Case Study: Balancing the Sustainability of Tourism in City Destinations—The Case of Dubrovnik

Abstract

A set of 29 criteria and 59 corresponding indicators, mainly derived from the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for Destinations (GSTC-D), was used to assess and evaluate the level of sustainable tourism in the city of Dubrovnik. The results revealed that the proposed criteria, indicators and norms were found to be basically suitable and feasible within a limited timeframe to assess and evaluate sustainable tourism in city destinations. It could also be shown that current tourism in the old town of Dubrovnik is hardly sustainable. Major deficits were identified in the lack of a well-functioning DMO, a missing sustainable tourism strategy and insufficient visitor management. Especially, the too rapid growth rates in cruise ship tourism are threatening the cultural heritage and tourism acceptance in the old town. This implies an alarming trend with urgent need for actions towards CSR 2.0 principles. Collaborative work to bundle activities and projects initiated by different tourism stakeholders in the city supported by the establishment of a destination management organization (DMO) to coordinate these different activities and stakeholders are considered important measures for sustainable tourism development.