NGOs and public funding – case of a tourism destination

The rise of the civil society and the increasing number, significance and influence of associations in their surroundings call for a need to investigate their role in tourism development. The purpose of this paper is to determine if the structure of funding associations with city budget resources indicates the importance and role of associations in creating a tourism offer and in increasing the quality of tourism destinations and to determine the level of dependency of associations in a select tourism destination on public funds by means of analysis. Methodology – For this purpose, Register of Associations' data on number and type of associations that are active in a tourist destination was analysed. Furthermore, City of Opatija's structure of several annual budgets was analysed as well as the reports on revenues and expenditures of associations funded with the City of Opatija's budget. Findings – The growing economic crisis has caused a decrease in available public funds in all areas, thus also the financing of civil society organizations, which also casts doubt on the associations' survival and future work. Contribution – The expected contribution of the work is reflected in the overview and systematization of previous research on importance, activities and sources of funding associations. By analysing the budget of the City of Opatija and budgets of various associations the current system of funding associations will be determined and analysed.