Perspectives of Development of Luxury Nautical Tourism in the Republic of Croatia

Abstract

Nautical Tourism represents one of the most important and significant elements of today´s Croatian tourism product. This specific form of tourism experienced significant qualitative changes over the years due to the changes in the preferences of today´s yachtsmen, who are still very interested in experiencing natural attractions of the destination they reside in and in spending active holidays. Besides, they are increasingly oriented towards maximum quality and luxury of the tourism offer more than ever and are willing to pay for it significantly. The most recent results indicate that today´s yachtsmen show a significantly high level of satisfaction with the Croatian nautical tourism offer. However, in order to be able to satisfy their growing needs, it is necessary to introduce additional improvements of the current tourism offer elements, as well as new elements, with the primary focus on satisfying the need for luxury. The main purpose of this paper is to present the current state of the Croatian Nautical Tourism and the importance of introducing elements of luxury in its offer, all with the goal to provide a greater level of satisfaction for yachtsmen and to position Croatia as a competitive nautical tourist destination within the world’s nautical tourism flows.