A Climate for Change

(^56) Tourism Human Development Report - Croatia 2008
30 Unemployment rate by Counties on 31 DEC 2007
25
20
15
10
5
0
Unemployment rate (%)
Country
average
Counties
City of Zagreb
Istria
Varaždin
Primorje -Gorski Kotar
Krapina-Zagorje
Međimurje
Zagreb
Koprivnica-KriževciDubrovnik-Neretva
Zadar
Split-Dalmatia
Lika-Senj
Požega-Slavonia
Šibenik-KninOsijek-Baranja
Bjelovar-Bilogora
Karlovac
Brod-Posavina
Virovitica -Podravina
Sisak-MoslavinaVukovar-Syrmia
Figure 4-3: Registered unemployment rate by County on 31 December 2007. Out of seven coastal - tourist - counties
(grey columns), five of them have higher unemployment rates than the country average. Source: CBS 2007.

• There is often an absence of workplace standards.
  This is especially prevalent in foreign-owned es-
  tablishments, where unrealistic requirements for
  staff mean that domestic personnel are unable to
  meet the requirements and are consequently not
  paid as well as expected.^13

These are only a few of the areas of concern. In order

to ensure that the tourism sector aids human develop-

ment, policies for encouraging the professional devel-

opment of seasonal workers within the tourism sector

could be very effective. These conditions are fairly typi-

cal of worldwide trends, even in other social-democrat-

ic EU countries. The World Tourism Organisation has

recognised many of the issues above and has tried to

incorporate them into the Tourism Code of Ethics^14 to

promote the principles of the modern tourism industry

worldwide to benefit tourists and hosts equally.

4.3. Climate risks and

vulnerability to climate change

There is a growing body of literature seeking to explain

how climate influences the supply of and demand

for recreation and how changes in climate will affect

tourism flows.^15 In Croatia, the climate is especially

important for tourism. Summers are characterized by

mild heat, with very little rain on the coast, a lot of sun-

shine, and infrequent extreme weather events. The

characteristics of the Adriatic in terms of temperature

and water quality make it an ideal place for enjoying

the sea. The water is clear and warm during the major

European vacation season of June, July and August.

Most tourism takes place outdoors and tourists can

rely on a number of days of sun during their vacation

that are not unbearably hot. Inland attractions are also

related to outdoor activities – including a substantial

amount of ecotourism in Plitvice National Park and

other national and nature reserve parks. All these

characteristics, which create favourable tourist desti-

nations, are vulnerable to climate change. Tempera-

ture and precipitation changes alone could lead to

negative impacts on the tourism industry. While this

is not specific to Croatia, it may have more significant

consequences for Croatia.

4.3.1. Potential impacts of climate change on

tourism in Croatia

There are various categories of potential impacts on

the tourism sector due to climate change.^16 In Croatia,

the two most important categories are: