period on local tax (municipality) payments

Source: Israeli A., Mohsin A., Kumar B. (2011). Hospitality crisis management practices: The case of Indian luxury hotels, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Volume 30 (2), 367-374.

DOI:10.1016/j.ijhm.2010.06.009.

List of hotels was acquired from web pages of Tourist Organization of Belgrade (TOB, 2020) and then web pages were checked one by one. The hotel websites were reviewed if the new marketing strategies were introduced and the hotels with best practices were chosen. Interviewer-administered questionnaire was conducted. Crowne Plaza and Mama Shelter new strategies brought the higher occupancy rate.

Hotel Crowne Plaza reached 20%, in September, Mama Shelter 16%, Mona Plaza increased profit by renting rooms as offices, but started renting in September – during July and August they had launched strong marketing campaign so additional source of profit was gained. Metropol successfully started new way of organizing events - online. All four hotels management showed quick, flexible and innovative actions and except profit, assured a good image for the future.

The questionnaire was used to ask managers if they were applying all sets of crisis strategies that were found in literature.

1. All researched 4 star hotels had reduced number of employees, lowered the working days, or paid minimum salaries.

2. All interviewed hotels had described marketing strategy they launched to pool the trigger for arrival of domestic guests. Reopening marketing also plays an important role to communicate new and regular guests.

3. Cost reduction and prolonged payments to the stakeholders.4. All hotels were using government help except Crowne Plaza which is considered as a big company.

The best innovative ideas were found in the following examples:



Mama Shelter sales team realized that their guests were proactive and innovative, and they would be the first one to start travelling when possible.

1. They used the unfortunate occasion of low occupancy rate to invite corporate clients for an overnight to ensure them Mama was clean and safe and provided them with opportunity to socialize (Mama Shelter, 2020). This example shows intangible measures all in one – communication that shows Mama Shelter is clean and safe but also care for employees, guests and clients.

2. Longer stay - stay long with MAMA, promotions, and lower rates for stays longer than 4 nights.3. Sex-cation – provocative campaign for couples that inspires domestic travelers to come and refresh

relationship. This campaign has been applied in the rest of Mama Shelter (Accor) hotels even in more provocative manner as situation with closed borders and orientation on domestic market has been present in other countries as well.

Crowne Plaza Belgrade was one of the three hotels in Belgrade that were opened during the state of emergency but the only one that was so busy with food preparing and delivery (Crowne Plaza Belgrade, 2020). The idea was born when the campaign “stay at home” started. The focus was on the elderly, so the emphasis was on the cooked dishes. On the other hand, people who worked during the state of emergency could not go shopping and it was easier for them to order. The advertisement showing the staff preparing food with gloves and masks was launched only through social networks and e-mail marketing to associates and came to life within only seven days. As the state of emergency lasted for a long time, they made a closer relationship with customers. Every day there was one cooked dish and several a la carte dishes on the menu. On weekends, customers were waked up with burek and donuts. Every week, sales exceeded expectations. The number of portions sold was 250. Also on weekends, over 180 portions were delivered in the period from 8-10 am and thus made the hotel recognizable in the city by the weekend breakfast.

New products:

1. weekend packages with spa treatment for domestic travelers,2. events at the open terrace for companies, and3. online events.

Hotel Mona Plaza was opened just before the crisis began. Sales team was created to be the one of the best on the market and was working hard for almost two years before opening to assure a good business start. The team was realistic with low occupancy rate and came out with two new strategies (Mona Plaza, 2020):

1. Adapted part of the hotel into office space for all corporate clients. They have implemented all safety measures and offered to the clients modern office space in new rooms in the city center. They have found new ideas to reach new source of profit.

2. They realize the importance of trainings and they conducted a film industry training realizing the raising arrival of filming teams in Serbia.

Metropol Palace hotel was the first hotel that made up the tracking of the new formats of events – making the platform for online events and Hybrid events. The “Green screen”, equipment for online events is virtual studio which can be adjusted to clients’ needs and can host for more than thousand attendees online from all over the world. They communicated this innovation to all clients and promoted it via social networks (Metropol Palace Belgrade, 2020). This made them one of the most popular places for virtual events and singled them out as one of the leaders in this field in the industry. New safe option of traditional gatherings was also promoted – events on the terrace with view of 360°. This was the very first hotel that launched this type of events and they had in total 15 events at the beginning of the season. The number of events and the profit gained is much lower than in case of standard events.

Other hotels starting with the same practice assuming that traditional way of gathering unfortunately will not be possible in the near future.



CONCLUSION

The research shows that Belgrade hotels are following the new practices to survive in the crisis situation. Future research should continue to repeat the analysis of adopting measures in all four fields in different hotels in order to make complete information about actions and measures implemented during and after the crisis. Repeating is important, so we can emphasize how much crisis management, flexibility and innovation is important to survive in the hotel business. Guidelines and practice examples are necessary to make path for future crisis as hotel industry is vulnerable to all macro and micro changes.

CORONA became our reality and although there was not much literature in this field and none of the subjects or companies could be prepared for the situation, it is obvious that our industry reacted very fast and came up with new products and new communication ways, putting emphasis on care at all levels. Despite all these efforts, the profits are still lower up to 90 % and the occupancy rate accounts for approximately 10 percent. At this moment, we are listening about new expectations of rising number of the diseased and new fears and limitations in the near future. We realize we will need to learn to live in this new reality, and the future of our business is still under a question mark despite all the efforts.

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137



ENHANCING ST. SAVA CHURCH VISITORS’ ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE IN ORDER TO SET UP THE STRATEGIC POSITION ON THE GLOBAL MARKET


Abstract: As a huge number of domestic and foreign tourists visit Belgrade each year and usually visit St. Sava Church, the largest Orthodox Church in the Balkans, it is necessary to define more precisely strategic position of Church on the cultural and religious tourism market. In order to find out visitors’ expectations versus experience and impressions, the quantitative survey was conducted and five core elements of authentic experience namely spiritual; cultural; environmental; secular; and educational were analysed. The aim of this paper is to consider the visitors’ experience and impressions after visiting St. Sava Church to define its image and positioning strategy at the local and global touristic maps.

Keywords: religious tourism, experience, St. Sava Church strategic position, Serbia, sustainable development.


INTRODUCTION

In 2019, there was an increase in the number of tourists in the Republic of Serbia from India, China, Russia, but also from smaller Asian and Arab countries, which represents large market niches. At the same time, Serbia is also recording significant growth in this field. According to the data of the Republic Bureau of Statistics, in 2018, over 3.2 million tourists stayed in Serbia, which is an increase of 12% compared to 2017. Of the total number of tourists, more than half are foreign tourists (Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Serbia, 2019). Of the selected tourist places, measured by the number of realized overnight stays, foreign tourists mostly stayed in Belgrade, followed by Novi Sad, Zlatibor, Vrnjacka Banja, Kopaonik, etc. Guests were mostly tourists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, China, Turkey, Germany, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Russia.

Serbia and the city of Belgrade can certainly expect an increase in the number of visits in the coming period. That is why it is important to continue to develop and improve tourism offer in even more attractive and inspiring ways.

Over the last two decades within changing global political land-scapes, religion has retained a significant place as a social movement with a complexity of structures (Raj and Griffin, 2015; Raj, 2016).

Jelena Gajić1*,Igor Stamenković2,Danijel Pavlović1,Slobodan Čerović1

1Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia2University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, Novi Sad, Serbia

Correspondence: Jelena Gajić


138Conference extended abstracts


Religious tourism as one of the oldest types of tourism represents a current, but insufficiently explored topic in terms of its contribution to economic, social and spiritual development not only in the world (Griffin, Raj, 2017; Afferni, Ferrario, 2016; Kartal, et al, 2015; Raj, Morpeth, 2007) but in Serbia as well (Radisavljević- Ćiparizović, 2016, 2015; Nikolić, 2010, Stamenković, et al, 2017, Božić, et al, 2017; Stamenković, 2009, 2006). This touristic form has a significant benefit in terms of economics; at the same time, the protection of cultural and historical heritage, preservation of material and moral values, cultural exchange and promotion are also essential part of its contribution to the people of the world. (Griffiths, Wiltshier, 2019; Afferni, Ferrario, 2016; Raj, Griffin, 2015). Having that in mind, religious tourism can contribute to the economic and social sustain-ability of the religious tourism destinations, religious sites, and attractions at the same time promoting pres-ervation, and valorizing tangible and intangible religious and cultural values of the religion and its historical and cultural heritage.

Global and local changes in the lifestyle – the impact of digital technologies on communication and business, media availability, the growing need for specific, outstanding experiences, searching for peace, changes in economic power – all of mentioned factors have led to increasing interest in this form of tourism and very diverse motivations of contemporary tourists, from those we can define as sacred to the more secular sightseers (Griffin, Raj, 2017; Nyaupane et, al., 2015).

On 30 January 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and issued a set of Temporary Recommendations the consequences of the pandemic on tourism and travel will be felt in the next few years. Especially in air transport and hotel industry, but also in other service sectors and industries (World Tourism Organization, 2020). The religious tourism and pilgrimage are one of the most affected forms of tourism by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the rediscovery of religious tourism and pilgrimage introduced thinking in new forms to find spirituality and develop alternative religious movements (Raj, 2012, p. 96) religious tourism presents a promising and very strong form of tourism, especially for emerging tourism destinations such as Serbia. This form of tourism may enable stronger development of future tourism in Serbia, but also be a basis for post-COVID-19 tourism recovery. The religious tourism and religious sites and attractions development could be seen as a possible way for post-COVID-19 tourism sustainable recovery regarding the potential of this type of tourism to attract more religious tourists and pilgrims to visit St. Sava Church and other religious tourism sites in Serbia.

Statistical data indicates that religious tourism has 300-330 million international visitors and 18 million dollar (from activity) as revenue per year (UNWTO, 2014; Grifiin, Enongene, 2019); in accordance to some prediction, it could be double in the future. Despite the growing trend of religious tourism, there is space for its improvement in every sense: better utilization of all potential sacral and cultural objects, raising the awareness of various active and potential visitors, increased recognition and support within the community (Griffin, Raj, 2017, 2015). These arguments pose challenges for new theoretical approaches and comprehensiveness of religious tourism research in Serbia and its impact on a number of vitally important segments of people’s lives and the society as a whole. Religious tourism increasingly appears in the tourist offer of Serbia, which additionally indicates the necessity for a scientific as well as practical approach to its study (Radisavaljvević-Ćiparizović, 2016, 2015).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Religious tourism at the moment is an emerging market (Pavlović, Raj, 2018) and could become even more competitive, both according to the offer of other religions but also according to secular offers (Einstein, 2008). In order to achieve appropriate benefits, it is necessary to apply and integrate marketing concept in positioning this type of tourism (Griffiths, Wiltshier, 2019; Kartal, et.al, 2014). It should be considered in particular in the case of religious objects, not primarily as an economic category, but above all as a cultural, educational, spiritual and psychological concept, with emphasis on elements like image, perception, experience, involvement. All the activities have to be consumer oriented, focused as much as possible in a straight line on all kinds of potential users – from casual visitors and secular tourists, to dedicated pilgrims or ordinary members of the local community.



If we truly agree and accept as the basis that “the Church is not walls, but people!”, it is clear that the visitor is in the focus of the process of positioning religious sites/objects. However, the stakeholders and community in general should systematically and strategically support the development and positioning of a religious facility (Griffiths, Wiltshier, 2019; Piva, et al, 2019).

The strategic creation of the image of a religious object is a complex issue. It should be harmonized and integrated with other tourism offers of the destination on which it is located. It is very important to understand and incorporate the diversity of our target into the conceptual frame as well as every tactical outcome – individual and collective “meanings”, needs and expectations could vary to a certain level among the visitors of the same place, and all the experiences are to be upgraded and improved in every sense. At the same time, all relevant stakeholders from the environment should be not only invited and involved but deeply connected, in order to select the functional (tangible) and psychological (abstract) characteristics of a sacred place which could be used in positioning strategy and communication platform (Griffith, M., Wiltshier, 2019; Govers, Go, 2009).

The biggest church in the Balkans, Orthodox St. Sava Church, and its’ positioning present a challenge primarily for the Church, then for the State, relevant institutions and experts, local people and stakeholders all of whom have to take part, to support and participate in the process of positioning this religious and cultural object/attraction. Today, it is a place of cultural and historical heritage, a place of pilgrimage, a tourist attraction, as well as a place of various events and manifestations. The Church has high value from the aspect of the number of tourists and pilgrims who visit it (according to internal sources, about 1.5 to 2 million people visit the Church per year, and it is the second frequently visited place in Belgrade, after Kalemegdan Fortress). Cortese, D’Ambrosio, and Petracca (2019, p.2) point that religious tourism can create synergy with cultural tourism in order to contribute to the sustainable development of the destination and increase the number of overnight stays in it. At this point, we may emphasize the valorization of Orthodox St. Sava Church in both cultural and religious ways while at the same time emphasizing the potential and importance of this cultural and religious facility in attracting more tourists to visit Belgrade. In this way valorization of St. Sava Church, its promotion and better positioning as the religious, spiritual, and cultural value can contribute to the long-term sustainable tourism offer of Belgrade as a tourism destination. This approach certainly allows future development of sustainable tourism activities (focusing on economic and cultural aspects) in the form of spiritual (Sirirat, 2019) and religious tourism regarding the importance of St. Sava Church in a religious, spiritual, and cultural manner for sustainable tourism development.

METHODOLOGY

The aim of the survey was to analyse visitor motivation, visitors’ experience, associations regarding the Church, emotions and attitudes towards the Church (after visiting st Sava Church), factors that influences their visit in order to define its image and positioning strategy at the local and global touristic maps and to set up the strategic position of St Sava Church as the symbol of Belgrade, Serbia (the important site for developing cultural, educational, religious tourism, etc.) as well.

The quantitative pilot survey was conducted during November, 2019. The random sample consisted of 200 visitors of st Sava Church; 160 domestic and 40 foreign visitors participated in the survey. The methods used were face to face interviews with the visitors after their visit of the Church. This survey was carried in order to define the framework for further research that will enable to use different kinds of sampling methods and collect date from different target group.

RESULTS

Following results enable various information for defining clear image and competitive position of the St. Sava Church, indicates new challenges for further research. The very first next step should be recognition of need for continuous and overall research - surveys with different segments of visitors as well as stakeholders in Belgrade and Serbia.

◆ The main motive for visiting the st Sava Church for domestic tourists was their inner, personal religious need, to fulfill religious need (63,35%), than to visit it as a tourist site (14%), to be alone (9%) and other motives.



For foreign visitors, the main motive (52%) was to visit the popular site, than to get some new information about this famous site (25%), to experience something extraordinary (10%), to fulfil religious need (5%), etc.

◆ Overall experiences for domestic and foreign pilgrims after visiting st Sava Church were positive feelings and extraordinary experience (98% domestic; 78% foreign). The main factors that influence their feelings are: special atmosphere (40%) and spiritual experience (30%), church architecture (21%), etc. for domestic visitors; for foreign visitors the most important was church architecture (60%), special atmosphere (17,50%), etc.

◆ Perception of domestic visitors of st Sava Church are: the biggest Serbian orthodox church (29%), the most important symbol of Serbia (18%), the symbol of Serbian religion (17%), the symbol of Serbian history and culture (14%), etc. Perception of foreign visitors of st Sava Church were: the most impressive site (25%), the symbol of national history, culture and religion (17%), the biggest orthodox church (17%), the most important site in Serbia (15%), etc.

◆ The main perception of the Church for domestic visitors was that it is the biggest Serbian Orthodox Church, symbol of Serbian religion and national and state symbol. For foreign visitors, it is the most important site of Serbian history, culture and religion, than visual impression is dominated.

◆ Their suggestions regarding the services quality are related with the importance of personal contacts, additional services/activities and more promotional activities within different type of media (traditional and digital) – for domestic visitors; more flyers, brochures, leaflets, booklets and other promotional materials, personal contact and additional explanation/guide in different languages would be valuable for improving foreign visitors’ experience.


The obtained data showed that enhancing visitor’s attitudes and experience requires the strategic approach of defining dimensions and activities that make the unique experience and competitive position of the St. Sava Church in the religious tourism market.

The pilot research was the starting point and based on this research, the plan is to continue collecting data in order to improve the promotion and positioning strategy of the St. Sava Church in a tourism manner. Valuable data collected at various times of the year and seasons from various target group (tourists, pilgrims, etc.) would enable the inputs for decision makers in the church and other tourism stakeholders.

Development and implementation of a sustainable tourism policy must be based on a number of principles and approaches (Stojanović, 2011). Eligibility criteria and the principles most commonly used in sustainable tourism are ecological sustainability, social sustainability, cultural sustainability, economic sustainability, educational element, local participation, and protection principle (Mowforth, Munt, 2003). Long-term sustainability in this paper mostly focuses on economic elements of the sustainability of St. Sava Church as an attraction and a part of the tourist offer of the destination. This paper is focusing the attention on attracting more tourists to the destination based on the positioning and promotion of St. Sava Church to encourage and maintain long-term sustainability. Subsequent research will focus more on collecting data on wider range of sustainability indicators emphasizing the importance of economic and social sustainability of this tourist attraction as part of the tourism destination product.



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World, London: Routledge.Nikolić, V., (2010), Verski turizam i Srpska pravoslavna crkva, doktorska disertacija, Beograd.Nyaupane, G., Timothy, D., &Poudel, S. (2015). Understanding tourists in religious destinations: A social distance

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10th Annual International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conference, Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Book of proceedings, Jun, 2018.

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Radisavljević-Ćiparizović, D., (2015), Pilgrimage in the 21st century: Case Studies three sanctuaries in Serbia, Religija i tolerancija, Vol.XIII, No24, Jul-Decembar.

Radisavljević-Ćiparizović, D., (2016), Hodočašća u XXI veku: studije slučaja tri svetilišta u Srbiji Kalemegdanska Sv. Petka, Bogorodica Đuniska i Majka Božja Tekijska, Filozofski fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu.

Raj, R. (2016) Sacred Journey, Tourism, in Jafari, J and Xiao, H. (2016) 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of Tourism, Springer Publishing, USA.

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Stamenković, I., Božić, S., Ivkov, M., (2017), Sakralni objekti opštine Aranđelovac u funkciji razvoja religijskog turizma, Univerzitet Singidunum, Beograd, doi:10.15308/Sitcon-2017-148-153.

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142

ASSESSMENT OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS’ PERCEIVED SUSTAINABILITY OF A TOURISM DESTINATION


Abstract: Despite sustainability attracting significant interest in tourism research, few articles directly analyze foreign tourists’ perceptions concerning destination sustainability. So far, the perceptual and preferential focus of foreign tourists evaluates the perspective of destination image, products, attractions, attitude, behavior, activities, and qualitative studies. The interest in the impact of sustainability on tourism destinations and the tourism industry is a more recent phenomenon. Since destination sustainability is related to the perceptual domain, the interest moved to the perceptual variables of destination sustainability elements. The association between the perception and sustainability is of interest to many stakeholders, including management authorities such as munici-palities, councils, and tourism management organizations, closely monitoring their operations since the public money funds their project activities. The motivation of foreign tourists concerning sustainability and what they are most concerned about are the two questions that the paper attempts to address. In this paper, the empirical research investigates the perceptual levels of foreign tourists visiting Belgrade, Serbia, highlighting their attitude through economic, social, and environmental elements of destination sustainability. The study shows that foreign tourists perceive sustainability in Serbia slightly above the average. Future research should include time-series data for monitoring and tracking changes in the perceptual levels of destination sustainability elements.

Keywords: Sustainable tourism, Foreign tourists, Destination sustainability, Perceptual sustainability, Serbia.


INTRODUCTION

There is a significant research effort on the international tourist behavior, activities, attitudes, and “green” image, and there are few studies that are directly focused on the perception of foreign tourists on destination sustainability (Sánchez-Fernández et al., 2019). Also, the concept of sustainability is prone to inconsistency when it comes to interpretation, making it challenging to analyze and research (Hall et al., 2015). Another difficulty arises from granularity in determining scale, attributes, and destinations (Sidali et al., 2017).

There is a gap in the research literature on the Serbian tourism market concerning international tourists’ perception of sustainability.

Milivoj Teodorović1*,Jovan Popesku2,Danijel Pavlović2

1Independent Researcher2Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia

Correspondence: Milivoj Teodorović




One of them is how foreign tourists perceive Serbia from the perspective of destination sustainability. Only in the last decade, the Serbian foreign tourism market became a significant income source, creating opportunities for employment, infrastructure development, utilization of tangible and intangible country’s resources, and an increase in overall wellbeing. The growth created a need for analyzing the demand side of the Serbian tourism destination market. Therefore, in this paper, the foreign market was placed in the front row for research and analysis since it accounts for 50% and 70% of total arrivals and revenues, respectively.

The number of international arrivals in Serbia grew from 0.8 mils. in 2009 to 1.8 mils. in 2019. Between 2014 and 2019, there is an 80% increase in Serbia’s international tourist arrivals (Statistical Yearbook, 2019; Monthly Statistical Bulletin, 2020). In the same period, the interest of the research community to analyze the international tourists’ perception in Serbia started to grow. In this paper, the primary concern is if foreign tourists are concerned about sustainability? And if they are, what are the aspects that they are most concerned and sensitive about? The answers to these questions require understanding the perceptual attitude and cultural position towards a destination, which this paper is trying to figure out. The study evaluates the perceptual merits of international tourists’ sustainability by examining economic, social, and environmental aspects using empirical data from the survey of 161 responses. The paper enhances our knowledge about tourism by looking at the destination’s perception through the lens of destination sustainability elements.

LITERATURE REVIEW

So far, the literature on the perceptions of destination sustainability by foreign tourists has been mostly concerned with specific issues or topics that do not appear in other papers or time-series studies. Most of the evaluations of international tourists’ perceptions are on local food, attractions, culture, entertainment, lodging, and interactions with local communities. However, studies concerning common sustainability aspects (economic, social, environmental) are rare (Prayag et al., 2020). Moreover, there is a need for researching perceptions of international tourists on destinations that show signs of poor management of sustainability issues by the authorities.

Jin & Pearce (2011) are concerned with the overcrowding of tourist sites in China, while Prayag & Brittnacher (2014) are interested in Germany and British tourists’ environmental impact on French coastal area degradation. Cottrell et al. (2013) evaluated satisfaction with sustainable tourism using a four-dimension framework developed by Spangenberg & Valentin (1999). The model consists of economic, social, environmental, and institutional dimensions. Further, Thyne et al. (2018) suggest that social distance between different tourist nationals impacts the domestic population’s attitude. Sidali et al. (2017) argue that strong impressions of a destination landscape and natural beauty, combined with lodging facilities, increase sustainability perceptions.

RESULTS

Methodology in this paper is the descriptive statistics and empirical evaluation of the perception of the foreign tourists who visited Belgrade, Serbia, between December of 2019 and March 2020. A total number of 161 responses uses a sliding 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), cannot tell (3), agree (4), and strongly agree (5) ). In addition to demographic data, all answers reflect the economic, social, and environmental perspectives. Each respondent answered 18 sustainability and six demographic questions.

Based on the results, foreign tourists regard Belgrade (Serbia) as moderately sustainable or above average (3.57 out of 5). Repeat visitors rank sustainability better than the first-time ones. Male (3.54) and females (3.59) have an almost identical perception of sustainability, with females ranking slightly higher. The age group between 20 and 40 (3.60) and over 50 (3.61) consider sustainability higher than the other groups. The public (3.70) has higher marks for sustainability, while those associated with NGOs have the lowest (2.96). Finally, tourists with an average annual income of under $10k have the highest (3.60) perception of Belgrade (Serbia).

From the sustainability perspective, economic (3.67) and social (3.69) aspects scored slightly higher than the environmental (3.38). Safety (4.02) and friendliness (4.14) have the highest overall score, including the perception of the consumer value (4.02). Not far behind are culture (3.94), local products (3.95), markets for local products (3.58), and services (3.91). Crowdedness (2.91) ranked lowest by foreign tourists.




The overall perception based on the empirical survey and evaluation of Belgrade (Serbia) suggests a moderate shift towards sustainability in Serbia. Still, there is more room for improvement. For the most part, the analysis shows that Serbia, in foreign tourists’ eyes, is hovering slightly above the mid-point between sustainable and not sustainable.

The results show that out of three significant aspects of sustainability, the environment is falling behind most. Not far ahead are the other two factors, social and economic. Besides consumer value, friendliness is the most priced social asset that foreign tourists recognize and appreciate in Serbia, followed by safety, local products, and culture.

The findings suggest that Serbia needs to significantly improve its tourism offerings (products and services) and elevate its tourism industry to higher levels and standards, at least from the sustainability point of view. Also, government and private sector stakeholders need to agree on the development strategy that will put the tourism industry in Serbia as a priority by unleashing its tangible and intangible resources and maximizing its tourism potentials under the umbrella of sustainable development.

REFERENCES

Cottrell, S. P., Vaske, J. J., & Roemer, J. M. (2013). Resident satisfaction with sustainable tourism: The case of Frankenwald Nature Park, Germany. Tourism Management Perspectives, 42-48.

Hall, C. M., Gössling, S., & Scott, D. (2015). The Routledge handbook of tourism and sustainability. Abingdon: Routledge.

Jin, Q., & Pearce, P. (2011). Tourist perception of crowding and management approaches at tourism sites in Xi’an. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 16(3), 325-338, doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2011.572667.

Monthly Statistical Bulletin. (2020). Monthly Statistical Bulletin 1/2020. Belgrade: Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia.

Prayag, G., & Brittnacher, A. (2014). Environmental impacts of tourism on a French urban coastal destination: Perceptions of German and British visitors. British visitors. Tourism Analysis, 19(4), 461-475, doi.org/10.3727/108354214X14090817031116.

Prayag, G., Hall, M., Fieger, P., & Chen, N. (2020). Understanding international visitors’ perceptions of sus-tainability of the Canterbury region from user generated content . CAUTHE 2020: 20: 20 Vision: New Perspectives on the Diversity of Hospitality, Tourism and Events (pp. 588-590). Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology, 2020: .

Sánchez-Fernández, R., Iniesta-Bonillo, M. Á., & Cervera-Taulet, A. (2019). Exploring the concept of perceived sustainability at tourist destinations: A market segmentation approach. . Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(2), 176-190, doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2018.1505579.

Sidali, K., Huber, D., & Schamel, G. (2017). Long-term sustainable development of tourism in South Tyrol: An analysis of tourists’ perception. Sustainability, 9(10), 1791, doi.org/10.3390/su9101791.

Spangenberg, J. H., & Valentin, A. (1999). Indicators for sustainable communities . Retrieved from http://www.foeerupe.org: http://www.foeerupe.org/sustainability/sustain/t-content-prism.htm

Statistical Yearbook. (2019). Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Serbia. Belgrade: Statistical office of the Republic of Serbia.

Thyne, M., Watkins, L., & Yoshida, M. (2018). Resident perceptions of tourism: The role of social distance. International Journal of Tourism Research, 256-266, https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2179.

145



THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND SLOW TOURISM


Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented crisis in the tourism economy due to the immediate and severe shock to the sector. Normally, tourism is a sector that has always shown itself able to react to various crises (epidemics, terrorism, earthquakes), but the one caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is believed to have had profound and long-term effects, causing structural changes at all levels of the sector. One of the sectors that has suffered the most damage is certainly the tourism sector (travel restrictions, borders shutdown, fear of movement, etc.). Meanwhile, some authors have highlighted how this pandemic could become an opportunity to rethink tourism development strategies by starting a “resilient, sustainable and just economic recovery”. In this sense, a new research agenda related to the changes generated by the pandemic has been identified: a change in destination image, a change in tourist behaviour, a change in resident behaviour, and a change in the tourism industry. Considering these changes, this paper aims to deepen the opportunities provided by Slow Tourism, as well as tourism that can best respond to emerging trends, in terms of both supply and demand. Slow tourism, in fact, is a new philosophy of travel, able to minimize the impact on the environment, respecting the needs of citizens, exalting the specificity of places, involving users in a multi-sector experience, stimulating interactions with residents and privileging non-frenetic rhythms.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Crisis Management, Slow Tourism, Tourist behaviour, New tourism development.


INTRODUCTION

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has led to a crisis in all sectors, thus affecting the tourism economy as well. According to UNWTO (2020, 2020b) (United Nation World Tourism Organization) data, the impact of COVID 19 led to a 60% drop in the number of tour-ists when it comes to international tourism, in 2020. This could also pose an opportunity for the development of national tourism, which represents 75% of the total tourism economy of the OSCE countries (OECD, 2020). This “perfect storm” has deeply affected the tourism sec-tor so much that it has profoundly changed the business models of the overall supply chain. These will include the new needs of tourists, more attention to health and safety, and a desire to seek out outdoor travel to rediscover nature, sociability, authenticity, traditions, and beauty.

Darija Lunić1*,Roberto Micera2,Nataša Stanišić1

1Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia2Institute for Studies on the Mediterranean (ISMed), Italy

Correspondence: Darija Lunić




In this sense, slow tourism appears to integrate tangible and intangible factors with which tourism is strongly connected, and which allow tourists to live and experience the territory. The territory is considered in its totality, where quality landscapes, culture, and productions of excellence, quality of life, and the environment represent the benefit and the distinctive factor able to promote tourism development paths. Moreover, the slow territories place the local community at the centre of social capital, able to share objectives and values, to collaborate in order to build a differentiated touristic offer and to provide a concrete boot to development.

Italy, as one of the countries that has suffered great damage in the tourism sector, recognized its opportunity in the tourist offer based on the principles of sustainable tourism development, primarily slow tourism. Starting from these assumptions, this paper aims to understand how slow tourism can become one of the ways for tourism to boost national tourism. The paper, in addition to an analysis of the documents made available for post-Covid19 tourism, included a series of interviews with key informants to understand what measures are in place to recover tourism and what will be the underlying principles of new tourism.

This paper is structured into 4 sections. The first section presents the theoretical background of the slow tourism phenomenon, through which it is possible to understand how this tourism product could support a process of revitalization of the tourism sector after the pandemic. The second section focuses on the research methodology. It illustrates the tools used for empirical research. The third section describes the first results of the empirical research desk. The last section highlights some practical and theoretical implications of the research project.

This paper includes a critical analysis of the literature on the theme of slow tourism, with references to both demand and supply. The primary scientific contributions on the theme of slow tourism is its contribution to the recovery of tourism in all areas of the country: both marginal areas and art cities. Slow tourism appears perfectly aligned with the new trends of demand that, in addition to experientiality, will become more inter-ested in hygiene, safety, and social distance, and will try to satisfy tourist psycho-physical well-being by allowing them to spend their free time in green and open areas.

At the empirical level, this paper intends to deepen the case of the “Italy destination”, where Slow Tourism has been identified as a solution to revitalize national tourism following the Covid-19 pandemic.

LITERATURE REVIEW

On the one hand, the literature considers the most recent contributions on the management of the Covid pandemic in tourism (Gössling et al., 2020; Chang et al., 2020; Romagosa, 2020; Chinazzi et al., 2020) and, on the other hand, the topic of slow tourism. Based on its characteristics, and considering the consequences generated by the Covid-19 pandemic among consumers and tourism systems, slow tourism is considered to be one of the most suitable forms of tourism to contribute to the revival of tourism at the international level (Chang et al., 2020; Everingham and Chassagne, 2020; Gössling et al., 2020; Gretzel et al., 2020; Haywood, 2020; Kock et al., 2020; Ma et al., 2020; Maximiliano, 2020; Niewiadomski, 2020; Wen et al., 2020). The recent years have witnessed the emergence of new forms of tourism: ecotourism, green tourism, cultural tourism, heritage tourism, health tourism. Moore (2012) states that these forms are based on two driving forces. On the one hand, there is environment sustainability, and on the other, the well-being of consumers. These driving forces serve as the basis of another special form of tourism: slow tourism (Fullagar et al., 2012). Encouraging consumers towards this form of tourism brings about many benefits, both for the destination and the local community, as well as for the tourists themselves (Conway and Timms, 2012). By slowing down the pace of their travel, tourists are enabled to make better connections with places, people, and local culture (Caffyn, 2012).

Bulatović and Micera (2018, p. 279) sustain that: “Slow tourism is a good chance for all types of destinations that are dealing with sustainability issues, especially for cultural tourist cities. Accepting criteria for developing slow tourism is less attractive for destinations’ economy, but in the long term it is the only right strategy, and could be very profitable especially for destinations based on cultural and historical heritage. Slow tourism requires strategic destination planning, strong organization, and control mechanisms.” Slow tourism/travel remains a contested term (Dickinson and Lumsdon 2010; McGrath and Sharpley, 2016), but the ‘constellation’ of ideas (Fullagar et al., 2012, p. 5) surrounding it is beginning to emerge into a meaningful concept (Lumsdon and McGrath, 2011, p. 273).



The concept of slow tourism is relatively new. It originates from social movements “slow food” and “slow cities” that emerged in Italy in the 1990s (Fullagar et al., 2012; Hall, 2012; Groenendaal, 2012). Dickinson and Lumsdon (2010) defined slow tourism as a conceptual framework that includes people who travel “slower” and shorter, but stay longer at a chosen destination where they use local transportation, enjoy local, authentic cuisine, and tour local cultural sights. In this sense, slow tourism could be the answer to the new target cus-tomers’ needs, with more and more focus on the ethical aspect of travel, as well as towards the need to find development paths attentive to the fragility of the current territorial realities. Slow tourism, therefore, brings the tourists for a short time to recharge their energy by aligning their rhythm to the natural flow of time, to the natural environment, allowing themselves the luxury of “observe”, “taste,” and “stop”. Slow tourism leads tourists in the condition of having real experiences with the territories in which they stay and with the cultures with which they come into contact, through ways that are as respectful of the environment and as they are responsible for the populations and tourist resources that they use.

COVID-19 will likely affect travellers’ consumption patterns, such as the growing popularity of free and independent travel, luxury trips, and health and wellness tourism. New forms of tourism, including slow tourism and smart tourism, may also drive future tourism activities. Such changes are likely to force businesses to reconsider their service designs and distribution channels. (Wen, et. al, 2020) The current state of recession, especially in tourism activities, leads institutions to rethink and implement new models of development, focusing on safety devices to ensure the safety of travellers and all people, giving substance to sustainability, and reducing the impacts on environmental and cultural resources, as set out in the objectives of the United Nations Agenda 2030. The basic principles upon which slow tourism is founded are: committing one’s time to a certain destination and building relationships with people, places, culture, tradition, and environment (Caffyn, 2012; Yurtseven and Kaya, 2011).

In this way, the crisis caused by the pandemic can become an opportunity to enhance all those marginal and rural areas that are ideal scenarios for the activation of original tourism systems, capable of reconciling the exploitation of resources with respect to local communities and local heritage. To build a “slow” tourist product means to foresee urban interventions and infrastructural investments, as well as the realization of infrastructures suitable to support it. The innovative value of slow tourism is precisely to offer the opportunity to characterize the tourist experience by enhancing the genius loci of the territory. This has expanded the range of products available.

Slow tourism encompasses several key aspects (Caffyn, 2012):

◆ Time: to analyse, to understand, to design quality improvements of activities, services and destinations for those who use them as customers and for those who work there.

◆ Slow: building, promotion and offer of services and products of slow tourism, not frenetic, not massified, able to make the guest participate in a complete, deep and engaging experience, which allows them to gradually assimilate the links with the local reality.

◆ Contamination: cultural synergies between the guest and the host, between people who are carriers of different experiences, beliefs, knowledge, cultures, and the tourist who is immersed and contaminated precisely by the culture of the host people.

◆ Authenticity: the ability to offer non-standardized products and services, and able to enhance the distinctiveness of places.

◆ Sustainability: the impact of the tourist activity on the local environment, reaffirming the need for a sustainable approach.

◆ Emotion: the ability to generate memorable and experiential moments. The involvement of all five senses is the basis of every experience.

In reality, the situation varies depending on the destination. A larger number of incorporated elements equals more sustainable tourism. Therefore, slow tourism as an amalgam of various elements can offer a “win-win-win” solution – sustainable tourism with economic benefits for both local community and destination, along with the satisfaction of tourists. As such, slow tourism serves as an inverse to mass tourism, for it is potentially, socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable (Conway and Timms, 2010).



It is necessary to consider the concept of slow tourism as a part of the broader socio-cultural context (Fullagar et al., 2012; Groenendaal, 2012). The desire to “slow down” the daily pace of life (push motive) is reflected in an attempt to find ways to reduce stress by choosing a slow destination (pull motive). It is up to the consumers to choose where they will travel, how they will travel, and how long they will stay at their chosen destination, because slow travel implies conscious decision-making (Gartner, 2008). According to the philosophy of slow travel, it is more important to get to know one, smaller place thoroughly than to get to know numerous different areas at a superficial level (Georgica, 2015). Slow travel primarily allows an escape from the everyday, stressful life. In addition, this kind of travel is more affordable for the budget. Namely, slow tourists stay in rented accommodation that is cheaper than hotels, use local ingredients in food preparation, or try the local cuisine. Thus, the author Georgica (2015) points out that by means of slow travel, tourists become a part of the local community life of their chosen destination and, thus, make connections with the place, people, and culture.

METHODOLOGY AND KEY FINDINGS

The empirical analysis is carried out through a desk data collection (national, regional, local regulations). All the measures taken by the Italian government to support the resumption of tourism throughout the country are studied in depth. At the same time, we have elaborated a protocol of open questions to carry out in-depth interviews to a series of the key informants of the Italian tourism system. The idea is to understand how slow tourism can be used as a form of tourism to manage the crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, we used qualitative research by selecting research tools and techniques to achieve cognitive goals.

An in-depth interview is used as a method. The interviewees were selected as actors that can provide useful contributions to the theme of slow tourism as a form of tourism to restore the sector in the post-Covid period.

In particular, the authors have carried out individual interviews in order to deepen the issues under inves-tigation in order to reach a deep and detailed knowledge of them. The interviews are carried out face-to-face, by phone, or even with the help of online video-meeting tools. In this sense, an interview guide is defined, focusing on the theme of slow tourism and how to develop this form of tourism in the area. Considering that the chosen research method is qualitative, we are aware that our results will not be generalizable, as we will not have statistical representativeness.

The interview questionnaire contained several open-structured questions. Interviews were prepared and implemented by telephone with a small panel of key informants (tourism professionals, the academic and business sector, representatives of the destination management). From the study of the documents collected through the research desk and from a first pilot test of interviews submitted to a small sample of key informants, a series of useful indications emerged to understand how the Italian government intends to act in order to guarantee tourism restart and what role slow tourism can take in this process.

The Council of Italian Ministers’ measures in aid of tourism and culture

To start a policy of re-launching national tourism, the Council of Italian Ministers approved further measures in aid of tourism and culture in the middle of March 2020 to supplement and strengthen the measures for tourism contained in the first decree. The measures are as follows (Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, 2020):

◆ Extraordinary allowances for tourism and culture workers: Workers in the tourism, culture, entertainment, film and audio-visual sectors will receive special allowances to limit the negative effects of the restrictions due to the coronavirus emergency. The allowances are also extended to workers without social security benefits.

◆ Social protection and social safety net: Extension of the social safety net to seasonal workers in tourism and entertainment, and measures in favour of authors, artists, performers, and agents.



◆ Support for culture, entertainment and tourism businesses: Suspension of withholding tax payments, social security and welfare contributions and compulsory insurance premiums for those who run or organise theatres, concert halls, cinemas, artistic or cultural fairs or events, museums, libraries, archives, historical places and monuments, bars, restaurants, thermal spas, amusement or theme parks, transport services, rental of sports and recreational equipment or facilities, and equipment for events and shows, tourist guides, and assistants.

◆ An emergency fund for performing arts and cinema: The creation of the emergency fund for live entertainment, cinema, and audio-visuals. EUR 130 million for 2020 to support operators, authors, and performers affected by the measures adopted for the COVID-19 emergency and for investments aimed at revitalising these sectors. The modality of the distribution and allocation of resources will be estab-lished by decree of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, taking into account the negative impact on beneficiaries resulting from the measures to contain the COVID-19 contagion.

◆ Vouchers for cinema, theatre, museum and concert tickets: Refunds with vouchers already provided for travel and tourist packages cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 emergency are also extended to tickets for shows, cinemas, theatres, museums, and other cultural venues.

◆ Vouchers for hotels as well: Refunds with vouchers already provided for trips and tourist packages cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 emergency are additionally extended to accommodation contracts and, therefore, also cover hotels and other accommodation facilities.

◆ Relaunching the image of Italy in the world: Preparation of an extraordinary campaign to promote Italy in the world, also for tourist and cultural purposes.

Starting from measures, Italy as a destination has begun to review its national strategies, trying to identify forms of tourism suitable for its revival, which could be in line with the principles of sustainable development. For the purpose of this paper, empirical research methods were used.

Possibilities for adopting Slow Tourism

The Italy Destination was examined as a tourist destination using quantitative and qualitative analysis. Furthermore, key informant interviews were used for analysing the possibilities for adopting Slow Tourism. Many of those interviewed emphasize that the new business models of tourism will be characterized by profound changes affecting both supply and demand. In particular, as a key result from the conducted interviews, far as demand is concerned, the new tourist will be looking for an experience capable of transferring security and trust in the supply system, but also psychophysical well-being, contact with nature and open spaces. In this context, slow tourism appears to be one of the solutions most consistent with these new needs. It is, in fact, a more sustainable and responsible tourism.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

At the scientific level, this paper intends to deepen the theme of slow tourism, which is still insufficiently covered in literature, and develop a process of development of a rural destination based on this form of tourism. At the operational level, this work aims to provide tools for policy-makers and destination managers to consider slow tourism as a form of tourism through which it would be possible to focus the development of tourism in the area.

The Italian Government had already registered a specific interest in this form of tourism since the need of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism before the pandemic was to decongest the big cities and enhance the inland areas of the country. Connected to this purpose is the path starting in 2016 (Year of Cam-mini) and ending with the Year of Slow Tourism (2019), passing through the Year of the Villages (2017) and the Year of Food (2018). There are many forms of slow tourism in Italy. They range from cycle tourism, carried out in places equipped with bike paths, trails and infrastructure, to the use of abandoned historic railways,



where the train, a means of transport with very low environmental impact, slowly crosses natural landscapes and scenic landscapes of our country. Associated with slow tourism there is the overnight stay in the villages and the consumption of typical food and wine. Some of the interviewed key informants, moreover, underline how slow tourism represents a different way to live the territory in its essence, going beyond the peak seasons and providing an added value to those tourists, mainly foreigners, who want to know the genius loci of the places visited.

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UNIVERZITET Singidunum. International scientific conference tourism and sustainable development - challenges, opportunities, and contradictions (5 ; 2020 ; Beograd) Book of Proceedings [Elektronski izvor] / Singidunum University [V] International scientific conference Tourism and sustainable development - challenges, opportunities, and contradictions, SITCON, Belgrade, October 09, 2020 ; [editor-in-chief Milovan Stanišić]. - Belgrade : Singidunum University, 2020 (Belgrade : Singidunum University). - 1 elektronski optički disk (CD-ROM) : graf. prikazi, tabele ; 12 cm

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