Croatian maritime tradition as origin for modern cruising product

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

The Adriatic Sea is a deeply drawn bay of the Mediterranean, so it belongs to half-enclosed sea type with attractive and indented eastern coastline whose largest part belongs to Croatia. Croatian Adriatic in historical and geographical development has a major geopolitical and strategic importance. Many rulers and countries were trying to usurp it and rule that area. Favourable climate, soil and vegetation were an additional feature that attracted potential invaders. Today, understanding durability and complexity of development processes of the heterogeneous Adriatic area and their impact on landscape and other changes is very important for further development of eastern Adriatic archipelago in the independent Republic of Croatia. Modern tourist movements regarding the development of selective forms of tourism have provided an opportunity of appropriate valorisation of this area through the development of nautical tourism in all its manifestations (yachting, charter, diving, competitive sailing, cruising). Traditionally, since the golden age of the Republic of Dubrovnik, the Croatian Adriatic has been known for its quality sailors and shipbuilders in the wood. Specific segment of nautical tourism are traditional sailing ships for the cruise, mostly old Cruising Yachts (“Trabaccolo”) used to transport sand and other loose cargo in the past. During the last twenty years, shippers have started with the thorough reconstruction of the old wooden sailing ships to convert them to transport passengers on one day excursions or multi-day cruises. Today, Croatia has a fleet of 300 ships designed for multi-day cruises and daily excursions with the preparation of food included. According to the Ordinance of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, transport, infrastructure and tourism, ships are categorised in categories from 1 – 5 stars depending on the level of services and the comfort of accommodation provided to guests. In order to preserve traditional wooden vessels as the Croatian “uniqueness”, Croatian Government took an important task in negotiations with the European Union, that is, to exclude Croatian traditional vessels from the European directive which doesn’t allow transport of passengers by wooden vessels. Croatian small shippers together with the state should find the way for appropriate incentives with the aim to build traditional, wooden vessels of the Croatian origin (Carrack, Trabaccolo, Gallia, etc.). At the beginning of this article, a functional description of the most important Croatian natural resource- Croatian littoral area- will be provided. In the context of Croatian maritime tradition, an overview of the historical development of the Croatian maritime and wooden shipbuilding will be provided as well as the spatial meaning of the Adriatic area in various historical trends. Cultural and historical heritage from ancient times through medieval coastal fortresses and cities, first systematic development of navigation infrastructure at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to specific, isolated military facilities from the 20th century, make this local waters extremely interesting for the development of cruise tourism, where the stress is made on the cruise on traditional Croatian sailing ships. A careful selection of suitable locations is necessary to establish a system for planning the trip and mooring bookings. Within the selected ports, it is necessary to provide a safe mooring with necessary infrastructure. Local Tourist Boards should organise various tourist activities according to the age, education and purchasing power of a certain group of tourists. Special attention will be given to the possibility to develop some historic marinas along the coast and on islands with all its specific characteristics and practices that if properly valorised can become moving force of a revived „revival“ of traditional maritime towns.