The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists Travelling by Low-Cost Carriers to Zadar

Zadar is a tourism destination in the central part of the Croatian Adriatic coast. Its geographical position and climatic conditions largely determine its development in the direction of sun and sea and leisure tourism. However, Zadar is also positioning itself as a cultural tourism destination, because of its very rich cultural and historical heritage. To attract more tourists from distant markets, the destination has decided to co-finance and encourage low-cost carriers (LCCs) to connect with Zadar Airport. The aim of this paper is to determine the extent to which Zadar’s strategic orientation towards cultural tourism is reflected in its communication through various platforms, and at the same time to examine the extent to which tourists arriving in Zadar by LCCs are attracted by cultural heritage. The research included a content analysis of Zadar Tourist Board’s and Zadar Region Tourist Board’s social media content. The results of the survey included data collected using a semi-structured survey questionnaire on a random sample of tourists, who arrived in Zadar by LCCs from July to November 2021. Descriptive and inferential statistics methods were used for the data analysis. The results indicate a mismatch between the strategic orientation of the destination towards cultural tourism and marketing activities on the aforementioned media, where culture is not really in the focus. Accordingly, tourists who come to the destination by LCCs are not significantly motivated by culture. The recommendations are aimed at overcoming the constraints, as well on further study of the behaviour of cultural tourists who use LCCs.