FOREIGN TOURIST DEMAND IN EASTERN CROATIA

Foreign tourist demand is in constant and stable growth during recent decades and has proven to be a relevant factor for economic growth and development of many countries. Revenues reached by different countries owing to the inflow of foreign tourists have positive effects on employment growth, income of residents and infrastructure development. Understanding the motivational factors of foreign tourists should serve as a basis for developing strategies to attract foreign tourists that would be successful. Knowledge about factors that are statistically significant for the selection of eastern Croatia as a destination for foreign tourists could greatly contribute to the understanding of their motivation. This paper explored the factors that determine foreign tourist demand from major emitting countries for tourists who visit eastern Croatia. In the paper tourist demand is approximated by the number of overnight stays of foreign tourists in five Slavonian counties. Independent variables in the model were incomes of tourists, travel costs, accommodation capacity, exchange rate, weather conditions and the level of prices in the destination. Econometric models of foreign tourist demand were estimated for the five most common emitting countries for the period from 1995 to 2014, and the results were accordingly interpreted. The analysis showed that tourist demand from Austria and Germany depends on the accommodation capacity, those from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy depends on their own income, and those from Slovenia depends both on their own income and accommodation capacity. The research results provide those employed in the tourism sector with additional insights into the behavior of foreign tourists, and also how and which variables should be influenced in order to attract more tourists from the countries included in the analysis. The costs of travel and weather conditions did not prove to be significant determinants of tourist demand.