ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE AS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN CROATIA

Abstract

Climate change has been one of the key socio-political issues in recent years, and thus the main goal of “green” policies is to reduce man’s negative impact on the environment. Conventional agriculture, which is intensive and extensive and based on unsustainable work methods, primarily on chemical pesticides and the destruction of nature, is one of the biggest polluters and culprits for climate change. The solution to this big problem is organic farming, which is based on sustainable - or at least more sustainable - principles. As citizens increasingly recognize the harms of conventional agriculture, not only for the environment but also for their health, more and more tourists are supporting efforts to make agriculture more sustainable. Therefore, organic agriculture and its output in the form of healthy food has become a new trend in tourism and a competitive advantage for businesses that are in any way related to it. Croatia has great potential when it comes to organic agriculture, especially in terms of the synergy of ecology and tourism, given that tourism, in its current form, is also an activity that harms the environment. The paper discusses the current state of organic agriculture in Croatia and supply, demand, and competitiveness in the context of Croatian organic products in tourism. The scientific paper gives examples of good practice and analyses the perspectives of Croatian organic agriculture in European and global tourism. The role of organic agriculture in the creation and implementation of the system of sustainable development of Croatian tourism is becoming increasingly important.