Dimensions of Integrated Tourism – Case Studies of Selected Villages in the Serbia-Romania Border Area

Snežana ŠTETIĆ1, Sanja PAVLOVIĆ2, Sara STANIĆ2, Dario ŠIMIČEVIĆ1
1 College of Tourism, Belgrade, SERBIA
2 University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography, Belgrade, SERBIA 
E-mail: negics@gmail.com, spavlovic20@gmail.com, sara.stanic.zemun@gmail.com, darios@visokaturisticka.edu.rs
Pages: 80-88

Abstract. Integrated rural tourism provides new development opportunities for underdeveloped regions or villages and local clusters. It is defined as the type of tourism explicitly linked to the economic, social, cultural, natural and human resources and localities in which it takes place. In this context, the separation of all dimensions is significant, including all the elements of an integrated tourism product and referring to the networking of all stakeholders, level of tourism development in chronological and geographical terms, endogeneity, sustainability, embeddedness, complementariness and empowerment of the entire sector. These dimensions can be monitored over time as trends and levels, and can be spatially compared. The qualitative research is applied in the paper. It is based on case studies of selected rural settlements in Serbian border areas with Romania. We used logical analysis in various social situations and we explained the nature and manifestation forms of integrated tourism. By applying the comparative method we ascertained similarities and differences of the dimensions of integrated tourism in the rural settlements under study. The research results show that integrated rural tourism provides a greater likelihood of coordination and institutional policy of rural and regional development, and fosters partnering and pooling. Numerous factors affect the implementation of integrated tourism in rural areas, and the examples of villages analyzed in this paper show that their peripherality is not restrictive.

K e y w o r d s: integrated tourism, tourism dimensions, border villages, Serbia, Romania