KEY ASPECTS OF MANAGING SUCCESSFUL WINE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN TIMES OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS - A CASE OF CROATIA

Wine tourism seems to be an increasingly significant component of many wine regions around the world, especially in Europe which represents the most visited tourist region of the world. Wine tourism is widely recognized as a unique tourism product for visitors who are seeking authentic multi-dimensional experience, but at the same time it represents an innovative business opportunity for small-scale wine producers who wish to expand their wine production and meet the international demand. The main aim of the paper is to discuss wine tourism as an option for sustainable rural development that may serve to generate additional economic benefits for small rural communities. The case study method was used to investigate the present state and the prospects for wine tourism development in the continental part of Croatia that receives no benefits from mass tourism. The findings have shown that that region features excellent conditions for growing grapes and wine production, but lacks tourism infrastructure and collaboration between the stakeholders as well as the expertise on tourism development - all of which reduce the opportunities for more intensive development. For these reasons and because of the ubiquitous economic crisis, the authors suggest several recommendations of which the most important may be to implement a clustering model grouping the stakeholders involved in the wine tourism product.