Advantages, disadvantages and overall reputation of destinations in Excover area, are the main terms of the SWOT and reputation analyses that will be base for big process of turning those destination in tourist attractions. How were those researches conducted in Croatian part of Excover area and what are some preliminary results, revealed Božena Krce Miočić, associate professor from Department of tourism and communication sciences of University of Zadar. Professor noted that University of Zadar collected impressions of the tourists that visited those destinations or was just nearby, and from locals that simply live in that area.

- For different destinations we got different information, but we got first insight into what we could develop as tourist product, and what are the main advantages of those destinations. Through that, we may have moved away from some of the stereotypes we earlier encountered – said Krce Miočić, adding that coronavirus disrupted planned activities of many project partners, but they quickly got back on track.

- What has been shown so far are some differences in the popularity of destinations, while the reputation is everywhere on the similar level. On the other hand, let’s take for example city of Gospić, which people logically recognise for Nikola Tesla, but according to our preliminary results, potential tourists recognise it for natural and cultural heritage, mythology, and even for some elements of ethnographic culture, like weaving – revealed Krce Miočić, saying that those findings can be used for tourism development purposes.

- We also came to conclusion that locals generally have a tendency to participate in tourist events, they want to put their time and knowledge at disposal to help tourism. That is now one of the most important elements, because tourists today don't want to just come to the beach and lay down, they want to feel and get to know the destination in which they are in – project Excover expert pointed.

Lastly, expert team from University of Zadar believe, and that was confirmed by the latest scientific papers, is that tourists today will in lesser extent choose destinations which are widely publicised and have a lot of tourists - they are not interested in overtourism as before.

- Of course that some of them will still want to visit Paris, Venice or Moscow, but it is noticeable that smaller destinations will be popular at first, because they give a sense of security. Scientific papers are suggesting that in some shorter period we will have a first return of the tourists in the destinations just like those in Excover area – concluded Božena Krce Miočić.