Trends in sport and recreational activities of tourists in croatia

The survey "Attitudes and expenditures of tourists in Croatia" (TOMASI), conducted by the Institute for Tourism since 1987, is the unique longitudinal research of various tourists' characteristics in Croatia. The goal of the survey is to obtain a profile on the attitudes and behaviour of foreign as well as domestic tourists, which would enable segmentation and decision-making in planning and developing tourism products as well as other marketing mix elements. This paper analyses the motive of sport and recreation as one of the motives for visiting Croatia in the period 1987-2001, as well as sport and recreational activities of tourists in Croatian coastal destinations in the period 1997-2001. The results of the survey demonstrate that sport and recreation have, in recent years, taken the stable fifth place among the motives for visiting Croatia, following the primary motives of rest and relaxation at the seaside, pleasure and fun, visiting natural attractions, and new experiences. On the other hand, our guests' sport and recreational activities during summer vacation have more than doubled in the last five years. Besides the analysis of the tourists' participation in a particular sport or a recreational activity, a group of recreationally active tourists was also defined, i.e. those tourists who participated in at least one sport and recreational activity during their vacation in a destination. The results of the survey in 2001 showed that only 1% of our guests is not engaged in any activity in the destination, while 79% of guests are active in at least one sport and recreational activity. The guests are engaged in ten activities on average, four of which are sport and recreational ones.