COEXISTENCE BETWEEN NATURE AND TOURISM IN THE DUBROVNIKREGIONIVOBAN
Faculty of Tourism and Foreign Trade, University of Split, Lapadska obala 7, 20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia

Croatia is an attractive tourist destination for millions of tourists worldwide, butmainly for European countries. In 2002, 6.9 million tourists visited Croatia, with 98 percent from Europe and 2 per cent from the rest of the world. Alongside this, there areabout 1.4 million domestic tourists included in the tourism trends. Most of the tourist ·traffic is realized in coastal areas (95.5 per cent in 2001), measured by bed-nights, asbeach tourism is the dominant form of demand and supply in tourism. The concentrationof tourist traffic in a relatively small area, and within a short time period (June September 2002, 84 per cent), is visibly threatening natural sights. The region ofDubrovnik is a favorite destination for hundreds of thousands of foreign and tens of
thousands of domestic tourists because of its cultural, historical and natural sights. Here,too, the concentration of tourism in a small area over only four summer months isobvious, which particularly burdens (creates pressure) on natural sights. The constructionof hotels, vacation homes, marinas and roadways have upset the natural balance, but in atolerant measure that has respected both aesthetic and substance criteria. Even thoughbeach tourism has been greatly exploited both directly and indirectly, the testing ofseawater purity at marine beaches shows that it is satisfactory and that it is in accord withnational regulation criteria, which are set on the basis of WHO (World HealthOrganization) and UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) parameters, which
also correspond to European Union standards. The results obtained show that it ispossible to develop harmless tourism on marine beaches when the preconditions forconservation and permanent control are met first. These conditions require the carriers of
tourism activities to adapt their procedures to the conservation of natural resources, thatis, the sea and the coastline, upon which they base their survival and progress. The results
up to now in conserving the natural values of Dubrovnik can be considered as being
satisfactory in part. However, problems are not permanently resolved with this, for lately,
there is a growing pressure for continuing the construction of larger and smalleraccommodation capacities and marinas in presently untouched marine bays, and otherbuildings associated with tourism (golf courses, tennis courts, roads, parking areas). Their
construction should not be banned, but it definitely must be controlled and directedaccording to very strict aesthetic and ecological criteria, which must be adhered to by allinvestors. It is not enough to just declare opinions. Clear and unequivocal regulations, andurban planning with a high level of conservation of natural values have to be passed. Each
construction, no matter how small, must be thoroughly controlled so that the «impact» ofinvestors with mainly short-term financial interests can be continuously and rigorously
monitored. Further development might seriously endanger natural values, the mostimportant trump card of development, if a principled approach is lacking.

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