MANAGING ENTREPRENEURIAL PROJECTS IN TOURISM OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Based on the cognition that entrepreneurship in tourism is a highly complex business activity, as well as the tourism itself, the authors of the paper have tried to demonstrate theoretical framework for applying entrepreneurial strategies in small and medium tourism enterprises. In that sense a short analysis and evaluation of the existing enterprises was conducted. The conclusion of the analysis is that catering industry predominates in the structure of entrepreneurship in Croatia. It is significant that catering objects show a tendency of constant growth and development, as well as the growth of the number of employees. It is therefore realistic to expect that the number of employees in these objects, which today amounts to about 40,000, will continue to grow in the future. The basic hypothesis of this paper is that entrepreneurial projects are the foundation of development of small and medium tourism enterprises in Croatia. Besides that, certain possibilities of developing new entrepreneurial projects within tourism are analyzed. The authors point out the need and method of managing entrepreneurial projects in tourism in order to avoid uncertainty and reduce the risk in their realization.