Cooperation between the private and public sector, with the participation of locals in creating the offer, is necessary for Karlovac County, as well as other project areas, to become a tourist destination, not just a transit location on the way of tourists to the coast and big cities. This was the conclusion of a cross-border workshop held by JURRA in Old town Dubovac, which was convenient as the project is coming to an end, so all partners took a chance and consulted about the remaining project activities.
Positive results by the end of the project
Development and positioning of new tourism products was the topic of this workshop, where participants discovered that three new tourism packages have been created in the Karlovac County, based on sustainability and the discovery of insufficiently explored potentials. These packages were presented by JURRA's external expert - Juraj Randelj from the company Apsolon, and they are the result of participatory planning processes in which over 60 participants take part. "Explore the history and culture of Karlovac County!", "Karlovac County - Naturally perfect!" and "Karlovac County - Relax, drink beer, learn and have fun" - these are the names of three tourist packages that will connect history, culture, nature, gastronomy and the inevitable beer, which is the fifth Karlovac river, and it represents a clear invitation for all lovers beer and those yet to become.
- The Excover project is extremely beneficial for the whole community, so the new positioning strategy can contribute to the development of positive trends. Looking at the core of the project, if we increase by only 20 percent the number of those who will stay in our counties, cities and communities for more than a few days and explore hidden gems, these will be tangible results that Excover has encouraged - said at the beginning of the workshop Vilko Klasan, director of the Public Institution Regional Development Agency of Karlovac County, welcoming colleagues from Italy and Croatia. Director Klasan was joined by Martina Furdek Hajdin - Karlovac County Prefect, Željko Fanjak - Director of the Karlovac County Regional Tourist Board and Andrija Brkljačić - Director of the Lika-Senj County Regional Development Agency (LIRA). Director Brkljačić took this opportunity to invite all the partners at the project Excover final conference, which will be held in Gospić at the end of June and it will bring a combination of presentations, sightseeing and sport activities.
It is important to include local population
It was also emphasised at the workshop that Karlovac County has 16 old towns and fortifications waiting for valorisation, so Excover also contributed in this segment, as the University of Bologna and the University of Udine collected information on perceived values according to the project area population, tourism experts, and potential visitors. Andrea Guizzardi (UNIBO) and Monica Pascoli (UNIUD) presented their findings, while Gianluca Sarti from the company Finproject introduced the positioning strategy which will be implemented in the whole Excover area. All of this led to the facts that it is important to offer tourists something they do not expect in the first place in these areas, while with the support of local and regional policies it is important to involve local people in creating cheaper and sustainable tourism packages.
The whole workshop was rounded off by a panel discussion moderated by Željko Trezner, tourism expert, which concluded, among other things, that the participation of local people can be achieved only by motivating and encouraging participation with the guarantee that they will be able to participate in such cross-border projects, even after their completion.
