DEVELOPMENT OF MEMORIAL TOURISM AS A NEW CONCEPT - POSSIBILITIES AND RESTRICTIONS

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand the meaning of dark and memorial tourism better, as well as to create basic preconditions for relatively new concept of tourism in Croatia, as dark and memorial tourism is a well defined subject internationally. Recent scientific literature analyzed in the paper presents new advances and research results in the field of memorial tourism as theoretical reflection of good international practice. It determines the views of the authors referring to the new trends of modern tourism consumers. After identifying and analysing both the existing resources of Vukovar-Srijem County and the institutional requirements for potential development of memorial tourism, a management proposal will be made for the development of a new concept of tourism in Croatia. Inadequate cooperation between the tourism stakeholders and university sector, at national level and veterans' associations as the main drivers of development of memorial centres, resulted in inadequately developed tourism product.

Headnote

Abstract

The purpose - The purpose of this paper is to understand the meaning of dark and memorial tourism better, as well as to create basic preconditions for relatively new concept of tourism in Croatia, as dark and memorial tourism is well defined subject internationally.

Design - The theoretical background of the topic is been presented, and further institutional support for the development of memorial tourism. The special focus is given to analysis of the factors that influence the implementation of memorial tourism in area of regional economic development strategy according to the principles of triple helix but also quintuple helix cooperation - this type of tourism rely on support from the institutions, official tourism associations and local communities.

Methodology/approach - Recent scientific literature analyzed in the paper (memorial tourism, dark tourism, thanatourism, phoenix tourism) present new advances and research results in the field of memorial tourism as theoretical reflection of good (best) international practice. It determines the views of the authors referring to the new trends of modern tourism consumers. Vukovar-Srijem County as a space of political and cultural importance allows, through its touristic production and consumption, for a ritual space that exists outside of time ("heritage that hurts", "life-changing points of shock". Stone, 2014). After identifying and analysing both the existing resources of the region and institutional requirements for potential development of memorial tourism a management proposal will be made for the development of a new concept of tourism in Croatia.

Findings - According to the data of the Ministry of War Veterans of the Republic of Croatia (2013), up to May 18, 2011, 143 mass graves have been found in the Republic of Croatia, most of them in Vukovar-Srijem County. Inadequate cooperation between the tourism stakeholders and university sector, at regional i.e. national level and veterans' associations as the main drivers of development of memorial centres resulted in inadequately developed tourism product.

Originality of the research - In the paper marketing is used as a mechanism to achieve strategic objectives of destination regions and thus, should be guided by the policies for regional development. The triple helix and quintuple helix innovation paradigm is based on the integration of commercialization, empirical knowledge, public good and civil society. To facilitate the development of memorial tourism, it is recommended to strengthen the cooperation with scientific institutions both in regional and national level in order to establish the facts and prevent further dissemination of occasionally false information about war time events and as a return measure suggest an acceptable marketing mix of memorial tourism product. Furthermore, tourism businesses, especially tourist agencies, have to become involved in receptive tourist programmes as soon as possible. Namely, the majority of tourist agencies are oriented towards emissive business operations. It is evident, though, that nothing can be done without a source of financing and coordination that can be provided by regional administration.

Keywords memorial tourism, dark tourism, tourism product, triple helix

INTRODUCTION

"Once we can imagine deprivation, we learn to cherish freedom. "

(Dobbs, 1999 in: Strange and Kempa, 2003)

The transition process in the Republic of Croatia and its independence started with the worst possible scenario - war. Even though it has been 20 years since the Homeland War ended (1991-1995), the consequences are felt even today, and people living in the Vukovar-Srijem County, one of the poorest regions in Croatia, can best bear witness to that. The economy is burdened with numerous war-induced and post-war problems: 1 ) severe damage to the most important industries, 2) poor post-war privatization model that made privatization even more difficult, 3) loss of major export markets and noncompetitiveness in the international market, 4) poor national economic policy and 5) most recent financial and economic crisis. One might say that the Vukovar-Srijem County is an example of the worst case scenario becoming a reality as a result of poor quality of economic policy. According to the data from the Statistical Information (2014a), the registered unemployment rate of is 35,8% in Vukovar-Srijem County (hereinafter referred to as: the County) is the third highest in Croatia. The purchasing power of the population is below 30% of the EU average. According to the Regional Competitiveness Index of Croatia 2013, County is on 20lh position (of the 21 counties in Croatia) with poor business environment. GDP per capita of County is 3,1 times lower than the GDP of the City of Zagreb and 1,7 times lower than the national GDP per capita (CBS, 2015). Even though GDP per capita is not the only indicator of development of a country or a region, it is certainly one of the most important indicators of productivity. The demographic statistics of the County are among the worst in Croatia (the largest population decline in the period from 2001 to 2011 and the worst indicators of net migration along with Sisak-Moslavina County) and a 50 percent smaller share of highly educated population compared with the national average (30.29% of population with primary school education; CBS 2013). The largest negative net migration was recorded in County (-930 persons) and almost largest negative total net migration of population (-1,624 persons) (CBS, 2014b). In view of the present poor economic situation in the County, it is necessary to search for new growth generators and new models of development. The County has an abundance of natural resources suitable for the development of "new industry"1, especially the green industry, creative industry (that would include "fashion wood industry"), food processing industry (healthy food/high quality food/organic food) due to relatively unpolluted soil that has rested for years because of the war), as well as the potential for development of other sectors, especially those that could include more economic activities. A good strategic approach to the evaluation of the tourist base can ensure the multiplicative effects of tourism on the overall economy.

Even though the Homeland War (1991-1995) caused serious harm to the population and damage to the economy, the question is whether the "war story" can become a new "product" of the County. Although it is a sensitive "product" with a story to be told historical character and the significance of the have wider dimension and meaning. This relates, above all, to the education of the population, especially new generations, on the role and meaning of the war for independence of the Republic of Croatia, as well as on the role and meaning of individuals, courageous people living in the County, soldiers that defended their homes against the aggressor. The creation of a specific brand of individuals and locations that were crucial in the war is not only a necessity and a duty, but also the responsibility of relevant institutions.

Due to its range of actions, tourism does not only have the potential to generate profit but also to effect social "enlightenment". The purpose of this paper is to better understand the meaning of dark and memorial tourism, as well as to create basic preconditions for incorporating this relatively new concept of tourism into the regional development strategy. Lastly, this paper aims to introduce a discussion about the possibilities of future research on memorial tour memorial itinerary associated with the Homeland War (1991-1995) and a critique of the next steps in the management of these itineraries by regional authorities and entrepreneurs, as well as social and academic community.

1. CAN "BLACK" BRING US SOMETHING "GOOD"? - DARK TOURISM PHENOMENON

While tourism literature focuses on the marketing and consumption of pleasant diversions in pleasant places, scholars who have begun to explore the phenomenon of ?dark tourism' provide a starting point for the study of memorial tourism (Lennon and Foley 2000, in: Strange and Kempa, 2003). Memorial tourism has received considerable academic interest (Green, 1990, Seaton, 1999, Lennon and Foley, 1999, William and Miles, 2002, Slade, 2003, Seaton and Lennon, 2004, Stone, 2005a, Dunkley, 2007, Franklin, 2007, etc.) in recent years and has become widely recognized as a tourist niche for both scientists and tour operators. During the 1990s, other terms (thanatourism, grief tourism, black spot tourism and atrocity heritage) were coined to make sense of the packaging and consumption of death or distress as a tourist experience of both the distant and recent past (Rojek 1993; Seaton 1996; Tunbridge and Ashworth 1996, in: Strange and Kempa, 2003). Choen (2011) points out that dark tourism is often related to tourists' identity or heritage; for example, African-American tourism to sites along slave trade routes (Bruner, 1996; Dann & Seaton, 2001; Essah, 2001), or tourism to battlegrounds and war memorials which affected one's country or where one's relatives fought (Chronis, 2005; Kiesling, 2000; Slade, 2003; Williams, 2004; Winter, 2009). Also, Causevic and Lynch (2011) adopted theory approach and identified phoenix tourism. Phoenix tourism is not proposed as a type of tourism, but as a role given to tourism in a process through which conflict issues develop into a new heritage (Causevic and Lynch, 2011). For populations affected by major tragedies, memorials may be ?sites of memory' (Nora, 1998; Resnik, 2003; Winter, 1998, in: Cohen, 2011). As Stone (2008) note, nevertheless, the literature remains eclectic and theoretically fragile. That is, a number of fundamental issues remain, not least whether it is actually possible or justifiable to categorize collectively the experience of sites or attractions that are associated with death or suffering as "dark tourism" ("mourining sickness, West, 2004 and "grief tourism", O'Neill, 2002 in: Stone, 2008). Croatian literature on memorial tourism hardly exists; only a few internet forums define memorial tourism in this area, most often by listing unmarked sites and descriptions of events that happened there without any clear scientific basis. The term black tourism was first used by Malcolm and Lennon who described it as a phenomenon that includes visitation to places such as murder sites and sites of natural disasters, of death and human catastrophes (Lennon, Foley, 1996). In their work Lennon and Foley try to improve this definition; however they fail to account for the motivation of tourists for coming to black tourism destinations. Also, friends and family visiting black tourism destinations are not considered black tourism consumers. The term includes only those visiting a place for thrill or curiosity according to a travel itinerary prepared by travel companies, or wishing to feel the reality of inhumanity toward people. Tarlow (2005) identifies dark tourism as visitations to places where tragedies or historically noteworthy death has occurred and that continue to impact our lives. Seaton (1999 in: , 2005a) suggests that visitation to dark tourism sites is far from being a marginal form, but rather it is a widespread and old established motivation, though one which has previously eluded the literature of motivation.

The thanatouristic gaze shifts as events (such as wars or the fall of regimes) transpire, and as new "files of representation" (memoirs, films, novels, etc.) lend moral meanings to sites of violence and death (Rojek and Urry 1997 in: Strange and Kempa, 2003). Former Palestinian refugee camps Sabra and Shatila in Beirut, the streets of Belfast, concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau or Cambodian fields of death are just some of the destinations for a real thanatourist. Grief tourism includes the sightseeing of places of catastrophes, whether they were natural or inflicted by human actions. Sightseeing of the ruins of New Orleans after the hurricane Katrina, Ground Zero in New York where up to 2001 the WTC towers stood or Chernobyl power plant are the most famous examples of tourist attractions in grief tourism (Stone, 2011). The popularity of ghastly places around the world has significantly risen in the last couple of years. According to Lennon the global demand for authentic attractions has transformed thanatourism into an increasingly profitable sector of the tourism business. More than a million people visit Auschwitz annually, while millions more take in the Tower of London. Today's lonely planeteers flock toward the bridge over the Kwai River, synonymous with the brutality of the Japanese army during World War II and the Wolfs Liar, where Hitler survived an assassination attempt in 1944. Tour companies offer package trips to Baghdad, Sarajevo and Chernobyl (Seaton, 1996). Like all forms of selective tourism, memorial tourism includes different elements (The Institute for Dark Tourism Research, 2013): 1) understanding of time - visiting places where tragedies happened to create existing political situations; 2) romanticism - the battlefields and places of torture are locations where visitors can identify themselves with the warrior fighting for his cause; 3) barbarism - where you try to convince the visitors that they are mightier than the crime and that the good prevails; 4) national identity - places that say even though we suffered we still won eventually; 5) national segregation - where you show that some people were treated differently and that the governing minority treated subordinates cruelly throughout the history; 6) mystical experiences - visitors to the place of destruction of the WTC in New York say that there is something mystical about the place where the ruins are now, and mystical comes from tragedy; 7) spiritual experiences - similar to mystical, but not related to the event, but rather to tragic personal experience. Seaton (1996) supports the above definition accepting death and human catastrophes as individual motives for visits and adds two more factors. He describes thanatourism as a journey that is completely or partially motivated by a traveller's wish for real or symbolic encounters with death, but not exclusively violent death. Seaton (1999) later developed five categories of activities connected to black tourism based on motivation: 1) journey motivated by watching deaths, like public execution; 2) journey to destinations that arose from tragic events, like Auschwitz:, 3) journey to places of captivity and monuments, such as graves and monuments; 4) journey to repeated events, for instance repeated civil war; 5) journey to places where there are pieces of evidence of the dead, like museums.

According to Minió (2012) tourist activity assuming the identity of an industry that deals with the experience. Tourists are looking for emotional stimuli and they want to buy "feelings" rather than products. The phenomenon called 'special interest tourism' (SIT) appeared in the 1980s. Mass tourism, which is the opposite of special interest tourism, began to develop immediately after the recovery from the effects of World War II (Minió, 2012). SIT differs from mass tourism in the fact that there is a focus on new forms of tourism that have the potential to meet the needs of tourists and hosts, including rural tourism, adventure tourism, nature-based tourism, cultural tourism, heritage-based tourism and event tourism. The World Tourism Organization believes that SIT provides more benefits to local communities than traditional forms of mass tourism. SIT is also seen as a mechanism for attracting high-spending tourists (Novelli, 2005, p. 6, in: Minió, 2012). Tourists' unpredictable behavior, their wishes more or less bizarre, lead to the creation of new forms of tourism or to the development of those already existing (Albu, 2013). These bizarre wishes, notes Di Giangirolamo (2012 in: Albu 2013) of tourists to visit cemeteries, places where crimes have occurred, fights, wars, led to the development of this form of tourism in the less- known destinations or tourist spots, which weren't tourist attractions. Tourist interest suggests that this type of tourism is a chance for local communities to directly participate in tourism development (Causevic and Lynch, 2007). However, Stone (2005b, p. 113) pointes that the theory of dark tourism consumption remains underdeveloped, as does the empirical interrogation of dark tourist motives.

1.1. Can memorial tourism be a part of social marketing product?

There seems to be a general consensus that the role of marketing in the modern economy has increased, and Levy and Zaltman (1975 in: Clarke and Mount, 2000) go so far as to say that it has 'burgeoned dramatically in recent years'. Although the majority of definitions of marketing have 'profitability4 in its essence, Dibb, Simkin and Pride (1994 in: Clarke and Mount, 2000) emphasize that "marketing consists of individual and organizational activities that facilitate and expedite satisfying exchange relationships in a dynamic environment through the creation, distribution, promotion, and pricing of goods, services, and ideas." At this point, it is important to say that there is nothing intrinsically wrong or inappropriate about the exchange concept, as a process for meeting one's needs. It must be remembered, however, that it is only one way of satisfying felt needs (Clarke and Mount, 2000). Coined in the 1970s as a response to the question of applying commercial marketing tools to the business of social change, social marketing is most recently defined as "a process that applies marketing principles and techniques that create, communicate and distribute value in order to influence target audience behaviors that benefit society (public health, safety, the environment and communities) as well as the target audience" (Kotier and Lee, 2007, in: Dann, Harris, Sullivan Mort, Fry and Binney, 2007). Kotier and Zaltman (1997) define social marketing as follows: "social marketing is the design, implementation, and control of programs calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations of product planning, pricing, communication, distribution, and marketing research." Thus, it is the explicit use of marketing skills to help translate present social action efforts into more effectively desired audience response.

As Desmond (1999, in: Robb, 2009) has argued effectively, the notion of touristic experience should be expanded to include a wide range of embodied aspects. Robb (2009) agrees that tourism is important in generating knowledge, wherein an event, history, or a famous person's life and death can be internalized and inscribed within the being of the visitor. At the same time, in the case of dark tourism, this experience makes the suffering of the other just that-radically other. If we assume that social marketing "creates, communicates and distributes value in order to influence target audience", we could say that dark or memorial tourism can be a part of social marketing sphere. Dark tourism plays a role in this absent-death paradox by helping revive mortality, or at least a modern-day depiction, through a substitute of recreated situations and memorialisation (Stone & Sharpley, 2008, in: Stone, 2012). By providing particular narratives, the dead can be encountered for educational purposes. For example, at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Holocaust Dead teach tragic tales of persecution and genocide and display the conditions in which human survival became almost impossible. Educational narratives are integral to the overall 'death design' of the tourist attraction. Stone (2012) emphasises that when memory is not first hand, it evolves into remembrance and as time transpires into memorialisation and eventually into history. Remembrance, memorialisation and historical representation through dark tourism are all ways of relating to and mediating with the Significant Other dead, and/or contemplating their deaths. As Walter (2009, in: Stone, 2012) notes, "at the same dark tourist site, all may be present, for different visitors". Dark tourism may offer a new social institution whereby the functional value of death and mortality is acknowledged, its precariousness is appreciated, and efforts to assure ontological wellbeing and security become a source of not only playfulness, humour and entertainment but also education and memorial. Indeed, its consumption may allow the individual a sense of meaning and understanding of past disasters and macabre events that have perturbed life projects (Stone, Sharpley, 2008).

1.2. Memorial tourism itinerary in Vukovar - Srijem County

According to Walter Hunziker and Kurt Krapff, tourism is a set of relationships and phenomena formed during travelling to and staying in places for purposes other than permanent residence or business (Dobre, 2005). As such, the definition of tourism has been adopted with minor changes in 1954 by the International Association of Scientific and Tourism Experts (AIEST). Through its development, tourism records different stages of social development and the emergence of tourism is taking place under different names. If we perceive marketing as a market orientation focused on consumers' needs, and we acknowledge tourism as a sociological category, whose movement variability becomes a base of research in order to meet consumers' needs with the application of social marketing concepts, we turn to the segment of consumers who do not only expect a holiday from their travel and stay in a foreign environment, but also a fulfilment of their creative and cultural curiosity (Gredicki, 2008). Every tourist destination is a brand that tourists recognize and evaluate, and a successful brand is considered a recognizable product, service, person or place that is enriched in a way that a buyer or a consumer perceives as relevant, unique and sustainable added value that best matches their needs (De Chernatony, Leslie, 2001). It is a task of a specific destination, geographical area or locality to get organized and act like businesses, which means they have to confront everything that comes from their environment. Destination marketing has a broader task, it refers to inclusion of all target groups in order to improve living conditions in terms of business and tourism (Kotier, 1993). A tourism product comprises elements that can be offered to tourists either directly or combined as an integrated tourism product. Uskokovic (2001) emphasizes that preference is often given to integrated tourism products because they represent a suitable combination of material and immaterial elements of offer (goods and services) that satisfies the needs of tourists. A tourism product can basically be formed in two ways: 1) if it is a simple tourism product, it can be enriched with actions of the producer, i.e. provider and supplemented with other simple products and their basic elements; 2) an elemental and integrated tourism product becomes the object of care and forming of the tourism businesses that integrate their activities into more different products by nature. Tourists increasingly seek to understand other cultures and histories in ways that transcend the sanitized version of reality that tourism has traditionally offered. Consequentially, places of human misery and death have become the focus of sizable touristic interest, whether standing on their own as destinations or as a part of larger itineraries (Robb, 2009).

A survey was conducted in the Holocaust Museum Houston that aimed at identifying the consumers of dark tourism as well as their age and level of education. According to Moutinho (2000) a new generation of tourists is beginning to emerge, which he refers to as the tourists seekers, who find motivation in the willingness to see different cultures and to learn about the psychological legacy of an area and the cultural identity of a country and its people (Minié, 2012). Approximately 1.2 million people visited the Holocaust memorial site at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2007 and 3.5 million visited Ground Zero in New York, making it one of the city's top tourist attractions (Kang et al., 2012, in: Farmaki, 2013). Despite many academic contributions to the conceptualization and comprehension of dark tourism, they tend to ignore demand-related drivers as they are primarily supply-oriented. According to Stone (2006, in: Farmaki, 2013), no analysis of dark tourism supply is complete if tourist demand is not considered. As dark tourism is primarily a behavioral concept, it is fundamental that tourist motives are studied. Tourists may implicitly take away meanings of mortality from their visit rather than explicitly seek to understand death as a primary motive (Stone and Sharpley, 2008; Stone, 2012, in: Farmaki, 2013). Also, the supply of dark tourism may be driven by factors other than interest in death. It is suggested that tourist markets are segmented taking into consideration that not all tourists visiting a dark site are motivated by an interest in death and not all tourists share the same experience.

If according to Feldman (2008, in: Kidron, 2013), mass Holocaust pilgrims set out to discover their spiritual and ideational "centre out there", is it possible that the survivor family too may seek out their familial 'centre' at sites of dark tourism, namely the core experiences, emotions and ideals that define family life in the wake of genocide? The power of the site to disclose the sensual and emotional experience of survival recalls Bell's (1997, in: Kidron, 2013) description of 'ghosts of place'. According to Bell, when visiting sites from our past, our emotional communion with surviving traces can evoke and materialize the virtual presence of absent figures and distant experiences. Wight (2006) suggests lessons which can be drawn from his analysis of Holocaust camps as tourist attractions including observations that: 1) interpretation serves to complement a purely commemorative aspect of the attraction, 2) the motivation of tourists visiting dark sites is difficult to classify and makes an unrealistic assumption that all who visit are tourists indulging in a leisure activity, 3) as a tourist attraction, a concentration camp is not in any broad sense directly comparable with other tourism products, yet, over time, some of these sites may become conventional attractions as memories fade (for example, Culloden Battlefield can now be considered 'conventional'). Dark tourism production is multi-faceted, multi-tiered and exists in a variety of social, cultural, geographical, and political contexts (Stone 2006, in: Stone, Sharpley, 2008). Thus, the demand for such products will no doubt be equally as diverse and fragmented, pointing to the need for further targeted empirical and theoretical analysis.

The period of the World War II left numerous mass graves and execution sites. It is estimated that more than 318 such sites were found in the continental parts of Croatia, 228 mass and 171 individual graves, with more than 89,000 victims altogether (Jurcevic, 2012). The Homeland War is a part of the recent Croatian history (19911995). In a broad sense, however, it includes the period that preceded open Serbian aggression, from summer 1990 until the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region into constitutional and legal system of the Republic of Croatia in 1998. Namely, during Serbian aggression against the Republic of Croatia, the fighting spread to many parts of Croatia including Eastern and Western-Slavonia, Podravina, Banovina, Kordun, Central and South Dalmatia, Gacka and Lika regions, causing numerous casualties and considerable damage to the economy (Mestrovic, 1996). Until May 17, 2011 a total of 143 mass graves were found in the Republic of Croatia. Most of them are in County, followed by Sisak-Moslavina County. 1,009 people are still considered missing, of which 236 in Sisak-Moslavina County alone (Ministry of Veterans' Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, 2013).

The first armed conflict in County occurred on May 2, 1991 in Borovo Selo during which 12 Croatian policemen were killed. In May and June 1991, the number of incidents in the villages of Eastern Slavonia started to rise. Villages with a majority Serb population became strongholds from which neighbouring villages with a majority Croat population were attacked. Srijem was occupied in October. The aggressor forced the majority of Croats to move out from the town of Ilok, despite the presence of the European Community observers. The attacks on the town of Vukovar, the largest urban centre in that area, started as early as the end of August 1991, which led to the of Vukovar. Vukovar was defended by 700 to 800 members of the Croatian National Guard and around 1,000 volunteers. The Guard members were poorly armed and had limited resources in terms of anti-tank and anti-aircraft equipment. After nearly 3 months of siege, on November 18, 1991 Vukovar was occupied by the Serbian forces. Upon entering the town, some Serbian forces (as part of the Yugoslav People's Army - JNA) committed serious crimes (Williams and Scharf, 2002; OSCE, 2003; Vujovic, 2003; Ivanisevic ed., 2007; Alimpic, 2013; International Court of Justice, 2015). After the fall of Vukovar, aggressor's artillery and air forces continued to attack the town of Vinkovci. Learning from experience in Vukovar, the aggressor gave up on the attempt to occupy the town with infantry. At the end of November, Croatian Armed Forces successfully defended the village of Nustar. In the following five months, until UNPROFOR was deployed, the Serbs continued to strengthen their position, persecute non-Serb civilian population and threaten the safety of the town of Vinkovci using long range artillery. Fifty two out of 143 mass graves found in the Republic of Croatia are located in County, and more than 2,000 out of 3,685 people were exhumed from these graves. The memorial sculpture was designed by Slavomir Drinkovic. It shows a wounded dove rising to the sky which symbolizes the quest for truth about people who are still missing.

2. MEMORIAL TOURISM - MEETING THE CHALLENGES AND GOING FORWARD

Destination marketing tends to be part of the local, regional or national government and have political and legislative power as well as the financial means to manage resources economically and to ensure that all stakeholders can benefit in the long term (Blazevic, Drvenkar, 2011). Destination management and marketing should facilitate and provide the tools for attaining a complex range of strategic objectives, which will ultimately need to satisfy the needs and wants of stakeholders. Therefore, the key strategic marketing objectives are to enhance the long term prosperity of local people and delight visitors by maximizing their satisfaction. They also include maximizing profitability of local enterprises, maximizing multiplier effects, and optimizing of tourism impacts by ensuring a sustainable balance between economic benefits and socio-cultural and environmental costs. Dees (1998, in: Dann, Hams, Sullivan Mort, Fry and Binney, 2007) argues that similar to a profit firm, the purpose of which is to create superior value for its customer, the primary purpose of social entrepreneurship is to create superior social value. He argues that a social entrepreneur's ability to attract resources (capital, labour, equipment, etc.) in a competitive marketplace is a good indication that venture represents a more productive use of these resources than the alternative it is competing against. Tourism strategies should not only concentrate on visits, but also include the entire range of impacts such as overcrowding, environmental problems, visitor safety and security, seasonality problems, and sensitivity to local culture. In this way marketing is used as a mechanism to achieve strategic objectives of destination regions and thus, should be guided by the policies for regional development (Blazevic, Drvenkar, 2011). A relational perspective suggests creating a synergistic approach to social change where the key actors influencing change (i.e. law, industry, policy makers etc.) co-operate rather than act individually. As memorial tourism is a relatively new subject in Croatian academic circles and due to the fact that the 'war story' can still be felt in Croatian reality, we could emphasize the following research and strategic challenges:

Challenge I: develop a set of memorial tourism standards to increase the awareness of its importance for regional development.

Challenge II: develop memorial tourism theory for regional marketing applications.

Challenge III: develop triple helix synergistic approach to regional social, political and economic changes.

Furthermore, since one of the main problems with tourism development in this region is that tourism has never become a tradition in County. Therefore, a business portfolio analysis was made for the purpose of this paper. The data collected show that in County there is one county tourist board, four town tourist boards and one municipality tourist board, but there is not one tourist information centre or tourist board office. From 2009 to 2014 tourist visits to memorial tour itinerary increased 46% (see Appendix, Table 1). Altogether, there are 14 hotels, of which one is a five-star hotel-, two are four-star hotels, nine are three star-hotels and two have two stars. Only 11 travel agencies which directed their business to emissive operations fill these capacities, and only two agencies offer receptive programs. When it comes to private accommodation, only a small share is provided by businesses running rural family estates, in hunting lodges (3), hostelries (3) and hostels (3). Moreover, even though the exact number is unknown, there are numerous guest houses involved in memorial tourism in this area. In addition to important traffic routes and corridors passing through the region, and the Zagreb airport, there is also an airport in Osijek which provides domestic flights to the coastal counties (Split, Dubrovnik) and international charter flights to Stuttgart. They also make bookings and sell tickets for international flights by Ryanair and Germanwings. Some tourism service providers have recognized the importance of cooperation and joint market appearance despite the fact that there are no clusters in the County.

3. INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION

Changes brought on by globalization require systematic adjustment. Current development factors rely on the development of science and technology through innovations and inventions, which contributes to further globalization of the market. Through the creation of new demand, the importance of certain productions and services is changing, the organization is improving, and the specialization is developing. The County can recognize its opportunity in reviving its supply; however, it is important to emphasize that this must be achieved through innovative approach. When conceiving a tourist product, notes Albu (2013) factors as: tourist destination, country of origin, country brand, customers' behaviour (including the consequences resulting from the connections between these factors) and least but not last, the features related to the tourists' stereotype, but also their expectations, should be fully taken into consideration by tourism companies. Tourism can be one answer providing that it is based on scientific research, development of recognizable and quality brands as well as favourable macroeconomic and administrative climate which will attract direct foreign investments. Favourable business environment can be created through collaboration of government institutions, private sector and higher education system under a triple helix model principle which would help the County's tourism to gain competitive advantage. To steer the current tourism development toward new, innovative solutions, there must be an integrated 'willingness' of three key interest groups: the business, public and university sector, i.e., efficient action using the triple helix. The economy will grow if the existing institutions are efficient (North, 1973, in: Yongjian, Ning, Xiaofang, 2005). The triple helix paradigm is based on the integration of commercialization, empirical knowledge and public good. This is a new model of promoting cooperation between industry, universities and government agencies with an emphasis on commercialization (Asheim & Coenen, 2004; Leydesdorff, 2005). By creating research programs and projects, engaging available human and material resources, solutions are produced that will be able to collect new knowledge. The process of creating private-public partnership started in the last decade, and the triple helix enables the best solution for long-term cooperation, which allows short-term intensive experience (Campbell, 2005; Etzkowitz, 2003) and the institutional communications between institutional spheres act as selection mechanisms, which may generate new innovation environments and thus ensure the "regeneration" of the system (Ranga and Etzkowitz, 2013) . The Triple Helix acknowledges explicitly the importance of higher education for innovation but the quintuple helix stresses the necessary socioecological transition of society and economy in the twenty-first century (Carayannis, Barth and Campbell, 2012). There are, without question, numerous factors which can mitigate the development of the County, such as its geographic position, natural resources and relatively diverse institutional support; however, there are also numerous restrictive factors which primarily relate to the fragmented legal framework, volatility of economic policy and lack of adequate development strategy. The role of public sector is to develop social capacity, networks and institutional support so that the whole system could follow the principle of excellence and independence. In doing so, the public sector must act as a driver and a partial financial partner. This could create more better level of cooperation and understanding between local/regional communities and authorities and assure that the benefits stay in Vukovar-Srijem County. The following recommendations for developing memorial tourism are highlighted:

1. Removal of administrative barriers by reducing the number of procedures required to start up a business (cadastral surveys and associated regulations);

2. Support to entrepreneurs applying knowledge- and research-based business processes (through tax reliefs and allowances, financial support, etc.); government and education institutions in the form of efficient cooperation (triple helix, quadruple helix);

3. Promotion of a balanced development of regions through fiscal decentralization to enable tax competitiveness of counties and regions;

4. Development and implementation of memorial tourism, i.e. development of the Republic of Croatia long-term tourism strategy.

Inadequate cooperation between the tourism stakeholders and university sector, at regional i.e. national level and veterans' associations as the main drivers of development of memorial centres resulted in inadequately developed tourism product. To facilitate the development of memorial tourism, it is recommended to strengthen the cooperation with scientific institutions in the County in order to establish the facts and prevent further dissemination of occasionally false information about war time events and as a return measure suggest an acceptable marketing mix of memorial tourism product. Furthermore, tourism businesses, especially tourist agencies, have to become involved in receptive tourist programmes as soon as possible. Namely, the majority of tourist agencies are oriented towards emissive business operations. It is evident, though, that nothing can be done without a source of financing and coordination that can be provided by regional administration.

Sidebar

Review

Received 19 November 2014

Revised 30 March 2015

6 May 2015

Footnote

1 The authors use the term "new industry" to refer to the industry based on knowledge and application of scientific and research potential in all spheres of industrial activity (innovative approach, smart specialization, clusters etc.).

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