TYPES OF CAMPSITES IN CROATIAN TOURISM SUPPLY – A CASE STUDY OF THE TOWN OF KRK

Abstract

The paper presents the main features of camping tourism in Croatia through the stages of its development, as well as its significance in recent Croatian tourism supply. The goal of the research is to contribute to the development of the campsites' typology in contemporary tourism supply of Croatian coastal tourism destinations, based on differences in the capacity of campings, location factors, spatial impacts and the consequences, characteristics of supply in campings as well as motivations, attitudes and habits of camping tourists in each of the types of campsites. Krk, the largest settlement on the island of Krk, was chosen as a representative case study. Krk is a tourism destination with traditionally developed camping tourism. Campsites, as a type of accommodation capacities that occupy the largest areas in the town, have had a significant impact on its spatial and economic development, primarily through changing the usage and the value of land, socioeconomic and socio-cultural transformation of the local population, changes in the structure of tourism supply and environmental implications. In the example of the town of Krk, three types of campsites are identified: a) traditional camping, b) exclusive camping, and c) small family run camping. This typology can be applied on a wider scale Croatian level. In addition to literature overview, quantitative tourism statistic data interpretation and continuous field research, direct questionnaire survey in July 2016 was conducted. A nonprobabilistic occasional sample included a total of 127 camping tourists in Camping Ježevac (example of a traditional camping), Camping Resort Krk (example of an exclusive camping) and Camping Bor (example of a small family run camping). In order to identify differences in the motivation, attitudes and habits of respondents in different types of campings, the results of the survey are processed using standard descriptive statistics methods.