Research Note
The Distinctiveness of Rural Tourism Marketing
Practices: The Case Study of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Merima Činjarević
University of Sarajevo, School of Economics and Business, Bosnia and Herzegovina
merima.cinjarevic@efsa.unsa.ba
Almir Peštek
University of Sarajevo, School of Economics and Business, Bosnia and Herzegovina
almir.pestek@efsa.unsa.ba
Sanja Tufo
University of Sarajevo, School of Economics and Business, Bosnia and Herzegovina
sanjatufo@hotmail.com
This paper seeks to explore the distinctiveness of marketing practices of small rural-
based businesses in the context of a so-called laggard economy in South-Eastern
Europe (see) economy: Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since this study is exploratory,
we employed a qualitative methodology using the multiple-case study and semi-
structured interviews.We collected nine cases of small rural-based tourism business
and conducted interviewswith their owners. The data analysis is guided by the inter-
pretive research paradigm. The results show that the majority of small rural-based
tourism businesses are engaged in marketing activities, and they seem to have an
entrepreneurial and professional attitude toward marketing actions. Moreover, the
majority of small rural-based tourism business follows the so-called zoning model
promoting the outstanding natural beauty and integrity to visitors. Based on the crit-
ical concepts identified during the coding process in the analysis, we extracted the
following themes: product variety, the authenticity of experience, marketing capa-
bilities, and business challenges. This study deepens our understanding of market-
ing activities of small tourism business in rural areas. Moreover, it provides valuable
information to policy-makers to design and implement policies/programmes that
foster the growth of these types of businesses.
Keywords: rural areas, marketing, tourism development, small tourism business
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.12.173-184
Introduction
In recent decades, tourism activity has increased tre-
mendously in many rural areas. Rural tourism is de-
veloping rapidly due to the growing need of the urban
population to escape from every-day life and to con-
nect with nature and traditional lifestyles (Pato &Kas-
tenholz, 2017). Rural tourism attracts new residents,
tourists, and entrepreneurs, and, thus, it is considered
to be the instrument of revitalisation and development
of the life and work in rural areas (Findlay, Short, &
Stockdale, 2000). Despite the increasing importance
of the rural tourism, there is a paucity of research into
the marketing practices of small rural-based tourism
businesses (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2004; Pato & Kasten-
holz, 2017; Siemens, 2007). More research is needed as
the majority of the rural-based tourism businesses is
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Merima Činjarevi et al. The Distinctiveness of Rural Tourism Marketing Practices
small-scale and has been owned by individuals with
little marketing knowledge and skills (Siemens, 2007).
The lack of marketing knowledge and skills impacts
the small rural-based businesses in a variety of ways,
ranging from every-day operations to access to financ-
ing, and enhances the risk of business failure.
The present study contributes to the tourism litera-
ture by providing the insight into marketing practices
of small rural-based tourism businesses in the con-
text of the so-called laggard economy in the South-
Eastern Europe (see) economy: Bosnia and Herze-
govina. Notwithstanding the success in studying small
rural-based tourism business in many Western Euro-
pean societies, researchers have paid less attention to
the cases of see countries, which mostly have differ-
ent political, economic, and social contexts that are
very important for business success. Bearing this in
mind and respecting the characteristics of the frag-
ile environment of laggard see economies (e.g., weak
policies and institutions with the lack of capacity to
support small tourism businesses), this study aims to
verify and expand existing theories and frameworks
pertaining to marketing practices of small rural-based
tourism business beyond the Western context. Due
to complex administrative structures at national, re-
gional, canton, and municipal levels, there is no in-
tegrative framework that supports systemic advance-
ment, education and improvement of the tourism in-
dustry in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Shultz, Peštek, &
Geroulis, 2015). As a result, Bosnia and Herzegovina
belongs to the lower group of countries (ranked 105
out of 140), according to the Travel & Tourism Com-
petitiveness Report 2019 (TheWorld Economic Forum,
2019). Furthermore, the current policies and practices
in the tourism sector are inefficient, and there is a lack
of holistic tourism planning across national, regional,
canton, andmunicipal levels (Shultz et al., 2015). These
predisposing factors harm the performance of tourism
businesses, particularly small businesses located in
the rural area, which offers many opportunities for
further investigation (though perhaps more state-ori-
ented).
Moreover, the present study identifies critical chal-
lenges of small rural-based tourism business and, the-
reby, provides valuable information to policy-makers
to create and implement policies/programmes that
foster the growth of these types of businesses. Con-
sidering the importance of marketing in rural tourism
and given the lack of studies on this topic, the main
research questions of this study are: How do small
rural-based tourism businesses implement marketing
concept? What are the main business challenges faced
by small rural-based tourism businesses?
Rural Tourism and Small Tourism Businesses
The concept of rural tourism has different meanings
for different regions, regional and international or-
ganisations (e.g., unwto, oecd, eu) as well as in-
dividual scholars. unwto, for example, defines ru-
ral tourism as tourism product ‘that gives visitors a
personalized contact, a taste of human-environment
of countryside and, as far as possible, allow them to
participate in activities, tradition and lifestyles of lo-
cal people’ (Nair, Munikrishnan, Rajaratnam, & King,
2014, p. 317). Similarly, Nagaraju and Chandrashekara
(2014, p. 42) described rural tourism as ‘any form of
tourism that showcases the rural life, art, culture and
heritage at rural locations.’ The academic literature
presents rural tourism as an umbrella concept encom-
passing different niche types of tourism such as agri-
tourism, cultural tourism, nature tourism, adventure
tourism, and ecotourism (e.g., Pröbstl-Haider, Melzer,
& Jiricka, 2014; Silva & Leal, 2015). Bearing in mind
that rural tourism creates positive economic, social,
and environmental impacts on the local communities,
it is perceived to be a crucial instrument for the revi-
talisation of rural areas (Silva & Leal, 2015).
Rural tourism is a complex phenomenon char-
acterised by following features: (1) located in rural
areas; (2) functionally rural, i.e., built upon the ser-
vices/activities offered by small-scale enterprises; (3)
direct contact with nature and heritage; (4) tourist ex-
perience co-creation as it allows the participation in
the activities, traditions and lifestyles of local people;
(5) provides personalised contact; (6) rural in scale –
both in terms of buildings and settlements; (7) tradi-
tional in its nature, growing slowly and organically; (8)
represents the complex pattern of the rural environ-
ment’s, economy, history and location; (9) generates
a high percentage of tourism revenue, and, thereby,
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Merima Činjarevi et al. The Distinctiveness of Rural Tourism Marketing Practices
contributed to the well-being of rural community
(Roberts and Hall, 2001, p. 16).
To capture multiple facets of rural tourism, the
concept of integrated rural tourism has been proposed
(Saxena, Clark, Oliver, & Ilbery, 2007). The concept of
integrated rural tourism suggests that the promotion
of rural tourism development ought to be based on
‘strengths of local rural resources – cultural, histori-
cal, landscape-based – and the interplay between local
actors and networks of exchange in order to improve
the competitiveness of the rural destination’ (Saxena
& Ilbery, 2010, p. 260). Bearing in mind the com-
plex nature of rural tourism, for the purpose of this
study we opted for the broad definition proposed by
Komppula (2007): ‘rural tourism typically refers to
tourism outside densely populated areas and tourism
centres’ (p. 123) Given the largely rural nature of terri-
tory in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the fact the more
than half of country’s population is involved in agri-
culture and rural-based activities (Alterural, 2009),
such a broad definition allows us to include almost all
tourism activity within the rural areas.
Rural tourism creates an opportunity for small-
scale and family-owned businesses. Although the liter-
ature offers a plethora of discussion about what consti-
tutes a small business andwhat denominators ought to
be employed, there is no general consensus about this
issue. Typically, scholars tend to define small tourism
businesses based upon the quantitative indicators such
as the number of employees, room or beds (Skokic &
Morrison, 2011). In this study, we opted for a defini-
tion devised by the European Commission in 1996,
which is widely accepted among scholars and practi-
tioners. According to this definition, small businesses
are firms that employ less than 50 employees. In a rural
area, the tourism industry is mostly composed of such
small businesses, indicating that these businesses have
a pivotal role in the development of rural tourism and
rural economy.
Rural TourismMarketing and Small Tourism
Businesses
Rural tourism marketing can be described as a ‘plat-
form for defining business strategies and objectives
and the development of offerings that deliver unique
experiences to consumers and generate profit for ru-
ral tourism destinations’ (Mihailovic & Moric, 2012,
p. 267). As Saxena (2016) argues, it is a ‘complex phe-
nomenon that explains how rurality is experienced
and shaped by rural tourism actors and a wide array
of socio-cultural, political and material processes and
practices’ (Saxena, 2016, p. 4). Hence, marketing plays
a significant role at every stage of the travel decision-
making process and drives a potential visitor along
the marketing funnel (i.e., attention-interest-desire-
action). Although the role of rural marketing has been
acknowledged, there is a paucity of research on how
a marketing concept manifests itself through prac-
tices employed by small rural-based tourism busi-
nesses (Pato & Kastenholz, 2017). The existing ru-
ral tourism marketing literature suggests that small
rural-based businesses are aware of the importance of
market-oriented culture (information capture, infor-
mation dissemination, and the response to market)
and that the adoption of market-orientated culture
among them has two specific characteristics (Polo-
Peña, Frías-Jamilena, & Rodrígues-Molina, 2012): (1)
small rural-based businesses tend to use informal
mechanisms for capturing and disseminating market
information within the business; (2) small rural-based
businesses are characterised by a high level of involve-
ment with, and commitment to, the business on the
part of the owner/manager (Polo-Peña et al., 2012).
Drawing on the ‘practice turn’ in marketing, Pato
& Kastenholz (2017) argue that marketing activities
and practices differ among small rural-based busi-
nesses. By analysing the way how small rural-based
businesses interpret the marketing process and the
degree of their engagement across different marketing
practices, Pato & Kastenholz (2017) identified the four
clusters of small rural-based business: ‘passive-inward
oriented businesses,’ ‘poorly active businesses,’ ‘mod-
erately active businesses,’ and ‘active-market-oriented
businesses.’ While passive-inward oriented businesses
tend to follow a resource-driven approach or inside-
out perspective, active-market oriented businesses
successfully compete on their ability to balance the
sense market trends ahead of its competitors (market-
driven approach or outside-in perspective) and their
internal resources (resource-driven approach or inside-
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Merima Činjarevi et al. The Distinctiveness of Rural Tourism Marketing Practices
out perspective). Furthermore, Pato & Kastenholz
(2017) provided support for the view that marketing
concept (here meaning engaging in strategic and op-
erativemarketing activities) is at the core of the success
of small rural-based businesses.
The successful implementation of rural tourism
marketing is not straightforward. Small rural-based
tourism businesses are facing a plethora of challenges
within the areas of marketing, operation, and infras-
tructure (Siemens, 2007). The existing literature sug-
gests that internal factors (e.g., expertise and manage-
ment skills, financial resources) and external factors
(e.g., networks and environmental dynamism con-
ditions) are also of great importance for the success
of small rural-based businesses (Irvine & Anderson,
2004). The challenges that arise from the lack of in-
ternal resources can be overcome through formal and
informal networking in the tourism industry. As sug-
gested by Saxena & Ilbery (2008), the creation of em-
powering networks helps small rural-based businesses
to realise the network advantage, by aggregating and
creating new knowledge and building capacity. In
terms of limited access to financial resources and lack
ofmarketing expertise, it is necessary to establish pub-
lic sector support as well as to design and implement
adequate infrastructure policy (Ateljevic, 2009).
Methodology
Given the exploratory nature of this study, a quali-
tative methodology was applied to provide answers
to research questions. We opted for semi-structured
interviews as they offer flexibility in qualitative in-
quiries (Flick, 2009). More precisely, semi-structured
interviews are open discussions between interviewers
and interviewees about predefined themes with the
possibility of adding or excluding themes from the
interview scenario as interview proceeds. The inter-
views started with a brief explanation of the purpose
of this research and the general description of the en-
terprise(s) owned by interviewees. The main part of
interviews was organised around discussion themes
related to the scope and variety of services/activities
offered, marketing activities they carried out, collabo-
ration and networking with other tourism businesses,
perceived challenges facing their business, and plans.
At the end of interviews, interviewees had the oppor-
tunity to add theme(s) that they considered relevant
but which had not been covered during the inter-
view. The interviewswere carried out atmultiple-sites,
i.e., at interviewees’ businesses at a time convenient
to them. A list of 64 small based-tourism businesses
was obtained from Alterural, a non-profit association
dedicated to the promotion and professionalisation
of rural tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it
served as the sampling frame for this study. The pur-
poseful sampling was used for the selection of small
rural-based tourism businesses that meet the follow-
ing criteria: (1) operating in the rural area; (2) being in
business at least three years; (3) having less than 50 em-
ployees.Overall, nine semi-structured interviewswere
conducted during two months (June and July 2018),
and each interview lasted from two to three hours. The
interviews were transcribed first, and then the content
was analysed. Each interview was coded using Arabic
numbers (Table 1), and all quotes presented in the fol-
lowing text are linked with the code number. A brief
description of selected cases helps us to understand
the setting in which the small rural-based businesses
operate.
Bogdan and Biklen (2003) define the qualitative
data analysis as ‘working with the data, organising
them, breaking them into manageable units, coding
them, synthesising them, and searching for patterns.’
Thus, in the present study, we followed the standard
format of qualitative data analysis (identifying, coding,
and categorising themes). First, raw data from inter-
views were broken down into fragments in order to
analyse, conceptualise, and develop concepts. In the
second step, relationships between concepts are iden-
tified in order to group them into themes. Based on the
key concepts identified during the coding process in
the analysis, we extracted the following themes: prod-
uct variety, the authenticity of experience, marketing
capabilities, and business challenges.
Results and Discussion
In the following section, we will outline the major
themes and sub-themes that emerged from the data. In
the first step of our data analysis, we compared the raw
data, i.e., the content of each interview and identified
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Merima Činjarevi et al. The Distinctiveness of Rural Tourism Marketing Practices
Table 1 Description of Cases and Interviewees
Case code/business characteristics
1 A family-owned business established in 2011. It offers accommodation in apartments decorated in line with Bosnian
tradition, restaurant services, organisation of events (birthday parties, team building, business lunches), as well as
outdoor activities (horse riding lessons for children and adults, riding for experienced riders, traditional games like
bag racing and rope pulling).
2 A family-owned business established in 2009 and located in the rural area known by its beautiful nature (water
branches, cascades and waterfalls). It offers accommodation, food and drink services, a variety of outdoor activities.
Moreover, this establishment is engaged in the organic production of fruits and vegetables.
3 A family-owned business founded in 2015. Accommodation capacity includes 75 beds in luxury apartments and cot-
tages. In addition to the food and drink services, visitors have the opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities such as raft-
ing, hiking, biking and photo safari with jeeps.
4 A family-owned business founded in 2016 and located in the mountain area. It offers catering services, and the menu
is based on Bosnian specialities prepared by the wife of the owner. Currently, this establishment does not offer accom-
modation services.
5 A family-owned business founded in 2015 and located in a rural area. It offers accommodation, food and drink ser-
vices as well as outdoor activities such as football and beach volleyball, trails, horseback riding.
6 A family-owned business that provides accommodation in apartments with four or six beds. Also, it has a restaurant
with 70 indoor seats and an outdoor garden with a capacity of 200 seats.
7 A family-owned business established in 2008. It provides accommodation in a family house located in the traditional-
style garden. Visitors can enjoy dishes prepared according to traditional recipes.
8 A family-owned business that offers accommodation, food and drink services. Also, owners are growing fruits and
vegetables and raising livestock in smallholder (cows and sheep).
9 A family-owned business established in 2010. It offers accommodation, food and drink services. Also, the establish-
ment has its own production of organic food.
the most frequent terms appearing across interviews.
In the second step, we identified key concepts and syn-
thesised them into sub-themes and themes (Table 2).
Personal commitment of owners. The cases studied
are family-owned and family-run businesses. They are
mostly founder-led enterprises characterised by en-
trepreneurial orientation (innovativeness, proactive-
ness, and propensity for taking the risk), and long-
term vision. Inspiring leadership is another distinc-
tive characteristic of the enterprises studied. More-
over, they are nourishing a sense of community – the
enterprise is not an isolated entity that pursues only
profit maximisation but instead, it is a member of a
community that contributes to the well-being of local
residents. One of the owners of enterprises stated:
The key to the success of our business is love,
courage and sacrifice for what we do. The ded-
ication of the whole family to our business
throughout the day. New facilities are needed
to keep tourists longer, but also to extend the
season. [Case 6]
Despite the limited access to external financing
sources, the enterprises studied are aware of the im-
portance of investments. Hence, they seek to provide
investments, no matter how difficult it is.
In the coming years, we plan to renovate the
mill, where flour will be milled. Also, we have
plans regarding the construction of a children’s
ski lift, the expansion of accommodation facil-
ities and the introduction of new facilities such
as the small souvenir shop. [Case 7]
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Table 2 Summary of Case Insights: Cross-Case Presentation
Emerged themes Emerged sub-themes
Personal commitment
of owners
Family, long-term vision, passion, love, courage, dedication, planning, risk-taking, innovative-
ness, development, investments
Product variety Accommodation, food, horse riding, hiking, rafting, trails, organic production, event organising
Authentic experience Traditional food, cultural heritage, local people, uniqueness, servicescape, tourist experience
co-creation
Marketing capabilities customer-linking capability. market-sensing capability, channel- bonding capability, internal
marketing capabilities (product, price, promotion and place (distribution)
Business challenges Seasonality, public infrastructure, tourism infrastructure, lack of common legislative framework
in the area of rural tourism, limited access to financing
This finding is in line with the view that essential
characteristics and drivers of success amongst small
rural-based businesses are the owner’s energy and per-
sonal commitment to goals (Zapalska & Brozik, 2007;
Getz, Carlsen, & Morrison, 2004).
Product variety.Most enterprises offer a large vari-
ety of products, including accommodation, food and
drink services, and the production and sale of organic
food. Moreover, several enterprises provide opportu-
nities for visitors to take part in outdoor leisure and ad-
venture activities (e.g., horse riding, photo safari, fish-
ing, hunting, biking). Product expansion allows them
to create ‘all-around offers’ that will lead to unique
tourist experiences, and consequently, enhance visitor
satisfaction. Product variety strategy is partly moti-
vated by the economic gains obtained by the provi-
sion of a flexible array of services activities. However,
product variety can also be seen as a specific response
of tourism enterprises to market demands. One of the
enterprises in this study provides horse-riding lessons
for children/adults as well as horse-riding tours for
experienced riders, and he explained the strategy as
follows:
We have turned our love for nature and pas-
sion for horses into a successful business. We
purchased five Arabian horses and established
an equestrian club where visitors can experi-
ence horse riding in a natural, safe, and family-
friendly environment. We thought people wo-
uld come just to enjoy horse riding. However, it
turned out that when the visitors were already
here, they wanted to stay for a night or two,
they wanted meals and refreshments. Driven
by visitors’ needs, we decided to expand our
horse-riding business into accommodation and
food services. Today, our guests can stay in our
apartments that offer accommodation for four
or six people. Also, they can choose between
half board and full board meal plans in our
restaurant. [Case 1]
Another enterprise is in charge of the whole value
chain as it offers meals prepared by the ingredients
(fruits and vegetables) coming from its own organic
production. He explained the benefit of having control
over the whole value chain as follows:
To be honest, we do not earnmuchmoney from
growing the raspberries or frommaking home-
made juices and jams. However, we want to
serve fresh and healthy meals for our visitors.
We want to offer high-quality food for our visi-
tors. [Case 9]
Although for some enterprise’s product expansion
was strategically planed, some of them argued that
product development is actually the response to mar-
ket demands:
There is a shortage of accommodation facilities.
Currently, we have fifty beds, andwe cannot sat-
isfy market demand during the pick summer
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Merima Činjarevi et al. The Distinctiveness of Rural Tourism Marketing Practices
season. Therefore, the plan is to build a bunga-
low with an additional number of beds as well
as a new restaurant. [Case 2]
In general, all enterprises from this study are seek-
ing ways to create overall tourist experience by pro-
viding accommodation, food, and a wide array of
nature- and adventure-based activities. In addition
to being able to meet market demand, they are also
capable of anticipating visitors’ needs and design ‘all-
around’ offers that will create a memorable tourist ex-
perience. This finding is in line with the view that the
strategy of expanding the scope and variety of prod-
uct/services/activities can be seen as an effective and
efficient mechanism of transforming traditional ru-
ral tourism households into professional businesses
(Brandth & Haugen, 2011; Engeset & Heggem, 2015).
Authentic experience. Research conducted among
enterprises shows that authenticity also lies at the
core of these businesses. This authenticity comes in
different shapes. The staged aspect of authenticity is
reflected in the way that traditional dishes are pre-
pared and presented. The importance of authenticity
of gastronomic experience was discussed by one en-
trepreneur as follows:
We are growing organic vegetables and fruits
in our garden, and we are raising livestock in
smallholder (cows and sheep).Wehave our own
authenticwoodenwheel of an oldwatermill.My
wife prepares the dishes using the traditional
Bosnian recipes, and she is dressed up in tradi-
tional Bosnian clothing. We are trying to create
a unique and authentic experience by preserv-
ing our cultural heritage assets. [Case 7]
Moreover, visitors have the opportunity to partic-
ipate in agricultural work activities like feeding ani-
mals, picking fresh fruits or processing fruit juices and
jams. The focus on tourist experience co-creation is
explained by one entrepreneur, as follows:
The guests can pick fruit and vegetables from
our garden and together with our cook prepare
their meals. Also, they have the opportunity to
engage in the production of jams and pickles.
[Case 9]
The above-discussed practices are in line with the
co-creation theory (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004)
and the service-dominant logic (s-d logic) in market-
ing. According to co-creation theory and s-d logic,
a tourist is an active participant rather than a pas-
sive recipient. Therefore, both service providers and
tourists have to collaborate in order to provide expe-
rience value for the tourists (Lončarić, Perišić Pro-
dan, & Dlačić, 2017). As argued by Mathis (2013, p.
11), the tourist experience of co-creation includes the
following: (1) the collaboration between the service
provider and the tourist; (2) the co-production of new
and improved products/services; (3) a shift away from
a goods-dominant logic towards a service-dominant
logic; (4) adaptability, personalisation, and unique-
ness. The tourist experience co-creation can be seen
as a driver of existential authenticity which in turn
leads to the sense of enjoyment, escape, and experi-
ence of a ‘true self ’ in a new place, time and culture
(Kolar & Zabkar, 2010). Bearing in mind that visitors
are searching for the objective and existential authen-
ticity in every attribute of tourism products (culture,
tradition, architecture, lifestyle, entertainment, hand-
icrafts, and cuisine), enterprises have to incorporate
authentic contents into the tourism product carefully.
Marketing capabilities. Marketing literature ac-
knowledges that a business can either compete on its
ability to sense market trends ahead of its competitors
(market-driven approach or outside-in perspective)
or its internal resources (resource-driven approach or
inside-out perspective). Furthermore, some market-
ing scholars argue that ‘the bundle of interrelated rou-
tines that facilitate the capacity to engage in specific
marketing activities and respond to themarket knowl-
edge’ (Kamboj & Rahman, 2015, p. 1041) is the central
pillar of business success. Although various conceptu-
alisations of marketing capabilities are available in the
literature, they can be categorised under two broad
types: the external marketing capabilities and inter-
nal marketing capabilities. The external marketing ca-
pabilities are bundles of marketing-related resources,
skills and accumulated knowledge that helps a busi-
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Merima Činjarevi et al. The Distinctiveness of Rural Tourism Marketing Practices
ness to sense, understand, and respond promptly to
the evolving requirements of customers and markets
(Day, 2011) Examples of external marketing capabil-
ities are market-sensing capability, customer-linking
capability, or channel-bonding capability (Day, 2011;
Mu, 2015). Internal marketing capabilities are asso-
ciated with a function or practice of marketing, and
these capabilities enable a firm to capitalise the full
potential of market-oriented culture (Ngo & O’Cass,
2012). Enterprises analysed in this study have achieved
a certain degree of balance between outside-in and
inside-out perspectives. They have the ability to an-
ticipate the future evolution of visitor needs and de-
tect emerging opportunities based on information col-
lected from its business ecosystem (market-sensing
capability) and the ability to create intimate relation-
ships with the customer (customer-linking capabil-
ity). Moreover, they are capable of connecting with
partners and leverage the resources and capabilities
through formal and informal cooperation. One enter-
prise explained the formal cooperation and network-
ing as follows:
With the aim of better market positioning, the
providers of services in rural tourism have for-
med the Eco-Pliva Association. Since many lo-
cals rent out accommodation facilities to tour-
ists who want to feel the life in the countryside
and participate in farming work, we have to co-
operate. We need to exchange the knowledge
and experience amongst us to keep up our busi-
nesses. [Case 2]
At the same time, enterprises have developed
internalmarketing capabilities, particularly cus-
tomer-oriented culture. Customer orientation
counts among the essential characteristics of
the enterprises studied. All enterprises have
emphasised their devotion to establishing and
maintaining high-quality relations with their
customers: ‘The visitor comes as a guest and
leaves like our friend. This is something for
what every business in rural tourism should
strive for.’ [Case 3]
In terms of mid-level internal marketing capabili-
ties such as the marketingmix elements, product vari-
ety is a hallmark of all enterprises. As mentioned ear-
lier, all enterprises are trying to customise their ‘all-
around’ offers in order to meet visitors’ needs fully.
Also, they are aware that they need to set competi-
tive prices. The combination of competitive prices and
high quality of services, is a recipe for success, as most
of the interviewed entrepreneurs argued. Regarding
the means of communication with the market, online
marketing prevails over traditional marketing. Along
with having their ownwebsites, enterprises are present
in social media platforms (e.g., Facebook and Insta-
gram). Most popular distribution channels are direct
contact with owners. Direct sale via Booking.com and
indirect sale via travel agencies are not widely used
distribution channels. One of the entrepreneurs ex-
plained its marketing channel mix as follows:
Sales and bookings are generally made directly
and through the Internet, while there is no co-
operation with travel agencies. Internet and
brochures, as well as travel fairs, are used for
the promotion. Facebook, Booking.com and
Google Maps have proven to be extremely ef-
fective promotion and sales tools, especially
for foreign tourists. The interest of journal-
ists is also high, and through media coverage,
they help us to enhance the awareness of rural
tourism sites. [Case 5]
This finding is in line with the view that informa-
tion and communication technology (ict) helps small
tourism business in a rural area to achieve better visi-
bility and integration into economic and tourismflows
(Sedmak, Planinc, Kociper, & Planinc, 2016).
Challenges. Seasonality is perceived as a signifi-
cant challenge, and it impacts the operation of small
rural-based businesses in multiple ways. Since visi-
tors generally come in the summer, the businesses
have to capture as many visitors as possible during the
peak summer season. Due to the limited number of
rooms/beds, it is a challenging task to provide accom-
modation for a large number of visitors. Moreover,
owners and their family members need to work long
hours, resulting in unhealthy work-life balance and
180 | Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019
Merima Činjarevi et al. The Distinctiveness of Rural Tourism Marketing Practices
work-related stress. As with any other seasonal busi-
ness, rural-based tourism business depends highly on
the weather conditions. Unusually cold and rainy days
during the summer implies that visitors will decide
to go to other drier and warmer locations, resulting
in lost sales for small rural-tourism businesses. Some
businesses have realised that it is just a fact of (a busi-
ness’s) life, and they are responding on the seasonality
by adding the weather-independent tourist activities.
One example is quoted below.
All the year-around we are organising work-
shops for homemade products. Our visitors
have the opportunity to explore how our crafts-
men are making ‘Bolića kolo’ (weaving), village
bags and woollen socks. In our facility named
‘The House of Fun’ visitors can learn more
about the distillation of the rakija (schnapps) as
well as taste our famous ‘Petrovačka Šljivovica’
(Peter’s Plum Schnapps). [Case 6]
Access to finance is another challenge faced by
studied small rural-based tourism businesses. Given
that these types of business have a lower bargaining
power than that of the banks and other financial in-
stitutions from whom they may seek credit, they are
faced with the shortage of funds for both short-run
and long-run capital needs. Furthermore, interviewed
owners stated that there is a lack of public sector sup-
port through the usage of conventional public financ-
ing instruments such as grant support for small rural-
based tourism businesses or the subsidised loans are
used.
Given its out-of-the-way location, the public in-
frastructure (water, electricity, transportation, etc.)
and tourism infrastructure are not present, or it cannot
sustain the increased number of visitors. Thus, addi-
tional investments in the quality of public and tourist
infrastructure are needed for the further development
of rural tourism. Two of the interviewed owners ex-
plained the problem of poor quality of infrastructure
as follows:
The only complaints we are receiving from our
visitors are related to accessibility and tourist
signage. Although our location is accessible by
an asphalt road from the city, more road main-
tenance is required, especially in the winter
months. Although the tourist signage is present
additional improvements are needed. [Case 1]
Our location is well connected and easily acces-
sible. Public infrastructure and tourist signage
are satisfactory. Albeit, more efforts are needed
in the area of environment protection, waste
management, and the reduction of pollution.
[Case 4]
Another issue that hinders the success of small
rural-based tourism businesses is the lack of a joint
legislative framework for the management and devel-
opment of rural tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
While the registration of rural households in Repub-
lika Srpska is regulated by the new law about catering
services of the Republic of Srpska from 2017, this is-
sue remains unresolved in Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Furthermore, there is a particular gap
between the induced image of Bosnia and Herzegov-
ina as an attractive rural destination and rural tourism
reality. While the marketing campaign ‘Enjoy Life –
Bosnia & Herzegovina’ highlights the beautiful na-
ture,mountains, rivers, lakes across Bosnia andHerze-
govina, it should be noted that rural tourism remains
underdeveloped. The public authorities’ awareness of
economic opportunities offered by developing rural
tourism is rather low.
Conclusion
In terms of common traits, small rural-based tourism
businesses are led by active, visionary, passionate own-
ers who can foster, nourish and support the entre-
preneurial mindset amongst their family members.
Like their counterparts from the rest of the world,
Bosnian andHerzegovinian small rural-based tourism
businesses are also developing market-sensing and
customer-linking capability. Although their invest-
ments are lower than that of their counterparts in de-
veloped economies, small rural-based tourism busi-
nesses can recognise new opportunities (sensing) and
generate innovations (seizing). These findings are in
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019 | 181
Merima Činjarevi et al. The Distinctiveness of Rural Tourism Marketing Practices
linewith the view that ‘resource-picking’ and ‘capabili-
ty-building’ are substitutes for each other in achieving
business success. In other words, our findings show
that a shortage of internal resources (knowledge, cap-
ital) can be substituted by the company’s ability to
build customer-linking and market-sensing capabili-
ties. Self-financing ss another characteristic of studied
small rural-based tourism businesses. They tend to
rely on self-financing from retained profit and owner’s
funds. In terms of external financing, they have lim-
ited access to both public and commercial financial
instruments.
What specific lessons can be derived from small
rural-based tourismbusinesses that are doing business
in the economies characterised by fragility? We have
identified the following lessons that can be valuable for
all small tourism businesses operating in fragile busi-
ness environments (also in conjunction with research
questions):
• In business environments characterised by polit-
ical and economic instability, there is an urgent
need for businesses that are capable of sketching
their own destiny in order to survive and prosper.
Product variety, the authenticity of the tourist
experience, customer-linking capability, market-
sensing capability, and self-financing are essential
building blocks of a successful small rural-based
tourism business.
• If it seems that business environment does not
provide an option for sustainable growth (domes-
tic tourists) tourism businesses should be able to
recognise new opportunities on regional/global
markets (market sensing) and create services/ac-
tivities based on these opportunities (market seiz-
ing). Also, if one is a small player in the tourism
industry, one needs to create formal and informal
networks with other small tourism businesses.
Thus, the saying ‘If you do not like how the ta-
ble is set, turn over the table’ vividly explains the
basic rule of the business game played by studied
small rural-based tourism businesses.
The findings of the present study offer some in-
sights for policy-makers. Although the studied small
rural-tourism businesses have put enormous effort
into designing and providing services/activities to
meet and even exceed visitors’ expectations, it seems
that the owners of these businesses are making mar-
keting decisions and solutions based on the trial-and-
error method. Their marketing strategies are reac-
tive not proactive: they respond to changes in the
market instead of anticipating them. Their actions
regarding marketing are mostly based on the trial-
error method than sound knowledge about strate-
gic marketing (Segmentation, Targeting and Position-
ing). Thus, local governments and tourism organisa-
tions ought to reinforce their know-how by designing
and implementing tailored training programmes for
small rural-based tourism businesses. Furthermore,
local and entity governments should strategically plan
the investments in public and tourism infrastructure,
thereby providing necessary conditions for the lucra-
tive operation of small rural-based tourismbusinesses.
Moreover, issues related to the legislative framework
of rural tourism (i.e., the registration of rural house-
holds) need to be solved in both entities.
Due to its exploratory nature, this study has lim-
itations. It examined marketing practices and chal-
lenges solely from the perspective of small rural-based
tourism businesses in one country. Therefore, it would
be valuable to consider how themarketing practices of
small rural-based tourism businesses are perceived by
visitors and/or how various levels of government can
support the growth of these types of businesses.
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