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The aim of this paper is to explain further the importance of stakeholder involve- ment in strategic development of destination management with the purpose of getting a deeper understanding of what different stakeholders perceive as more or less important when it comes to destination management. Key concepts of strategic and destination management are explained in the theoretical part. Based on this, we have posed ourselves the main research question: What are the desires of different stakeholders in the development of the destination in the light of strategic management? Explanations and viewpoints of other authors were summarized, and attempts were made to derive new viewpoints based on our research questions. Results confirm the findings that the life of the local population should be included and engaged actively in the development, when developing the destination and identifying the potentials. Each group of stakeholders plays a special role in the development of the destination. This paper offers an overview of the analysis challenges and trends in the develop ment of a small tourist destination. The most reasonable and appropriate for small destinations is to undertake the management of ‘bottom-up’ and to consider a common brand, which will provide recognition of the place and its key tourism products. Keywords: strategic management, destination management, stakeholders, development of destination

In this paper we seek to identify what we see as a dysfunctional barrier in the development of environmentally and economically sustainable tourism at a local level. Changing shifts in tourism markets have led to the greater importance of sustainable tourism initiatives, which by their very nature will tend to have a locally oriented concept, as opposed to a national or international concept. Our research used four comparative case-studies to consider the potential advantage of locally focused bottom-up tourism models based on coalitions of key local actors over top-down models based on national or international structures., U svom radu nastojimo identificirati ono što smatramo disfunkcionalnim barijerama u razvoju ekološki i ekonomski održivog turizma na lokalnoj razini. Pomaci na turističkom tržištu doveli su do inicijative, da se veća važnost pridaje onim kretanjima koja po svojoj prirodi imaju tendenciju ka lokalnoj orijentaciji, za razliku od nacionalno ili međunarodno usmjerenog koncepta. U našem smo istraživanju komparativno upotrijebili četiri studije slučaja u kojima je izražena prednost lokalno usmjerenih turističkih modela prema metodi „odozdo prema gore“, odnosno participativnog planiranja, u čijem je temelju koalicija ključnih lokalnih aktera posloženih obrnuto od modela „odozgo prema dolje“ utemeljenom na nacionalnim ili međunarodnim strukturama.

The transformation of the rural areas along the Slovene - Croatian border was influenced by many reasons, among which the most important was polycentric concept of social demogarphy as well as physical development. After introduction of a border line between Slovenia and Croatia the process of transformation of rural areas have taken on additional issues connected to the problems of border areas and marginal regions and thus are both specific and new for this region. Transformation of rural areas is a permanent process,that affects both the landscape, as well as its functions.

The article deals with the significance of the quest for excellence and a socially responsible approach in planning for sustainable tourism. Research and experience show that tourism organisations need to search for alternative sources and innovative elements in order to improve their competitiveness. This can be done by forming a social-relationship-network in the field of tourism, which is an important factor in creating added value and innovation. There has to be a continuous pursuit of excellence and a socially responsible approach, starting from the idea, via development, and right through to project implementation. One of the beneficial methodologies for developing and expanding a level of tourism which is sustainable and enhances the totality of local and regional environments is a multi-stakeholder approach. The second part of this paper presents a case-study of "Heritage trails through Dolenjska and Bela krajina in South East Slovenia", in which sustainable rural development1 was pursued by using an integrated approach in terms of start-up, implementation and development. This initiative was supported by and benefitted from the notion of having a core of multiple stakeholders.

Modern development of tourism is under a strong influence of globalisation processes. In order to achieve global competitiveness, it is necessary to build regional competitiveness due to the significant role of the region as the basic unit of development and as the carrier of tourist offer that should satisfy globalised demands in terms of both quantity and quality. Up until now, the destinations built competitive advantage through shaping local resources and possibilities into products and services for the visitors, and through coordinating activities of various participants on the level of the destination. Today, it is known that the destinations that aim towards leadership positions in the market must seek new sources of competitive advantage, considering that efficient cooperation of interested parties within a destination does not always suffice. One of such advantages is the development of cooperation amongst destinations and their linkage into wider tourist regions. In other works from the subject area, several forms of inter-destination cooperation and its factors of influence have been identified. However, even until now, this subject has not been sufficiently clarified. The subject of the research is the cooperation amongst destinations within a wider tourist region and the possibilities for improvement of the tourist offer through such cooperation. The aim of the research is to determine the validity of activities of inter-destination cooperation within a wider tourist region. General analytic-synthetic method of research was used in the paper, in the span of bibliographic-speculative to empirical approach by applying the method of document content analysis.