Rural Tourism in the Republika Srpska: Political Framework and Institutional Environment

Sinisa Berjan; Hamid El Bılalı; Gordana Radovıc; Borko Sorajıc; Noureddin Drıouech; Adriana Radosavac

Rural Tourism in the Republika Srpska: Political Framework and Institutional Environment

Year 2014, Volume: 1 Issue: Özel Sayı-2, 1805 - 1811, 01.03.2014

Sinisa Berjan Hamid El Bılalı Gordana Radovıc Borko Sorajıc Noureddin Drıouech Adriana Radosavac

Abstract

The entity of the Republika Srpska (RS) in Bosnia and Herzegovina has great natural, cultural, gastronomic, religious and historic potential for rural tourism development. Rural tourism encompasses a range of activities, services and amenities provided by farmers and rural people to tourists. It includes agro-tourism, farm tourism, nature tourism, ecotourism, wine tourism, etc. The paper aims at analyzing the political, legal and regulatory frameworks as well as the governance of rural tourism in the RS. It is based on an extended literature review and primary data collected through structured questionnaires carried out in summer 2012 with 45 rural tourism operators and 49 municipality dwellers in 11 municipalities in the RS. The competencies in tourism and rural development are mostly at the entity level. Support to rural tourism development in the RS is provided by the Ministries of Agriculture, and of Trade and Tourism. The main strategic documents dealing with rural tourism in the RS are: Law on Tourism; Law on Hospitality; Tourism Development Strategy 2011-2020; and Rural Development Strategy (RDS) 2009-2015. Many measures are foreseen in the RDS for rural tourism development: promotion of rural tourism; improvement of touristic services provision; and organizational support and capacity building. There are limited dynamics and coordination between involved stakeholders e.g. ministries of agriculture and tourism, municipalities, touristic organizations, donors, rural households, etc. Legal framework and institutional environment for rural tourism development have considerably improved in the recent period. However, there is room for improvement in particular regarding governance and rural hospitality tax regimes

Keywords

Rural tourism, policy, governance, Republika Srpska, Bosnia

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