7. Role of cultural tourism in increasing the competitiveness of tourist destination – Dubrovnik, Croatia

In today’s dynamic society, tourism is undoubtedly one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy, both on the national and international level. Over the last few decades, tourism has gradually become a major component of economic, social and cultural change. At European level, the development of the tourism industry is also no exception – the tourism sector is one of the key sectors of the 21st century.
The Mediterranean is one of the world’s number one tourist destinations, which is expected to be visited by 655 million tourists by the year 2025. In the last 10 years, Dubrovnik has become one of the most popular Mediterranean destinations and joined the trend of a growing number of European cities that are promoting the development of cultural tourism.

In this connection, the objective of this article is to reveal the role of cultural tourism in enhancing the competitiveness of the tourist destination. Dubrovnik has such resources that can allow the development of a highly qualitative tourist product that is competitive in national markets.