THE ROLE OF DIFFERENT SOURCES OF FINANCING IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF NATIONAL PARKS IN CROATIA

Croatia obtains most of its tourist visits in the Adriatic tourist region over a short period of summer, which puts great pressure on the environment. Nevertheless, other parts of Croatia have tourist resources that are visited by numerous tourists as well. Global trends in the tourism market show that national parks are attracting more and more tourists. This is reflected by increasing numbers of visitors in such areas, and consequently, as increased revenue from selling tickets consistent with such tourist traffic in Croatian national parks (NPs). However, to preserve these areas while ensuring long-term sustainable development of tourism, it is necessary to apply environmental, socio-cultural and economic principles. The most sensitive areas of nature are strict reserves and national parks, which represent and require the highest level of protection, therefore, substantial funding has been allocated to them for years, mainly from the state budget of the Republic of Croatia. Presently, eight Croatian NPs are financed from various sources, other than the state budget, so national parks are financed from their assigned sources as well, including tourism. The accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union on 1 July 2013 has allowed Croatia to use financial instruments of the EU for various purposes, with the protection of the environment being one of the priorities. Since the day Croatia became a full member of the EU, EU structural funds, among other things, have been available to NPs, primarily the Cohesion Fund, intended for funding public investments in transport infrastructure and environmental protection, as well as the European Regional Development Fund. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the structure of sources of funding for NPs in Croatia from 2014 to 2018. It aims to prove a trend of increasing revenues earned by national parks in Croatia, the resulting reduced reliance on the state budget and increased reliance on other sources of funding, in particular, EU funds. The paper analyses financial plans of all eight national parks in Croatia and data regarding their sources of funding, and also describes in detail specific investments of EU funds in all NPs in the Republic of Croatia. The research showed that the structure of funding in the NPs of Croatia changed significantly during the observed period, while the quality of tourist offer was improved to achieve sustainable tourism development. Funding received from the EU is used to implement economic, environmental and socio-cultural principles and indicators of sustainable tourism development, and at the same time, NPs remain attractive in the tourism market and attract visitors.