Typology of Tourist Resorts in Croatia: The Case of South Dalmatia

The main goal of the research is to apply the typology of tourist resorts based on the level of tourism development to the example of South Dalmatia, the southernmost littoral part of Croatia. The research is based on the methodological instruments of geographical analysis and synthesis and includes analysis of statistical data, GIS analysis and visualisation of spatial data in GIS using thematic maps. The typology was formed using the following indicators on the level of settlements: (1) number of tourist beds, (2) number of tourist arrivals, (3) number of overnight stays, (4) co-efficient of tourism functionality (number of tourist arrivals per 100 inhabitants), (5) density of tourist beds (number of tourist beds per square kilometre), (6) density of tourist arrivals (number of tourist arrivals per square kilometre), (7) tourist class assigned to the tourist resort according to a Croatian regulation that categorises basic tourist resorts into four classes using quantitative and qualitative criteria to determine the level of the sojourn tax and the possibility of founding a tourist board. To achieve the final typology, every indicator was scored for every tourist resort. The typology confirms the uneven spatial distribution of tourism development in South Dalmatia with its focus on the Dubrovnik urban region. The higher level of tourism development is concentrated almost exclusively on the coastal resorts, while the interior is characterised by sporadic and low tourism development. However, even in areas with a lower level of tourism development, some settlements – small ones particularly – are highly dependent on tourism and, therefore, characterised by high pressure of tourism on the physical and social environment. The typology resulted in determining a certain number of first- and second-level tourist resorts, tourist centres that are carriers of tourism development in South Dalmatia, and a large number of small settlements with a simpler tourism supply, although more or less oriented to tourism. Therefore, the typology can be treated as a first step towards a functional tourism regionalisation of South Dalmatia forming functionally complete tourism units that have a quality tourism supply and that are capable of successful management of tourism development and tourism impacts, which is now partly present only in leading tourist destinations.