The Managers’ Attitude towards Diffuse Hotels as Innovative Form of Agricultural Households Tourist Offer

Abstract

Abstract The concept of a diffuse hotel is designed to connect small tourism providers in a specific small geographic area into a broader and more complete offer of tourist services. The diffuse hotel model enables the village or specific selected area to become a “hotel” with one reception, offering overnight accommodation, gastronomic services and including other providers into a network of activities, featuring tour guiding, selling of traditional food products, wine and souvenirs, horse riding, visiting of local museums and collections, bike rental and the other services. The purpose of a diffuse hotel is to provide new workplaces and to promote employment and self-employment. Permanent and seasonal employment enable the locals to work in the reception and doorman service, at the information centre, in the field of tour guiding or in the services of hotel housekeeping and maintenance. Placing a scattered hotel in a specific place stands for an increase of tourist inflow and additional income of existing business entities as a consequence. Such a hotel also makes an important contribution in maintaining the countryside vividness and population, progress of other tourist activities and products, while it enables revitalisation of old abandoned houses. Agricultural households in Dubrovnik-Neretva County very often offer just a part of the service. The aim of the paper is to explore the possibility of improving the agricultural household tourist offer based on implementation of diffuse hotels. The purpose of the paper was to explore in what measure are diffuse hotels acceptable as form of accommodation facilities for future agricultural households business practice in Konavle and Peljesac. For the purpose of this paper in 2015, the perception of 15 agricultural households managers/owners in Dubrovnik- Neretva County, Croatia has been explored. According to the results of the research it is visible that agricultural households business practice can be organized as diffuse hotels.