Page 42 - World Heritage and Tourism Innovation

Vuk Tvrtko Opačić Tourism Valorisation of Croatian Intangible Cultural Heritage

Figure 2 The Number of Tourist Arrivals and Tourist Nights in the Administrative Area of the Town of Sinj for the Period
2012–2021
Sources Croatian Bureau of Statistics (2013; 2014; 2015; 2016); Croatian Tourist Board (2016; 2017; 2018; 2019; 2020; 2021)

nights, is small compared to closer coastal tourist des- in 2016 compared to 2015, coinciding with the open-
tinations, there has been a noticeable trend of contin- ing of the Sinjska Alka Museum and the expansion
ual growth in the last decade (Figure 2). of tourism supply stemming from cultural and rural
The increasing trend is emphasising tourist nights tourism attractions with the Alka.
more than tourist arrivals. From 2012 to 2019, there Based on the presented data, it is evident that
were more significant risk nights each year than the the duration of the average tourist stay is becoming
previous year. The exceptions were in 2020 and 2021, longer. In 2012, the average duration of a tourist stay
with the sudden fall in tourism flow due to the COV- in the Town of Sinj was 1.58 tourist nights. In 2016, it
ID-19 pandemic, not only in Sinj but also in Croatia was 1.19, and in 2021, the average stay was 4.86 nights,
and elsewhere in Europe. Nonetheless, a significant indicating a more significant and diverse tourism
increase in tourism flow in 2021 compared to 2020 supply in Sinj and the entire Cetinska Krajina region
indicates that the tourism sector is recovering in the and motivating tourists to decide on more extended
second year of the COVID-19 pandemic after conduct- stays. The longer average stays in 2020 and 2021 are
ing the vaccination campaign and introducing COVID due to the increasing demand for individual tourist
passes, thereby more clearly regulating tourist arrivals stays in less-visited destinations, enhancing the en-
in Croatia than in 2020. The number of tourist ar- joyment of clean natural surroundings and preserving
rivals shows a somewhat slowing growth, along with traditional cultural heritage without the need to make
specific oscillations between the years, regarding the too many risky social contacts. This fact leads to new
number of tourist nights in 2012–2019. Noticeably, trends in tourism, which will reflect changes in terms
the number of tourist nights significantly decreased of a quicker dispersive expansion of tourism demand

38 | Proceedings of the 7th UNESCO UNITWIN Conference