The Relevance Of The City Of Dubrovnik In Regional Touristic Development At The Beggining Of 21st Century

The city of Dubrovnik is the main initiator of tourism in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County (further on: DNC). In this regard, many questions about its specificity are raised. Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, Dubrovnik is regionally developing on two levels: micro-regionally - inside of the DNC, and macroregionally - in the Mediterranean. Dubrovnik tourism within the DNC is becoming more differentiated. The share of Dubrovnik in the touristic business is rising, while in DNC is stagnating. The position of Dubrovnik within the Mediterranean is becoming more important. Touristic cities in Croatia have become more specialized in the last twenty years. Out of 117 cities in Croatia, 17 are touristic. Adopting to the touristic demand, Dubrovnik has developed into a strong cruise ship destination. Thus, today, at the beginning of 21st century, Dubrovnik is developing in two directions: as an overnight and a cruising destination. Being an overnight destination is basic for the development of tourism in Dubrovnik. Modern rise of tourism in Dubrovnik has been developing from the mild sixties in 20th century, and that of the cruising tourism from the beginning of 21st century. Since the year 2002, the number of tourists from the cruise ships is increasing. Therefore, today, Dubrovnik is developing complementarily in two directions. Having that in mind, we compared the satisfaction of these two categories of tourists, overnight tourists and cruise ships tourists. Current demographic structure in the wider, and the human resources situation in a more specific sense, are becoming more relevant as limiting factors of the future development of Dubrovnik as touristic destination.