Is the Pelješac Bridge Construction Going to Affect Tourism Sustainability of the Peninsula?

Abstract

The whole area of Dubrovnik-Neretva county, situated in the southeastern part of Croatia, is at the moment, in terms of road accessability, still not satisfactorily connected with the rest of Croatia. The lack of its accessability is mostly caused by the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina's border line cuts in two the Dubrovnik-Neretva county's (land) territory. As a result, on the way from southwest to southeast, or from Split to Dubrovnik, one needs to cross the state border with Bosnia and Herzegowina twice. The construction of the Peljesac Bridge (together with a set of interconnecting roads) should improve the present situation significantly, mainly due to the expected redirection of most of the traffic to the new route accross the Pelješac peninsula. It is fair to assume that this will additionally 'open' the entire Pelješac peninsula to the increased tourism related traffic, especially to the demand of one day visitors and/or weekend guests originating from the nearby regions. Since this will, most lilkely, create additional pressure on the environment, the aim of this paper is to investigate the extent to which, if any, the construction of the Pelješac bridge might affect future market perception, and, thus, the long term tourism sustainability of the Pelješac peninsula.