NAUTICAL TOURISM AND URBAN SPRAWL IN CROATIA – HERITAGE UNDER PRESSURE

Abstract

The number of new built or upgraded marinas for nautical tourism has increased in the last ten years on the Adriatic coast in the Republic of Croatia. The need for a better-quality tourist product, i.e., tourists who are said to have higher spending capacity is often mentioned as an argument for these investments. Planning and constructing ports in smaller cores often provoke tensions between the interests of investors, local governments, local population, and the experts, responsible for safeguarding and conservation of cultural property. Here we will present the issues caused by plans to construct a nautical marina in the protected area of the old town of Sv. Filip i Jakov in Zadar County. This paper will focus on the conflict between the local community, represented by the civic initiative “Za Rivu”, supported by the Conservation Institute at the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, on one side, and the local government and the private investors and their plans to build a marina in the old town of Sv. Filip i Jakov in Zadar County, on the other.

Keywords: Heritage, Sv. Filip i Jakov, local government, civic initiative, nautical marine