Production basis for food tourism in Croatia: market position of small agricultural producers

Abstract

ABSTRACT As food tourism is becoming more significant, producers are encouraged to ensure more high-quality products as the local gastronomy basis. While some EU Member States, such as Italy, France, and Spain, have already developed regional gastronomy offer based on labeled products, others, for example, Croatia, are lagging behind. The aim of this paper is to explore the market performance of small agricultural producers in Croatia offering high-quality products with potential to contribute to further development of the local gastronomy. Data have been collected through governments’ databases, online survey and interviews. The results indicate that the production increase of high-quality products with a strong representation on the market is a very demanding process in Croatia. Various obstacles affecting producers have been identified. The most relevant are the level of administrative regulation and low purchasing power of the consumers, affecting the products price level and preventing producers from achieving higher prices. Removing many of the identified barriers requires more effort from key actors, primarily the policy stakeholders at the national level.