Tourism in a Peripheral Setting: A Case Study of Farm Tourism Development in Lika, Croatia

Abstract

Considering the multi-layered issues of rural peripheries and tourism development, we explore actors' views regarding farm tourism development in the historical/geographical region of Lika. In spite of the fact that important flows of goods and services pass through Lika, it is largely regarded as a peripheral area. Via semi-structured interviews with tourist farm owners and institutional actors involved with farm and rural tourism, we examine how their views relate to characteristics associated with peripherality. In a setting with very few family farms that have developed a farm tourism product, the regional actors see both potential and limitations in characteristics linked to peripherality, general development trends, and local specificities.