The main role of local development policy is to create a favorable business environment and new jobs, thus contributing to economic development. Creating a positive business environment to act as a pull factor for new businesses is of great importance, because entrepreneurship conduces to the rise in the supply of goods and to an increase in citizens’ income and revenues of local budgets. This paper therefore examines the main goals of economic development in the towns and municipalities of the Republic of Croatia, as well as the tools used by local governments to encourage entrepreneurship and new businesses. Using a questionnaire, mayors and deputies of towns and municipalities were surveyed, and the sample covered 131 towns and municipalities. The research methodology included a descriptive analysis and the Kruskal–Wallis test. The results indicate that improving the quality of life of the residents, creating new jobs, and retaining the residents in the town or municipality were identified as the most important goals of economic development. To encourage entrepreneurship and new jobs, towns and municipalities most often simplify regulations, reduce local taxes, and introduce various benefits and incentives. The contribution of the paper is manifested in providing useful guidance to local governments to improve the business environment.

According to the European Agenda for Culture, cultural and creative industries can contribute towards the transformation of the economy; they can become a tool for promoting the sustainable development of European Union cities. Many...

The hotel industry consumes large amounts of energy in order to maintain the high level of comfort and service quality. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and propose new measures to increase energy efficiency, reduce energy costs and achieve sustainable local development. Design of the paper presents a cost-benefit analysis of investment projects, and in the methodology are used secondary internal data on energy consumption obtained from hotel companies on the Crikvenica – Vinodol Riviera. The analysis was conducted on a small, medium and large hotel in order to determine whether the hotel size affect the return on investments. This research approach can be used as a base for decisions on the introduction of new energy efficiency measures. Findings demonstrate that the introduction of new energy saving measures plays an important role in reducing energy costs. According to the conducted analysis, the quickest return on investment is achieved in the medium size hotel, since ROI is affected not only by the size of the hotel, but also the manner of energy consumption. Only few studies have been carried out by academics in tourism and hospitality, so this paper tends to fill the research gap. Based on the conducted economic-financial analysis, the authors suggest new measures for reducing energy costs, which at the same time represents the practical contribution and originality of this research. The proposed measures provide the guidelines for tourism management on how to achieve succes

Purpose: Over the last decades, tourism has experienced continued growth, and its impact on economic activity can be observed through its effects on the balance of payments and the labour market, as well as connections with other economic activities. According to the ITB report (2016), urban tourism recorded the largest increase, noting that tourist arrivals in urban areas increased by 58% in the past five years. This was due to growing urbanization, better road accessibility and air connectivity between cities, shorter stays and an increasing number of trips per year. In recent years, the number of tourist arrivals in urban areas has also increased in Croatia. In 2018, over 12 million arrivals were recorded, which represents 64% of the total tourist arrivals for that year. Methodology: The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between tourism (tourism indicators) and sustainable development (investment in sustainable development) in cities in Croatia. The survey covered all 128 cities. The data analysis was conducted using descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, Mann-Whitney test and regression analysis. Results: The results show that there is a correlation between tourism and sustainable development in the analysed cities. Cities with thriving tourism pay more attention to sustainable development. Conclusion: It is necessary to continuously increase the levels of knowledge and understanding of tourism in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.

Svrha – U današnje vrijeme sve veće informatizacije i digitalizacije, sve više hotela ulaže u nove tehnologije kako bi povećali broj online rezervacija. Uvođenje novih rješenja i mijenjanje poslovnih strategija još je više bilo izraženo tijekom posljednje dvije godine za vrijeme trajanja pandemije koronavirusa kada je veliki broj putničkih agencija i turoperatora prestao s radom. Stoga, glavni cilj ovog rada je istražiti trendove u hotelskoj prodaji na primjeru poduzeća Jadran d.d. Crikvenica. Svrha istraživanja je ispitati koliko je zastupljena online prodaja u ukupnim noćenjima, te koliko se rezervacija ostvari putem online direktnih ili indirektnih kanala. Obrada teme – Podaci su prikupljeni metodom intervjua sa osobama odgovornima za hotelsku prodaju te desk metodom. Analizirane su ostvarene rezervacije i noćenja u 2021. godini kroz pojedine kanale prodaje. Zaključci – Rezultati su pokazali da je u 2021. godini najviše rezervacija ostvareno kroz online prodaju i to kroz online turističke agencije (Booking.com, Expedia, Hotelbeds, Sunhotels) te kroz direktnu prodaju (putem call centra i web stranica) dok je najmanje ostvareno kroz ostale putničke agencije (alotmanski ugovori). Također istraživanjem je uočeno da osim ulaganja u samu informatizaciju prodajnih sustava, poduzeće Jadran d.d. ulaže i u edukaciju kadrova jer bez njih nijedna moderna tehnologija u prodaji ne bi uspješno mogla biti provedena. Ukoliko hoteli žele zadržati konkurentnost, osim samog ulaganja u podizanje kategorije smještajnih kapaciteta, moraju se prilagoditi novim turističkim trendovima te ulagati u online prodaju posebice direktne kanale prodaje.