FESTIVAL TOURISM IN THE REPOSITIONING OF CROATIAN TOURISM DESTINATIONS CHRISTIAN STIPANOVIC, PhD, Full Professor ELENA RUDAN, PhD, Assistant Professor PETRA PERŠIN, Student University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Opatija

Research aim & question ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Research aim & question Aims: * Defining theoretical determiners of festival tourism * Defining new trends of festival tourism * Analysis of current state of two historical festivals in Croatia: THE KNIGHTLY DAYS OF VRANA and THE RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL IN KOPRIVNICA * Defining aims and innovationg operational strategies of festival tourism in destinations Koprivnica and Vrana * Defining promotional activities in branding festival tourism in destination

* Survey based of the local population and visitors ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Research methods * Author’s attitudes - current situation two chivalric festivals in the tourist destinations Koprivnica and Vrana * Survey based of the local population and visitors * Interviewing destination management

ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Hypothesis: - Historical based festivals - a strong connection between the present and the past of a particular region - opportunity for repositioning and branding of tourist destinations - Qualitative transformation of existing festivals give a new value in the destinations – innovation - Creating the historic festival is the most important thing to the local population

Festival tourism – theoretical principles ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Festival tourism – theoretical principles form of event tourism motivated primarily by different festivals historical festivals: the tourists are looking for an experience and cohesion of the local residents festivals are an important element of destination branding and promoting Špancirfest Varaždin, Rab Fair, Krk Fair, the Sinjska Alka

Analysis of the current situation ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Analysis of the current situation * the current state of two thematically similar festivals - the Renaissance Festival in Koprivnica and the Knightly Days of Vrana * the core of the Koprivnica Renaissance Festival is the valorisation of medieval history with stress on chivalric tournaments , old crafts and gastronomy based on nettle (28 -31 August 2015) * The Knightly Days of Vrana shows the scenes from ancient times, (three battles with the Turks) which include camps, tournaments, shows, old crafts, old plays, folk costumes, uniforms and other (20 -23 August 2015)

The Renaissance Festival in Koprivnica The Knightly Days of Vrana ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Survey results – local residents and destination management, december 2014. Festival Mark   The Renaissance Festival in Koprivnica The Knightly Days of Vrana Residents Management Festival contents 4.22 5 4.52 4.3 Contents for the young 4.10 4 4.14 The influence of the Festival in presenting the local culture, tradition and history 4.28 4.86 Festival as a brand 4.42 4.71 Involvement of the local population in the festival 4.04 3.29 3

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Strengths Weaknesses Authentic representation of historic events Good organisation An unforgettable experience for visitors High quality staff Associations Good location Great interest of performers and visitors Media interest Gastronomy Too few entertainment events Non-inclusion of catering and accommodation facilities Insufficient involvement of local residents and tourists Insufficient financial resources Insufficient marketing and branding Lack of integral tourism product Opportunities Threats Recognizing the needs of tourists Development of tourist preferences towards historic festivals Cooperation with knight groups Interest of sponsors EU funds Rivals The risk of bad weather conditions Crisis Lack of interest for the creation of an integral tourism product

Aims and strategies of festivals ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Aims and strategies of festivals Quantitative and qualitative aims Operational strategies: 1) R & D 2) Offer strategy 3) Marketing strategies – segmentation, positioning, marketing mix 4)Human resource strategy 5) Financial strategy

Possible programme solutions: ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Possible programme solutions: Renaissance Festival - diversification of content and on attracting foreign participants, the involvement of visitors, especially children. Knightly Days of Vrana - theme park, improving the presentation of traditional crafts, opening craft workshops, organizing scientific meetings. The festivals need to become synergetically connected to the rest of the tourism offer into an integral destination product. The continuous development of operational strategies must involve the local population and tourists as active co-creators of the festival.

ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija the tourist board must be the key stakeholder in the event organization, but also point to the necessity of a stronger synergy with other stakeholders. it is necessary to involve domestic entrepreneurs, since the festival provides an opportunity to promote local production and agriculture in motivating the local population and young people to join the knights’ associations and to become actively involved in knighthood training

Causal loop diagram of festival branding

ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of Life University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija Conclusion - qualitative transformation of existing festivals give a new value in the destinations - festivals can become a brand and an element of respositioning of other Croatian destinations - the festival program should be innovated in order to increase its attractiveness and the protection of traditional heritage and to improve the promotion - it is necessary to create a network of historic festivals that would perform together on the tourism market - knights festivals – brand of destination - the synonym for a unique tourist experience in the tourist heritage offer

Thank you for your attention! Christian Stipanović, Ph. D., Full Professor, E-mail: christis@fthm.hr University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Opatija Elena Rudan, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, E-mail: elenar@fthm.hr Petra Peršin, Student, E-mail: ds1953@fthm.hr