From Genuine ‘Greenery,’ Tradition, . . . ,
to Rural Tourism
Metod Šuligoj
Guest Editor
University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, Slovenia
metod.suligoj@fts.upr.si
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.12.107-108
Individual business ideas are, besides courage and a
favourable business environment, the essence of rural
tourismdevelopment. Local, regional, national and in-
ternational funds undoubtedly help to realize ideas as
well as create entrepreneurially friendly business envi-
ronments. Thus, many private initiatives and training
opportunities for established entrepreneurs and be-
ginners are supported. This way unspoiled nature and
many examples of fascinating (autochthonous) tradi-
tions could be economically valorised, which means
for a certain price offered to visitors/tourists: tradi-
tional customs and events, cuisine and other examples
of tangible and intangible heritage as well as diver-
sity of landscape (including cultural landscape), abun-
dant animal and plant life, various habitat types, and
diverse geography. In this special issue, some socio-
cultural end economic topics of rural tourism are
highlighted.
Kavrečič and Hrobat Virloget, in their ethnolog-
ical research, focused on traditional festivities of the
countywide. They investigated how people of North
Istria perceive local intangible heritage. The results
show that a significate element of the break of the tra-
dition of šagre (a typical Istrian village event/festival)
can be found in the massive post-wwii migrations in
the rural part of Istria. It has also been shown how vi-
tal for the tradition to survive is its adaptation to the
contemporary needs of the present and, this way, these
events are already linking to the so-called special in-
terest tourism. However, local people do differentiate
between traditional šagra and the contemporary ‘mas-
sive’ events that aremore tourist-oriented. This means
that they offer thematic products to tourists/visitors,
which include the presentation of ‘olden days’ cus-
toms, dresses etc. that represent a ‘staged authenticity.’
Similarly, Drpić and Rudan focused on a heritage-
based event, but in continental Croatia (Slavonia).
Ðakovo Embroidery Festival, significantly marked by
rural character, is considered more from a commer-
cial tourism perspective; issues related to the pro-
motion (of Croatian rural destinations), respecting
their characteristics (quality) and uniqueness are at
the forefront of research (including empirical anal-
yse). In order to increase/promote competitiveness of
heritage-based cultural events of rural areas, the au-
thors suggest an event certification model – CroRu-
ralisHeritage Awards Certification Model – which in-
cludes three dimensions: heritage (tangible and intan-
gible), event (Ðakovo Embroidery), and rural desti-
nation (Ðakovo). The proposed model should find its
place in the pool of all possible models focused on
assessing and thus promoting different types of rural
tourism and their quality.
Memorial heritage, which is considered as a dis-
tinct type of heritage, also attract people. Memorial
sites as well as memorial events (commemorations),
also called ‘dark events,’ reflect past traumatic events
in the present time. In this context, Šuligoj investi-
gated the media-constructed social reality related to
dark events in the countryside of the trans-border re-
gion of Istria. World War ii, as that events’ historical
background, dominates in all areas of Istrian country-
side. Events, according to media, mostly occurred at
memorials or internment sites. To some extent, this re-
search complements the research of Kavrečič andHro-
bat Virloget in a substantive way. Although, since it is
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019 | 107
Metod Šuligoj From Genuine ‘Greenery,’ Tradition, . . . , to Rural Tourism
Rural tourism
Dark events
(dark tourism)
Rural traditions
(heritage tourism)
Small rural-based
tourism business
Rural restaurant
facilities businesses
Figure 1 Thematic Structure of the Special Issue
focused on tourist exploitation, it is in this sense more
related to the research of Drpić and Rudan.
Research in which rural tourism is linked or illu-
minated in a socio-cultural context is followed by re-
search in which tourism is considered as an economic
(or entrepreneurial) activity. Interesting research has
been carried out in a particular socio-economic en-
vironment, in the post-conflict laggard economy of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the development of
rural tourism has a different dynamic. Their evolving
practices should be of interest at least to other develop-
ing countries in the wider region or elsewhere. Thus
research obtains a sense of the policies/programmes
that foster the growth of these types of places. Činjare-
vić, Peštek, and Tufo, in this context, find that local
providers (small rural-based tourism business) seem
to have an entrepreneurial and professional attitude
toward marketing actions. Their businesses promote
the outstanding natural beauty to visitors, where, ac-
cording to findings of abovementioned authors, the
following themes can be extracted: product variety,
the authenticity of experience, marketing capabilities,
and business challenges.
The paper of Planinc and Kukanja has an entirely
different focus with an analysis of efficiency perfor-
mance of restaurants operating in the rural areas of
Slovenia (the oecd and eu member state has devel-
opment problems in rural areas). The authors establish
that the identified lower average efficiency score is not
in line with other studies of restaurant efficiency. They
justify this result as being a consequence of a rural en-
vironment that is significantly different from the ur-
ban environment (or the established tourist centres),
whichmeans that the paper contributes to the growing
body of literature in the field of restaurant efficiency
measurement. In their second paper, the same authors
investigate service quality using the dineserv tool
in restaurants operating in the rural area of Slovenian
Istria. Research results indicate that restaurant man-
agers in rural areas should emphasise the importance
of the two identified quality dimensions:
1. Empathy, Responsiveness, and Assurance (era),
and
2. Tangibles.
These finding should interest not only restaurant
managers but also destinationmanagers, who system-
atically work on destination quality and development
strategies (not only in Slovenian Istria).
The set of topics in this special issue consists of
four areas, as shown in Figure 1. Trendy sustainability
is not in the forefront but is not completely ignored.
An especially natural environment (merely symboli-
cally marked in the title as ‘greenery’), one of funda-
mental pillars of rural tourism, is not discussed in the
context of (natural) sustainability. Interestingly, au-
thors have thoroughly discussed the practices of some
post-Yugoslav countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia
and Herzegovina), mainly in ethnically mixed areas
(Istria, Slavonia and state of Bosnia andHerzegovina).
It should not be neglected that, from the tourism per-
spective, cultural diversity is a relevant circumstance
and potential for tourism development, also in the of-
ten forgotten rural areas.
The last three articles that are not a part of the the-
matic issue. They have been included in this issue as
they were accepted after the end of the previous edito-
rial.
This paper is published under the terms of the
Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) License.
108 | Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019