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THE ROLE OF MARKETING IN A NEW TOURISM PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT KRISTIAN ŠUSTAR - DRAGO RUŽIĆ
ABSTRACT Croatian tourism grew substantially, but to maintain its sustainability, it is necessary to change the accommodation structure, i.e. to increase the number of hotels in the accommodation structure. Croatia generates almost 90% of its tourist revenue within four summer months. This situation leads to multiple problems related to tourism sustainability in its entirety and, although the physical indicators are recording exceptional growth, in conclusion, we are not achieving the expected results, but to the contrary, the average tourist expenditure per booked night is in a continuous decline. The main reason of high seasonality rate is an inadequate capacity structure, which is country specific and incomparable with Mediterranean countries. Hotels and apart-hotels account for 13,15% of the capacity structure, whereas the camp sites with 23,10% and private accommodation with 55,90% are dominant in the capacity structure. The dominant capacities are closely related to seasonality and are active on the market in summer months. At the same time, the positive fact is that we have created adequate strategic preconditions i.e. documents and it is necessary to turn back to the tourism development strategy by 2020 followed by the action plan and to start with the realization. Based on the above-mentioned strategy, it is necessary to change the current capacity structure and to develop new capacities, mainly hotel capacities. In the development of hotel capacities, it is necessary to follow the globally recognized methodology that must be carried out by marketing. Using proven tourist development models that will have marketing support i.e. marketing will hold the key role in all development stages, especially in concept and planning phase, we will create preconditions for profitable, sustainable and successful tourist development and, hence, for the successful tourist sector. KEY WORDS: Tourism, Seasonality, Development, Hotels, Marketing. DETAILS ABOUT AUTHORS: KRISTIAN ŠUSTAR PHD STUDENT kristian.sustar@gmail.com DRAGO RUZIC PROFESSOR drago.ruzic@efos.hr FOR BOTH AUTHORS: UNIVERSITY JOSIP JURAJ STROSSMAYER OSIJEK FACULTY OF ECONOMICS OSIJEK, CROATIA
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