KNjIGA SAžETAKA / BOOK Of ABSTRACTS - Treći međunarodni ...

Damir Jerković, MA
tel.: +387 36 445 909
faks: +387 36 445 901
e-mail: damir.jerkovic@tel.net.ba
Title:
The role of religious tourism in the further development
of tourism in Herzegovina.
Key words:
religious tourism, pilgrim, development, Međugorje,
Herzegovina.
Type of presentation:
Research
Theme:
Special forms of rural tourism
The purpose of the research:
The article focuses on the role of religious tourism, with
special reference to Međugorje as the most famous destination
of religious tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how to use
the visit to the destination and to develop other tourism
potential, and thus the economic potential that has a
region (eg. agriculture) Hezegovina.
Methodology / Approach:
The article gives an overview of the development of religious
tourism in Međugorje and uses a questionnaire
as a research tool on how much visitors of Međugorje
know about other tourist attraction sites and locations
in Herzegovina region, and statistically analyzes
research results and potential impact on the development
of the region in terms of tourism.
Results:
Analysis of the data gives us the information on how
many visitors, “pilgrims” of Međugorje know about the
rest of the tourist offer in Herzegovina, its attractive lo-
5. TemATSkA cJelinA: poSeBni oBlici RURAlnog TURizmA
Structured abstrakt
cations. Also, the obtained results help us to define a
new (special) or a modified “tourism product” intended
for “pilgrim” - religious tourists, as well as the possibilities
of extending their stay in Međugorje, and the ways
of how existing tourism products fit into the religious
tourism, and in this way form a new tourist image of
Herzegovina.
Originality / contribution / value:
This study is the first in a such manner that from the
visitors of Međugorje receive the information of what
image of Međugorje get those who come for religious
reasons (the pilgrim - a religious tourist) or those who
come as visitors just out of curiosity, and if when they
leave (whether and in what ratio other information affecting
them when deciding to visit the destination) or
when they arrive to the destination, they have enough
information about other tourist sites near Međugorje.
The information collected may also serve tourist workers,
whether in the destination, Međugorje or agents
working on animation of visitors for the destination,
Međugorje, how to enrich their arrangements and in
that way be different from its competitors.
Research limitations/implications:
The limited research resources, lack of quality institutions
that have information about visitors, the diversity
of the obtained data (multi-lingual questionnaires), a
more complex statistical analysis and data analysis.
Practical application:
Guidelines for tourism professionals to improve awareness
of Međugorje visitors, linking and making strategies
of access to religious tourists, pilgrims, cooperation
with foreign tour operators to organize complete
tourism product.
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