Page 48 - World Heritage and Tourism Innovation

Vuk Tvrtko Opačić Tourism Valorisation of Croatian Intangible Cultural Heritage

Table 3 Number and Structure of Sold Tickets to the Sinjska Alka Museum in 2019 by Months
Year Ticket category TOTAL
Adults Students, pensioners, Family Preschoolers Group
children (parents + children) (5 persons and more)
2015 2,835 6,012 369 - - 9,216
2016 4,280 13,044 730 1,649 - 19,703
2017 3,432 11,383 504 826 - 16,145
2018 3,092 10,443 446 941 - 14,922
2019 2,572 10,253 418 600 - 13,843
2020 541 755 219 38 - 1,553
2021 1,031 2,305 278 51 284 3,949
TOTAL 17,783 54,195 2,964 4,105 284 79,331
Source Sinjska Alka Museum (2022)

pensioners and children is due to the more significant tity for Sinj as a tourist destination. They pointed out
number of educational school and student excursions the importance of further intensifying the promotion
and those visiting the museum as extracurricular ac- of the Alka and the need to preserve its authenticity to
tivities; this is a confirmation by internal data from avoid excessive commodification and touristification.
the Sinjska Alka Museum on the number of tickets Priority was also placed on its status as an intangible
sold by the month in 2019 (the last year before the on- cultural asset on the UNESCO list in promoting it and
set of the COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of the obligation to preserve its authenticity. The head of
epidemiological measures) (Table 3). the Sinjska Alka Museum importantly mentioned that
The most significant number of visits to the muse- one must keep the authenticity of the Alka in line with
um were recorded in July (total of 3,354 tickets sold) the strict Statute of the Alka Knights Society, which
and May (2,831 tickets sold) due to the organisation of takes care of its protection and continuity of tradition
school and student excursions. A significantly smaller and that there is no fear of excessive touristification.
number of sold tickets were during the peak tourist Representatives of the Alka Knights Society pointed
season: 1,214 in August and 484 in July; this suggests out that there are no plans to increase the capacity of
that pupils and students mostly visit the museum in the grandstand for Alka visitors.
organised visits, whereas tourists are significantly In addition to preserving and exhibiting alkars’
small in numbers. Indeed, here lies the critical op- heritage, the head of the museum pointed out that one
portunity for tourism valorisation of the Sinjska Alka of the main reasons for its opening was also to trans-
and the town of Sinj. Also, in the future, tourist visits form the Alka into a permanent tourist attraction in
to the Sinjska Alka Museum should be increased to Sinj. The head of the museum highlighted the impor-
make this intangible cultural asset more recognisable tance of collaboration with tourist agencies, which is
in terms of tourism and the town of Sinj better brand- affirmed by the museum’s partnership with about 40
ed as the town of Alka. tourist agencies, mainly from Croatia, to get the Sin-
jska Alka Museum to attract a more significant num-
Views of Key Local Stakeholders in the Tourism ber of individual and organised tourists visits in the
Valorisation of the Sinjska Alka and its Transformation future, and also strengthen the tourist component. As
into a Tourist Product suggested by the data on the number and categories
All three interview participants highlighted the im- of tickets sold, the museum is visited mainly by pu-
portance of the Sinjska Alka in creating a tourist iden- pils and students regarding educational programs, not

44 | Proceedings of the 7th UNESCO UNITWIN Conference