A LANDSCAPE APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE COASTAL TOURISM

THE CASE OF MURTER ISLAND, CROATIA

Luuk van den Berg and Dion Koens

Wageningen University Supervisors:
The Netherlands Dr. Irena Ateljevic
June 2011 Dr. Ir. Marlies Brinkhuijsen
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be used without permission of the authors.
A LANDSCAPE APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE COASTAL TOURISM

THE CASE OF MURTER ISLAND, CROATIA

supervisors
Dr. Irena Ateljevic

Dr. Ir. Marlies Brinkhuijsen

Final Master thesis report

Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning
at the Wageningen University
this publication is supported by:
Luuk van den Berg and Dion Koens

June 2011
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During our holiday trips, we noticed the negative effects
of tourism on the landscape. We consider the landscape
as the basis for tourism, because tourists select their
holiday not only on climate and price, but also on the
environment, the landscape. On the other hand, we
experienced that tourism is eroding the natural and
cultural landscape by unsustainable behaviour. As future
landscape architects, we think that the landscape always
should be the basis of human interventions, especially in
tourism. However, examples of landscape architecture in
tourism developments are rare. Therefore we researched
opportunities to develop sustainable coastal tourism
landscapes from a landscape approach. We have done
this by case-study research on the island of Murter,
Croatia.
This report is our thesis project for the Master of Science
degree of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning
at the Wageningen University, the Netherlands. We
worked for ten months on this thesis and gather a lot
of information about tourism landscapes, the Croatian
landscape, and especially the landscape of Murter
island. During these months we got a great support of
4 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
our supervisors Dr. Ir. Marlies Brinkhuijsen (Landscape
architecture group at Wageningen University) and
Dr. Irena Ateljevic (Socio spatial analysis group at
Wageningen University). Marlies supported us mainly
on the landscape analyses and design part, while Irena
gave us support on the field of sustainable tourism
research. Furthermore Irena helped us to get in touch
with the local stakeholders and with the translation of
our workshop. The combination of those two experts
in two different disciplines was, according to us, a great
success. We are grateful and want to thank them for all
their efforts.
For our thesis, we visited Murter island two times: in
October (one week) and March (two weeks). The first
time we gathered information about the island and the
second time we organized an interactive workshop. The
success of our project, especially the workshop, was not
possible without the support of the local people. We
would like to thank them all and in particular Dragica
Bai, (Deputy Major of the municipality Murter-Kornati),
ime Jeina (head of the tourism board Murter-Kornati),
Luka Jeina (employee at Argonauta) and Marco Jeina
(employee at the municipality Murter-Kornati). With
their help we gained a lot of information about tourism
on the island and the adjacent problems. We hope that
our workshop and our thesis project will contribute to
the increase of local awareness for sustainable tourism
development on Murter island.
Also we would like to thank the NH Bos foundation,
who supported our thesis financially. The goal of the
foundation is to support landscape architecture in
the Netherlands. Without their financial help it was
not possible to visit Murter a second time, which was
important the the process.
Finally we would like to thank all our family and friends,
who were always there to support us during the thesis
project.
With this report we offer you an insight about the
relation between tourism and coastal landscapes and
in particular about the role of landscape architecture in
making coastal tourism landscapes sustainable.
Figure 1: Fieldwork on Murter island
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 5
 SUMMARY
Tourism and landscape are interwoven with each
other. Tourism influences landscapes (transformation
of landscape by tourism) and landscapes influenced
tourism (decisions for holidays are influenced by
landscapes). Tourism is mainly concentrated along the
coast, because of the favourable geo-environmental
characters, such as climate and the availability of
beaches. Since the sixties sun, sea, and sand is the main
tourist product, which fits in Fordist tourism patterns
(mass scaled, packaged, and cheap). Fordist tourism is
often considered as unsustainable tourism, because it
causes a lot of environmental, socio-cultural, economic,
and aesthetic problems. Since the eighties another
category of tourism appeared: post-Fordist tourism.
Post-Fordist tourism is based on small scale, individual
tourism, with local experiences on environmental friendly
destinations. This tourism product is more diverse than
sun, sea, and sand and consist for example forms of
nature, culture, and adventurous tourism. An important
segment of post-Fordist tourism is sustainable tourism.
Sustainable tourism can be described as the suitable
balance between the environment, the economic and
socio-cultural aspects., which is established to guarantee
its long term sustainability (UNEP and WTO 2005).
Because this is a landscape architecture thesis aesthetic
sustainability (values and experiences about design) is
added to these aspects. Sustainable tourism is often
considered as the way to solve the problems caused by
Fordist tourism.
6 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
To achieve sustainability in tourism all kind of literature
and policy documents proposing actions to make
tourism more sustainable. Solutions are mainly found
in planning approaches (such as the ICZM and the EIA),
impact-based methods (tourism carrying capacity and the
ecological footprint), and policy documents. One of the
most commonly used and clear documents is the guide
for policy-makers for making tourism more sustainable
of the United Nations Environmental Programme in
collaboration with the World Tourism Organisation.
These solutions are helpful, but they are lacking
concrete spatial tools to make tourism sustainable. On
the other hand ad-hoc, technical solutions are proposed
for achieving sustainability in tourism. Between the
theoretical solutions and the technical solutions there is
a gap: the lack of spatial applications. The purpose of this
thesis is to fill this gap by developing landscape strategies
and general design principles (theoretical aim). To reach
the theoretical aim a landscape approach to sustainable
tourism is constructed (methodological aim), which is
applied on a case study on the island of Murter, Croatia
(empirical aim). The landscape approach is an approach
were the landscape is central instead of place or the
environment, which means that function is combined
with the sensory world (Koh 2008). The theoretical,
methodological and empirical aims are clarified by the
following research questions:
Which landscape strategy and general design
principles can contribute to translate sustainable
tourism theory into a spatial design for sustainable
tourism developments ? (theoretical)
What kind of landscape design and principles can
guide tourism developments in sustainable way on
the island of Murter, Croatia? (empirical)
How to develop a landscape strategy and design
principles for sustainable tourism developments?
(methodological)
Landscape architecture has the opportunity to create
spatial landscape based solutions and to guide sustainable
tourism developments in a integrative and holistic way.
As input for designing sustainable tourism landscapes
on Murter island a set of starting points is used. They are
derived from the guide for policy makers of the UNEP
and WTO for making tourism more sustainable (2005).
To know the landscape of Murter island, first the natural
qualities (beautiful bays, pleasant climate), cultural
qualities (dry stone wall landscapes with olive groves,
rich cultural traditions), and aesthetic qualities (old
village cores, panoramic views) are investigated. The
qualities are main reason fer tourism development
on the island. This tourism development is described
by the Tourism Area Life Cycle theory of Butler, which
distinguished several stages of tourism development (the
exploration, involvement, development, consolidation,
and stagnation stage). Tourism cause on the island all
kinds of environmental problems (enormous use of
recourses and sprawl of apartments), socio-cultural
problems (degradation of local identity), economic
problems (high seasonality and one-side tourism offer),
and aesthetic problems (generic architecture and low
quality of public space).
According to Butlers theory these problems can lead to
stagnation, or even decline. To prevent stagnation the
municipality of Murter-Kornati started to reorienate the
scope of their tourism offer. This thesis project functioned
as input for the reorientation. In order to find different
directions for the future, this landscape approach makes
use of the scenario method. The scenarios are based on
two variables: sustainable versus unsustainable tourism
and the small local investments and major external
investments. With the two variables four scenarios can
be distinguished:
Tourism sprawl: business as usual scenario, which
means continuation of apartments sprawl and an
one-sided tourism offer;
Mass tourism: themed and gated resorts, which
resulted in neglected landscape outside the gates;
Tourism network: improvements of the slow traffic
network and connect the landscape based attractions
and accommodations;
Tourism clusters: clustering of sustainable tourism
developments to protect the agricultural and natural
landscape.
An important step in this project was a workshop with
local stakeholders. First, the workshope was used to
gain more knowledge about local wishes and demands
for the future, especially on the fields of landscape and
tourism. The results are used as input for the design
phase. Furthermore the workshop was used to select
one of the scenarios. From a picture rating game can be
concluded that the sustainable scenarios where much
more preferred compared with the unsustainable ones.
Between the two sustainable scenarios was no major
difference in preference, so both will be use during the
design phase. Each of them is representing a different
time scale (the tourism network scenario within ten
years and the tourism cluster scenario after ten years).
In the design phase the scenarios are applied in designs
for three representative locations on the island.
Three bays are selected on two criteria. Each of them
representsed a different type: natural, tourism, and
urban bays. Secondly, they were facing the most urgent
problems. For each bay the design task was different:
Luica bay (natural setting): new sustainable tourism
cluster (hotel, education facilities and lodges)
Hramina bay (urban setting): restructuring the
harbourfront of Murter
Slanica bay (tourism setting): restructuring of an
existing tourism cluster (restructuring facilities and
public space)
The first phase of the designs represented the scenario
tourism network. In this scenario the focus was on
improving the secondary path network by making new
connections and adjacent facilities, such as landscape
based attractions. The second phase of the designs
represents the tourism cluster scenario. This scenario
focused on new large scale developments, such as new
buildings, large accommodation clusters, and large
landscapes based attractions. Out of each design spatial
landscape principles, architectural principles, and public
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
space principles were distinguished. All these principles
contributed in making tourism landscapes sustainable.
As result, the different design principles of the three
designs were combined into a list of general principles.
These principles are spatial implications of the starting
points derived from the aims and the accompanied policy
guide of the UNEP and the WTO. The general principles
contributs to the theoretical aim by transforming the
sustainable tourism theory into applicable spatial design
tools. The principles helps to fulfil the empirical aim too,
because they offer sustainable design solutions for the
island of Murter. Also the workshop has an important
empirical contribution by creating awareness for
sustainable tourism on the island. The methodological
aim is the whole thesis process: the application of
landscape approach to the field of sustainable tourism.
Hypothetically, this method and principles can also be
used on other locations along the Mediterranean coast.
This thesis proved that landscape architecture can
contribute to the field of sustainable tourism by creating
spatial design solutions and visualizing how sustainable
tourism landscape look like. On the other hand,
sustainable tourism has value for the field of landscape
architecture, because tourism landscapes shows that
aesthetics, experiences, and values of the place are very
important. The landscape approach on tourism focusses
besides the ecological and the natural systems, also on
economic, socio-cultural, and aesthetical aspects of the
landscape.
7
 READERS GUIDE
PART I: THEORETICAL BASIS PART II: MURTER CASE

TOURISM PROBLEM ANALYSIS

UNSUSTAINABLE

Environmental
TOURISM

land alteration around the villages

PROBLEMS Socio-cultural
Environmental translations of global problems to local problems
gated accommodations
land alteration, pressure on resouces, habitat
degredation Economic
only three star accommodations
Socio-cultural
lack of place identity, gated communities, Aesthetic
UNSUSTAINABLE neglection of the public space
globalisation of culture
TOURISM Economic
Fordism high seasonality, short term profits, one sided
mass tourism tourism offer MURTER AS CASE
Sun, sea sand Aesthetic UNSUSTAINABLE TOURISM
non-local materials, standard architecture, low Develop a landscape DEVELOPMENT OF MURTER
quality of public space
strategy and tourism area life cycle of Butler
COASTAL design principles
for sustainable
LANDSCAPES development of coastal
VS TOURISM tourism landscapes.

SUSTAINABLE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM APPLICATIONS LANDSCAPE QUALITY ANALYSIS

Planning & Policies RESEACH GAP Natural qualities
TOURISM
zoning plans, regulations, etc. lack of spatial implications
Post-Fordism for sustainable tourism
flexible, Technical solutions Historic qualities
sustainable energy, waste treatment development
individual
Management Experiential qualities
SUSTAINABLE

experience
participation, visitor managament, staff training, etc.
TOURISM

STARTING POINTS
selection from the guide
for policy makers of the
UNEP and WTO

8 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

 PART III: THE FUTURE OF PART IV: DESIGN PART 5 CONCLUSION
TOURISM ON MURTER
ISLAND

selection of the design locations

SCENARIO 1
tourism sprawl

SCENARIO 2
mass tourism

WORKSHOP

SCENARIO 3 LOCAL DESIGNS SCENARIO 3

tourism network Lucica Bay SPATIAL PRINCIPLES
Slanica Bay SPATIAL PRINCIPLES
GENERAL DESIGN
Hramina Bay PRINCIPLES EVALUATION
SPATIAL PRINCIPLES
which are applicable value of landscape architecture for
SCENARIO 4
on other locations sustainable tourism and the value
tourism clusters LOCAL DESIGNS SCENARIO 4 with the same of sustainable tourism for landscape
SPATIAL PRINCIPLES characteristics and architecture
Lucica Bay problems as well
Slanica Bay SPATIAL PRINCIPLES
Hramina Bay SPATIAL PRINCIPLES

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 9

 READERS GUIDE
The scheme on pages 14 and 15 shows the structure
of our thesis project. This scheme consist of several
different steps representing the structure of this report.
Part I: Theoretical basis
The starting point of this thesis is the relationship between
coastal landscapes and tourism. Unsustainable, Fordist
tourism, which started in the sixties, caused a lot of
spatial problems on coastal landscapes. These problems
are divide into four categories: environmental, socio-
cultural, economic and aesthetic problems. Post-Fordism
offers opportunities for making tourism sustainable and
solve the problems. However solutions mainly found in
are large scale, abstract planning policies or small scale
ad-hoc technical solutions. But there is no link between
them (research gap). There is a lack of spatial implications
for sustainable coastal tourism landscapes.
From these research gap the purpose of the study will be
derived. The main purpose of this thesis is making a link
between theory and practice about sustainable tourism
by developing design principles and spatial strategies
for sustainable coastal tourism landscapes (theoretical
aim). For the development of design principles and
spatial strategies a specific landscape approach to
sustainable tourism is necessary, which we constructed
ourselves (methodological aim). To reach the theoretical
aim, the research is narrowed down to a case-study on
Murter island (empirical aim). For this case study, a few
general, spatial assumptions for sustainable tourism
developments are derived from the guide for making
tourism more sustainable of the UNEP and WTO. These
10
spatial assumptions are the starting points for our
design phase.
Part II Murter case
To reach the aims of the study, the general theories and
problems are linked to the case of Murter island. These
analyses exist out of three parts: a spatial quality analysis
(one of the preconditions for tourism development), a
tourism development analysis (by the model of Butler),
and a spatial problem analysis (caused mainly by
tourism).
Part III The future of tourism on Murter island
The analyses is the input for the scenario method, which
will be used to explore different possibilities for the
future of tourism on Murter island. From two variables
(unsustainable versus sustainable, and small scale local
investment versus major external investments) four
spatial scenarios are made for the whole island. The
scenarios are tested in a workshop with local stakeholders
by a picture rating game. It became clear that the
two sustainable scenarios were preferred much more
than the unsustainable ones. There was no significant
preferences between the two sustainable scenarios, so
both are used in the design phase.
Part IV Design
The two sustainable scenarios will be applied on
representative design locations: three bays, which are
representing one of the three bay types on the island,
with totally different problems. The starting points
from part one are the basis of each design. The designs
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
are made in two phases, each representing a different
scenario (local investments within 10 years and external
investments after 10 years). In each design a set of design
principles was used to make tourism more sustainable.
Part V Conclusion
The design principles of each design are compared with
each other in the conclusion. A set of general design
principles is constructed. The general design principles
will be tested to the starting points (from the literature
research) and, if necessary, adapted. The combination of
the general design principles is hypothetically applicable
on other tourism landscapes in the region.
In combination with the two scenario plans, they will
bridge the research gap and link theory to practice (the
theoretical aim). The whole landscape approach to
sustainable coastal tourism, we constructed ourselves,
will be the methodological results. Finally, this thesis has
(empirical) results for the island of Murter as well. Not
only in terms of the designs, but also by the workshop
which contributed to the awareness about the necessity
of sustainability for future developments of local
stakeholders. Finally the value of landscape architecture
for sustainable tourism and vice versa will be evaluated
and as closure some recommendations for further
research will be done.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 11
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 16 PART II: MURTER CASE 48
PART I: THEORETICAL BASIS 18 5. Landscape qualities 54

2. Relation tourism vs. coastal landscape 20 5.1 Natural qualities 54

5.1.1 Karst landscape 54
2.1 Fordist tourism 20 5.1.2 Flora and fauna 56
2.2 Spatial problems caused by Fordist tourism 20 5.1.3 Climate 56

2.2.1 Environmental problems 20 5.2 Cultural qualities 58

2.2.2 Sociocultural problems 23 5.2.1 Agricultural landscape 58
2.2.3 Economic problems 24 5.2.2 Historic artifacts 60
2.2.4 Aesthetic problems 24 5.2.3 Cultural traditions 61
2.3 Post-Fordist tourism 25 5.3 Aesthetic qualities 62
2.4 Sustainable tourism 27 5.3.1 Public space 62
2.5 (Sustainable) tourism landscapes 30 5.3.2 Architecture 63
5.3.3 Landscape Unities 64
2.5.1 Aesthetics 30
2.5.2 Experiences in tourism 32 5.4 Tourist information about the island qualities 66
2.5.3 Stricking values in tourism landscapes 32 5.5 Conclusion 66
2.6 Conclusion 33
6. Tourism development 68
3. Applications of sustainable tourism in practice 34
6.1 The Tourism area life cycle theory 68
3.1 Principles, tools, and instruments for sustainable tourism 34 6.2 Application of the TALC on Croatia 69
3.2 Spatial planning approaches 35 6.3 Application of the TALC on Murter 72
3.3 Impact based methods 36 6.4 Conclusion 75
3.4 Conclusion 37
7. Local problems of tourism development 78
4. Purpose of the study 38
7.1 Environmental problems 79
4.1 Theoretical aim 38 7.1.1 Natural resource usage 79
4.2 Empirical aim 39 7.1.2 Climate change 80
7.1.3 Human behaviour towards the environment 80
4.3 Methodological aim 40 7.1.4 Land alteration 81
4.4 Contribution of landscape architects for sustainable tourism 40 7.2 Socio-cultural problems 82
4.5 The landscape approach to sustainable tourism 43 7.2.1 Lack of place identity 82
4.6 Starting points for sustainable tourism landscape development 45 7.2.2 Conflicts between the local population and tourists 82
7.2.3 Lack of public involvement 82

12 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

 7.3 Economic problems 83
7.3.1 Leakage of economic profits 83
7.3.2 High seasonality 83
7.3.3 One-sided tourism offer 84
7.4 Aesthetic problems 85
7.4.1 Lack of a sufficient planning system 85
7.4.2 Generic architecture 86
7.4.3 Low quality of public space 86
7.4.4 Domination of cars 87
7.4.5 Advertisements 87
7.5 Conclusion 87
PART III: FUTURE OF TOURISM ON MURTER ISLAND 90
8. Scenarios 92 11.1 Site analysis 134
8.1 The future of tourism according to the TALC 92
8.1.1 Stagnation 92
8.1.2 Decline 92
8.1.3 Rejuvenation 93
8.1.4 Re-orientation 93
8.1.5 Conclusion 93
8.2 The future of tourism in Scenarios 96
8.2.1 Tourism sprawl 98
8.2.2 Mss tourism 100
8.2.3 Tourism network 102
8.2.4 Tourism clusters 104
9. Workshop 106
9.1 Structure of the workshop 108
9.2 Results 108
9.3 Conclusion 108
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
PART IV: DESIGN 112
10 Luica bay 116
10.1 Site analysis 116
10.2 Design phase one 118
10.3 Design phase two 122
10.4 Landscape structure principles 127
10.5 Architectural principles 128
10.6 Public space principles 131
11. Hramina bay 134
11.2 Design phase one 136
11.3 Design phase two 140
11.4 Landscape structure principles 145
11.5 Architectural principles 148
11.6 Public space principles 151
12. Slanica bay 154
12.1 Site analysis 154
12.2 Design phase one 156
12.3 Design phase two 160
12.4 Landscape structure principles 165
12.5 Architectural principles 166
12.6 Public space principles 168
13
 PART V: CONCLUSION 170
13. Results 172

13.1 Theoretical results 172

13.2 Empirical results 178
13.3 Methodological results 180

14. Evaluation 182

14.1 Value to the larger context 182

14.2 Value of landscape architecture to the field 182
of sustainable tourism
14.3 Value of sustainable tourism to the field 184
of landscape architecture

15. Recommendations 186

References 188

Figure references 194

Appendix 196

14 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

Figure 2: Areal picture of Murter island, Croatia

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 15

 1. INTRODUCTION
Croatia: the Mediterranean as it once was is the
slogan which the Croatian National Tourism Board uses
to distinct Croatia from other Mediterranean countries.
This slogan recalls an image of an untouched, small scaled,
and quiet country. However, while these characteristics
are used to attract tourists, tourism effects the coastal
landscapes as well.
The coastal environment has attracted tourists since
Roman times, when the first beach resorts, called spas,
were created to improve or restore physical health (Van
Egmond 2005; Gssling and Hall 2006). After the collapse
of the Roman empire these forms of tourism disappeared.
The revival came at the end of the nineteenth century,
with the arise of French Mediterranean coastal tourism
(Williams 2009). This development started because of
the better climate conditions than in northern Europe
(Bramwell 2004), which caused a demand for travel by
the Northern Europeans towards the Mediterranean
coast. In 1960s, the growth of coastal tourism in the
Northern Mediterranean countries accelerates and
expanded to Spanish and the Italian coast as well.
Later on the expansion continued towards Yugoslavia,
the Greek Islands and finally towards Turkey (Williams
2009). In 2007, the Northern Mediterranean countries
received approximately 219 million international
tourists, which forms twenty-four percent of the global
tourism market (Plan Bleu 2009). The key factors of this
success are the geo-environmental characteristics.
Sandy beaches, relatively calm wave conditions for safe
bathing, a relatively pollution-free environment and a
relatively warm summer climate were very important
16
for the traditional tourists (Gssling and Hall 2006). This
attracted the so called Fordist tourists. Fordist tourism is
mass scaled, packaged, cheap and is often considered as
unsustainable.
Fordist tourism caused an enormous uncontrolled
growth of tourism along the coast. The so-called coastal
concreting, changed a lot of natural and agricultural
areas into urbanized tourism landscapes (Plan Bleu 2009
II). Tourism facilities (hotel resorts, marinas, apartment
buildings, second homes and all kind of tourism
attractions) developed all over the coast. This sprawl of
tourism facilities caused a lot of problems: the loss of
ecological value (Apostolopoulos, Loukissas et al. 2001;
Plan Bleu 2009), the loss of place identity (Meethan
2001; Wall and Mathieson 2006; Williams 2009), and
aesthetically unpleasant landscapes. The Mediterranean
Strategy for Sustainable Development of the United
Nations Environmental Programme recognized this,
because: the Mediterranean is in grave danger of losing
the main assets which make it so unique, especially in
tourism (UNEP 2008). These problems put a lot of
pressure on the environment and are often the result
of unsustainable tourism landscapes (Makhzoumi and
Pungetti 1999; Croatian Environment Agency 2007).
Therefore the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable
Development plead for sustainable development as
a vital necessity to meet developmental challenges
in the Mediterranean. Leading tourism investors,
non-governmental organisations and governmental
institutions are increasingly aware that sustainability in
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
coastal areas is strongly dependent upon the quality of
particularly fragile coastal environments (UNEP 2009).
At the same time, host communities become aware of
the consequences of tourism on the landscape. They
become more concerned about their natural, historic,
and cultural heritage (CoastLearn 2009 in UNEP 2009).
Furthermore the tourists themselves become more
aware of sustainability in tourism. Especially the rapidly
growing new middle class is one of the initiators of
sustainable tourism (Mowforth and Munt 2008).
There are many different definitions of sustainable
tourism, but this report uses the most common one
of the World Tourism Organisation. According to them
sustainable tourism is the suitable balance between
the environmental, economic and socio-cultural
aspects, which is established to guarantee its long-
term sustainability (UNWTO 2004 in UNEP 2009). This
definition subdivides sustainable tourism in three pillars
of sustainable development: environmental, social-
cultural, and economic sustainability (UNEP and WTO
2005). As a fourth pillar, aesthetic sustainability is added
in this thesis to give more importance to the visual and
experiential aspects as well. Sustainable tourism is not
just about the control and management of the negative
tourism impacts, but it is also in a very special position
to benefit local communities, economically and socially,
and to raise awareness and support for conservation
of the environment (UNEP and WTO 2005). Economic
development and environmental protection should
reinforce each other in the development of sustainable
tourism.
This thesis project contributes to the sustainable tourism
debate from a landscape architecture perspective. This
contribution is distinguished into three main aims:
Theoretical aim
Sustainable tourism development solutions are
often provided in terms of regulations, grants, and
large scale zoning plans (Dredge 1999; Molz 2004).
However the visual aspect of landscape itself is lacking
in these solutions. Important questions are how
should sustainable tourism landscapes look like? and
how do they work? (Makhzoumi and Pungetti 1999).
Sustainability has become a tired and meaningless
concept, because implications for thinking about
sustainability are still often ignored or conveniently
forgotten (Benson and Roe 2007). In other words:
there has been written a lot about sustainable tourism,
but there are no linkages between those theories and
the practical, spatial implementations of sustainable
tourism. The theoretical aim of this research to make
this link by developing a landscape strategy and design
principles for sustainable development of coastal
tourism landscapes. For the field of sustainable tourism,
creating a landscape strategy and clear design principles
from a landscape architecture perspective is necessary
to make sustainable tourism practical implementable.
Benson and Roe (2007) acknowledge the need for a
landscape strategy in achieving sustainable landscapes
by stating that landscape is a concept par excellence for
thinking about sustainability and landscape architects
have the ability to play a significant role in this. Because
of the landscape architecture approach of this thesis,
mainly spatial issues are addressed. Non-spatial issues analysis, the scenarios, the workshop, and the designs
as technical, financial, and political solutions are only on representative locations).
addressed when they have an indirect value for the spatial
implementations on sustainable tourism developments. How these three aims are reached is described in this
report. The first part describes the theoretical base of
Empirical aim this research. This part describes the context of tourism
To make the research more specific and manageable, and landscape, the problems and the need for this
the research will be done on a empirical case in the research. The second part introduces the case of Murter
Mediterranean: the Croatian island of Murter. On this by an extensive analysis about the landscape qualities,
island tourism developments are far from saturation, tourism development and the landscape problems
but the first problems are already occurring. Both caused by tourism. The third part is about the future
municipalities on the island (of Murter-Kornati and of Murter island and consists the scenario and the
Tisno) has the intention to develop and restructure workshop methods. The results of these methods are
tourism in a sustainable way. However a coherent, spatial the basis for the three designs on three different bays
and visual strategy is missing. This thesis project has as in part four. The results of design phase and the rest
empirical aim to develop a landscape strategy and the of the report are discussed in the last part. A scheme
design principles for sustainable tourism developments of the thesis process is diplayed on the next pages and
on Murter island from a landscape approach. In the explained in the readers guide.
landscape approach landscape is considered as a
system, in which all different aspects of the landscape
are integrated. Landscape values and experiences are
important in the landscape approach. Design with the
landscape approach offers the opportunity to solve
location specific problems.
Methodological aim
Eventually, this thesis project provides a methodology
to achieve the empirical aim. The methodological
aim is about the process of developing a landscape
strategy and design principles for sustainable tourism
developments. Important for the methodology are
the different research steps (the quality and problem
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 17
 I THEORETICAL BASIS

Figure 3: view on the village of Murter from Rastovac hill

 2. TOURISM VERSUS COASTAL LANDSCAPES
To understand the impacts of tourism developments it is 2.1 FORDIST TOURISM products as tourism. This group became known as mass
important to have an overview of the processes, which tourists. They were seeking experiences of collective
Before Fordist developments arise in the 1960s,
are guiding tourism developments. In this chapter the consumption as crowded beaches, bar strips, swimming
the tourism business was mainly small scaled and
most important processes in the tourism industry are pools and shopping malls (Bramwell 2004). Spatially,
independently owned by families (Van der Duim 2007).
described: globalisation, Fordism, and the shift to post- these trends led to transnational tourism complexes
They run their businesses most of the time as a side
Fordism, which has led to sustainable tourism. which are often isolated, without any connection with
business to gain more income (Loannides and Debbage
their social and natural landscape. Most of the mass
1997). Because the levels of technology were minimal or
Globalisation is the most important process in tourism tourism is still concentrated along the coast, because
absent at that time, the work was labour intensive and
landscapes of today. Tourism places are easy accessible of the unique combination of natural (sea, beaches,
the economic profits were marginal.
and connected like never before. This is caused by the bays, etcetera) and cultural resources (historic villages,
phenomenon that we are living in a shrinking world, a good infrastructure, food, etcetera) (UNEP 2009). The
Thanks to new technologies, Henry Ford introduced in
world in which places (countries, cities, communities, standardization in combination with the mass scale of
1910 the assembly line. This evoked an enormous growth
tourist resorts and so on) are increasingly interdependent Fordistic tourism causes a lot of problems.
of the efficiency rates in production processes of in all
(Mowforth and Munt 2008). Due to new technologies,
kinds of economic sectors, better known as Fordism. The
such as internet and improved transport systems,
Fordist patterns of production were standardized, mass-
2.2 SPATIAL PROBLEMS CAUSED BY
relations between time and space are compressing.
scale, and have low costs of production and consumption FORDIST TOURISM
This appearance is better known as the time-space
(Bramwell 2004). Since the 1960s the tourism industry According to the United Nations Environmental
compression theory from David Harvey (Mowforth
discovered the advantages of these developments. The Programme (UNEP and WTO 2005) there are three main
and Munt 2008). Time-space compression transformed
Fordistic trends lead to standardisation of the tourism categories of tourism: the environmental, socio-cultural,
organisations on all kinds of levels from a national,
products by large travel companies (Van der Duim 2007). and economic problems. Because a significant part of
regional, or local towards a global scale (Williams 2009).
The standardisation of food, activities, attractions (the this thesis is design, we are highlight a fourth category:
In tourism literature these shifts are mainly described by
so-called four Ss: Sun, Sea, Sand, and Sex), and the aesthetic problems (which is in existing literature part of
the economic shift from pre-Fordism to Fordism, which
architecture of accommodations and public space leads the socio-cultural problems).
induced all new kinds of tourism.
to the decrease of place identity (Mowforth and Munt
2008, see figure 4 and 5). Generally, this happened 2.2.1 Environmental problems
to decrease the costs of the tourist product (Williams
2009). Parallel to this development, tourism became Although the landscape is one of the main reasons
more accessible for a large group of the society in the for the development of tourism in the Mediterranean
industrialized countries. The increased leisure time (Apostolopoulos, Loukissas et al. 2001), rapid and
of workers increased the money spending on luxury uncontrolled tourism growth have contributed to the
deterioration of the coastal environment. The seasonal

20 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

and spatial concentration of touristic activities strongly
amplifies their impacts on the environment, generating
pressures on water resources and natural environments
(coastal construction), and increasing waste production
(Plan Bleu 2009 II). Nowadays, there is a growing
recognition that the natural environment is an important
economic resource to preserve (Apostolopoulos,
Loukissas et al. 2001). The environmental agency of
Croatia also recognizes the problems of tourism growth.
In their State of the Environment Report (Plan Bleu
2009 II) they notice: The disorganized growth of the
tourist industry, the construction of new accommodation
facilities without corresponding infrastructure and
the construction of new marinas and roads are the
underlying causes of increasingly strong pressures on
the environment. This uncontrolled process has recently
been described by a new term coastal concreting.
From this statement could be derived that the lack of
a coherent spatial vision/planning is one of the main
Figures 4 and 5: Fordist accomodations in on a small scale (Hotel Collentum in Murter) and in a further stage, in Benidorm,
Spain (right). These developments are stadardized and the activities are mainly based on Sun, Sea, Sand and Sex.
causes for the environmental problems of tourism in
coastal areas.
In the book Environment and Tourism written by Andrew
Holden (2008), the negative aspects of tourism on the
environment are categorized into four major types:
natural resource usage, climate change behavioural
considerations, and land alteration. Each of the categories
are described briefly in the next paragraphs.
Natural resource usage
Tourism competes with other forms of development and
human activities for natural resources, especially by land
and water usage. The use of natural resources by tourism
caused problems for natural habitats and the loss of
biodiversity. Another impact of tourism on the natural
resources is the pressure on water supplies (Gssling
and Hall 2006). Holden (2008) mentioned several causes
of tourisms impact on water supplies:
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
High water consumption because of the increasing
population;
Higher consumption of water for tourist facilities (golf
courses, swimming pools and hotels);
Peaks in waste water volumes and the stress that
causes for waste water treatment facilities;
Inappropriate setting of tourism facilities and
infrastructure on foreshores, dune systems and
wetlands.
Another resource, which Holden (2008) does not
address in his book, is the use of fossil fuels to generate
energy for tourist activities (Shepherd 1998). Because of
the high seasonal character of the tourist industry the
pressure on energy resources will be very high during
the peak season. This could result in a lack of electricity
or even power cuts. On a global scale the enormous use
of fossil fuels contributes to emission of carbon-dioxide
and global warming (UNEP 2011).
Climate change
Climate change is related to tourism in two ways.
Firstly, because it is partly caused by tourism, and
secondly because it will influence future tourism as
well. According to estimates from the World Tourism
Organisation, global tourism provides five percent of the
worlds total emissions of green-house gasses in 2005
(Scott, Amelung et al. 2008). Transport (approximately
76 percent, which is caused for 50 percent by air-traffic)
is the biggest contribution to this amount, followed by
accommodation (21 percent) and activities (3 percent).
21
 The other way around climate change will affect tourism
as well. On the Mediterranean coast this is likely to
happen in three major ways:
The air and sea temperature will rise, which makes
the Mediterranean a more pleasant destination in
spring and autumn instead of in summer (Amelung
and Viner 2006).
Climate change will cause sea level rise and therefore
endangers the coastal lowlands and river deltas
of the Mediterranean. Predictions of the Croatian
Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical
Planning (2001), the sea level of the Adriatic sea will
rise between 20 and 86 centimetres in 2100. This is
relatively low compared with other seas and ocean
because of the isolated location. Only in the worst case
scenario this will cause severe problems especially on
vulnerable areas such as coastal urban areas.
It will cause periods of extreme droughts and rainfall,
which will influence tourism and the environment as
well (Amelung and Viner 2006). The summer months
in the Mediterranean are dry, and every year forest
fires appear in Mediterranean countries. These forest
fires have major natural and socio-cultural impacts.
The periods of droughts in summertime will increase
faster in Croatia compared with other regions along
the Mediterranean coast (Woodward 2009).
could also have a positive impact on the environment by
creating more awareness and protecting nature areas.
Land alteration
This is the most important spatial effect of environmental
change. Land alteration affects ecological systems as
a result of habitat change and loss. The coastline is a
particularly unique element of the landscape being the
edge of the land where it meets the marine environment
(Gssling and Hall 2006). This makes it very valuable in
an ecological way and very vulnerable too, because of
the limited scope for migration of species (Gssling and
Hall 2006). The ecological value is often in conflict with
the tourism value. Especially along the Mediterranean
coast, where more and more places have been
converted for tourism purposes (Hall and Lew 2009).
These developments, also known as new urban tourism,
have become different in the late twentieth century.
The scale, complexity, and diversity of consumption are
very different from regular urban landscapes (Hall and
Lew 2009). The role of tourism is growing in such a way
that functions are increasingly attached to tourism. On
the other hand, functions like traditional activities such
as shipbuilding, agriculture and fishery are decreasing.
At some places it has reached an optimum already.
Increased leisure mobility and amenity migration
resulted in Mediterranean regions, which become
tourism and leisure specialized communities (Hall and
Lew 2009). Figure 6 is an example of a coastal area in
Turkey which is completely build with resorts, golf
courses, and apartments. The tourism accommodations
and facilities have no coherence with the surrounding
landscape.

Human behaviour towards the destination

environment
The behaviour tourists and local people, could have either
negative or positive consequences for the environment
(Holden 2008). Examples of negative impacts are the
disturbance of wildlife, the damage of natural product Figure 6: at the Turkish coast, near Belek, the impact of tourism on the landscape is clearly visible: large resorts, golf
and littering. On the other hand, tourists and local people courses and second home strips are completely wiping away the existing landscape.
22 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
2.2.2 Socio-cultural problems are satisfied with the quick and highly structured, but visitors becomes sectionalized and they show signs of
fake, representations of traditional culture and local apathy with the tourists. If the tourism growth continues
Tourism developments caused a lot of social and cultural
lives. These processes could induce a loss of identity at physical problems (resource and land-use conflicts
changes. These changes could have negative impacts
a destination. At the Mediterranean coast this occurred and cultural deterioration) created annoyance on the
on a lot of fields. From the website of the United
by the introduction of western style landscapes which part of local people, whose lives are now increasingly
Nations Environmental Program two main socio-cultural
have a total disregard to the local context (Makhzoumi affected by tourism (UNEP 2011). In the final stage of
problems concerning tourism can be distinguished: the
and Pungetti 1999). It destroys the regional landscape Doxeys model, annoyance has turned into antagonism
lack of place identity and the conflicts between local
identity erodes local distinctiveness and alters local and hostility towards tourists. In this stage tourist are
population and tourists.
values and aesthetic priorities (Makhzoumi and blamed for perceived changes to local lifestyles and
Pungetti 1999). This resulted in tourist areas which are society (Williams 2009). For this thesis it is especially
Lack of place identity
not connected to the surrounding areas (see figure 7). a problem on places where large numbers locals and
According to the website of the UNEP (2011), tourism
Tourists who do not experience anymore whether they tourists are concentrated (see figure 8).
can cause loss of local identity and values. The lost of
are in Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, or Turkey.
identity is caused by several complex socio-cultural
Positive effects of tourism on the social-cultural aspects
processes related to tourism. One of them is the
Conflicts between the local population and tourists of a destination
concept of commodification where local cultures are
On a tourist destination there is always an interaction Most academic literature on the social-cultural impacts
transformed into commodities in order be consumed by
between tourists and the host-community. The changing of tourism are based on negative perspectives. Besides
tourists (Mowforth and Munt 2008). Not only people and
opinions of host communities towards tourists can be negative effects, tourism development has also positive
traditions are part of commodification of local culture,
explained with the Doxeys Irritation Index (Williams effects on the host community (Williams 2009). Positive
but landscapes as well. Tourists consume them in the
2009). The model suggests that initially the tourists examples are the reduction of cultural barriers, the
same way as they consume other products (Mowforth
are welcomed, because tourism creates economic increase of mutual understanding and pride and
and Munt 2008). As a result, the tourism products
prosperity. When the developments become more promotion of cultural traditions. Wall and Mathieson
are simplified and replaced by a single monoculture,
structured and commercialized, local interest in the (2006) highlighted a diversity of (possible) positive
which makes authentic travel experiences impossible
(Shepherd 2002). Related to this is the process of
standardization. The Fordist tourists have a need for
familiar landscapes, accommodations, food, and facilities
(UNEP 2011). A combination of commodification and
standardization caused a loss of authenticity in order
to meet the tourism demands. This process of adapting
authentic experiences cultural expressions for tourists is
known as staged authenticity. Objects or performances
represent real traditions and life, but they are created
in a staged, tourism-oriented setting (Hall and Lew Figure 7: Unsustainable tourism: the resort complex Solaris Figure 8: crowded beach of Slanica, makes this place
2009). Hall and Lew (2009) argued that most tourists is using non-place identical themes to attact tourists. unattractive for locals and could cause irritations.

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 23

 socio-cultural effects which can be found in table 1. A
beneficial effect of tourism is that it could be used as
a catalyst for urban regeneration and improvement of
environmental quality (Holden 2008). What this quality
means is doubtful, but it is clear that on the long term,
the economic success of tourism will be supported by a
well maintained landscape. Therefore success of tourism
is dominantly depended of a healthy and pleasant
landscape. According to Holden (2008) tourism can play
a role in the conservation of the landscape by giving it
an economic value through the revenues from tourist
visitations.
2.2.3 Economic problems
Although the economic profits are a major reason for
tourism development in an area, the tourism industry
also have negative consequences for the economic
situation of the holiday destination. The host community
is mostly affected by two main economic problems
related to tourism (UNEP 2011).
Main positive effects
(Wall and Mathieson)
Increased knowledge and understanding of
host societies and cultures
Promotion of the cultural reputation of the
hosts in the world community
Introduction of new values and practices
Revitalization of traditional crafts, performing
arts and rituals
Table 1: (possible) positive socio-cultural effects of tourism on the host cultures (source Wall and Mathieson 2006).
24
Leakage of economic profits
A lot of money which is spend at the holiday destination
is leaking to other countries, because attractions,
accommodations and airlines are owned by international
companies. Meanwhile the profits for the local population
are in some cases marginal. An important contribution
to leakage are the all-inclusive holiday packages (UNEP
2011). This kind of tourism often takes place in a gated
resort, which has all the facilities inside. Tourists stay
their entire holiday within the gates of the resort. Gated
resorts increases the profits of the big international
companies and decreases the incomes of small local
businesses (Williams 2009). Spatially this means that
there is no physical interaction necessary between the
gated resort and the natural/cultural environment, so it
could become two worlds next to each other.
High seasonality
Another economic problem of tourism is the seasonality
of the tourism business (UNEP 2011). This is mainly
because the most important Fordist tourism activities
(sunbathing and swimming) are strongly dependent on
Spatial effects
Information signs, museums, and other information
facilities in the landscape
- the characteristics of a place. People often experience
New architecture styles, building materials, public
space
Preservation or restoration of natural and
cultural landscape
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
climate (Hall and Page 2006). Seasonality makes it hard
for local people to find jobs for the whole year, but it
also has its spatial consequences. Most of the tourism
hotspots are only in use for a few months a year and are
abandoned and useless out of season, because of their
mono-functional use. On the other hand, in the peak
season these places are overcrowded which cause a lot
of problems, such as traffic congestion, litter, vandalism,
and nuisance.
2.2.4 Aesthetic problems
The adverse impacts of tourism on the contemporary
Mediterranean landscapes has not only ecological, but
also aesthetic consequences (Makhzoumi and Pungetti
1999). Because tourism development is concentrated
on making profits, aesthetic concerns are often
ignored (Holden 2008). The result of this is a uniform
(landscape) architecture style, which ignores local
geomorphology, building traditions, materials, and
architectural styles. Tourism often fails to integrate its
structures into the (natural and cultural) landscape. The
main reason for the lack of integration is the lack of a
sufficient land-use planning system, which means that
a lot of tourism developments on (former) attractive
area along the coast, valleys and scenic routes (UNEP
2011). As a consequence the large, dominating resorts,
which are under-designed, have no connection with
this as ugly and see it as a terrible threat to the natural
beauty of the landscape (Makhzoumi and Pungetti
1999). Despite lack of aesthetics in tourism landscapes
the understanding of aesthetics is very important to
attract tourists (Gunn and Var 2002).
 2.3 POST-FORDIST TOURISM destinations come in and out of fashion and tourism Postmodernism is a complex term that has a several
moves on elsewhere (Mowforth and Munt 2008). The applications. Originating in the field of architecture,
Post-Fordism started by the further development of
new markets existed of an enormous variety of, often the term originally referred to new styles of building
new technologies, which reduced the turnover times
small scale, tourism products in order to match with the design: often small in scale, eclectic in the mixing of
in many sectors of production significantly. This creates
different market segments (Williams 2009). Besides the styles, reflective of local traditions and frequently
opportunities to develop more flexible modes of
small scale, also the involvement of local people and playful (Williams 2009). In science, postmodernism is
capital accumulation (Harvey 1989). Furthermore the
the appreciation of landscape are applicable in new the idea that there are different viewpoint and universal
acceleration of the accumulation process encourage
tourism products. In table 2 a comparison is made by explanations. It breaks down or blurs traditional
the exchange and consumption of goods as well. The
Mowforth and Munt (2008) between old Fordist tourism boundaries, such as high/low class culture, up/down
lifetime of services (such as visits to a museum, going
and the new post-Fordist tourism. From this table can market leisure activities (Jelincic 2009). According to
to a health club or going on a holiday) became even
be concluded that post-Fordist tourism is, in general, the Harvey (Harvey 1989) there are two main developments
shorter than those of technological products (Harvey
opposite of Fordist tourism. in the area of postmodern consumption:
1989). There is no clear break from standardized,
Fashion in mass markets accelerates the pace of
Fordist tourism towards a new flexible tourist industry
Globalisation does not just had effects on the economy, consumption of products, travel activities, and
(Loannides and Debbage 1997). However it is clear that
but also had far reaching social cultural consequences lifestyles.
tourism is affected by technological developments,
(Mowforth and Munt 2008). People are increasingly The shift away from the consumption of goods to the
as much as other industries. To achieve the on-going
influenced by events, products and cultures which consumption of services
expansion of capitalist relations of production, the
are different than their own native culture. They are
primary objective was to reduce the turnover times to
struggling to protect their own culture in order to have The growing, so-called, new middle class identifies
sustain profits and to seek new markets and products
the feeling that they make sense in this world (Mowforth themselves as agents of the cultural change of
(in tourism destinations). It is not only capital that is
and Munt 2008). The main outcome of this crisis of postmodernity. The growth of the new middle class
circulated at an accelerated rate, but places too, as
representation is post-modernism. is closely related to the growth of consumer capitalism
and the emphasis on lifestyles. These social groups
constantly try to identify themselves by their consumer
behaviour: where they live, what they eat, and the most
important in this case: their holiday behaviour (Mowforth
and Munt 2008). The emerge of new niche markets and
commodities in tourism meets the demands of the new
middle class lifestyles (Mowforth and Munt 2008). This
is one of the reason that they are considered as the key
social group in initiating, transmitting and translating
these new cultural processes and consumption patterns,
of which holidaying is demonstrably a significant part
Table 2: Shifts in contemporary tourism (source Mowforth and Munt 2008). (Mowforth and Munt 2008).

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 25

 The rise of the new middle class, in combination with
the post-Fordism flexibility is expressing the postmodern
culture of the market. This resulted in an enormous
differentiation in products and patterns of (touristic)
consumption, better known as new tourism (Mowforth
and Munt 2008). New tourists reject inflexible and
inauthentic products developed for mass tourism
(Sedmak and Mihalic 2008). Instead they are searching
for environmental friendly places and local experiences
(Garey, Countas et. al. 2007 in Sedmak and Mihalic
2008). Before the new tourists go on holiday, they have
a clear idea what to expect in tourist areas, and they
want. For example they want to participate in local life or
have an active holiday and are constantly searching for
novel travel experiences (Loannides and Debbage 1997).
The rise of the new tourists shows that the tastes of
the tourists (consumers) are changing (Meethan, 1998
in Stamboulis and Skayannis 2003). While the majority
of them still seek the consumption of the 3Ss (sun,
Figure 9: natural attractions: the National park of Krka
26
sea, sand), the amount of tourists, who are searching
something different, is rising. The four Ss are replaced
by the three Es: Entertainment, Excitement, Education
(Louis Berger S.A. 2005 II) or the three Ts: Tavelling,
Trekking, Trucking (Mowforth and Munt 2008). The
most important players in the Croatian tourism business
recognize the interest in tourism products for the new
middle class (Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, 2007).
They think that new tourism modes, such as cultural and
adventure tourism are likely to increase in the future. On
the other hand, beach and fun tourism is considered as
less important in the future.
In the post-modern society, expansion of new tourism
trends (such as cultural-, natural- and active tourism
see figures 9-11) occurred everywhere along the
Mediterranean coast. In first instance, these trends were
imbedded into the mainstream market as added values.
For example, the mass market of sun, sand, and sea is
Figure 10: cultural attractions: the old city centre of Split
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
nowadays often extended with possibilities to visits
cultural heritage, museums, and nature reserves. This
is called niche marketing, because it is just attractive
for a narrowly defined group of customers (Jelincic
2009). In order to meet the demands of the tourists,
objects, feelings and experiences are transformed into
commodities (of beauty and desire) (Mowforth and
Munt 2008).
To facilitate the growth of new tourism, an increasing
number of tour operators specialize in alternative
tourism. It is more likely that tourism becomes more
class determined. Tourists who still prefer mass tourism
are predominantly lower income, those opting for
alternative experiences are mostly in higher income
(Stamboulis and Skayannis 2003). On destination level,
the natural and cultural landscape became more and
more important for this new group of tourists. Natural
and cultural areas are protected and exploited by the
Figure 11: adventurous activities: mountainbiking
governments in order to meet the demands of the 2.4 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM position (UNEP 2005): firstly, because tourism shows
new tourists. This could have an enormous (positive or an enormous growth and dynamics in the last decades
negative) spatial impact on the destination landscape, and this is likely to continue in the future. Secondly,
Sustainable development a major trend in tourism
because the kind of attractions, accommodations, and because tourism is an activity which involves a special
(Mowforth and Munt 2008). Although there are a lot
facilities have to be totally different than before. More relationship between consumers (visitors), the industry,
of different definitions of sustainable development, the
attention is paid to place identity, environment and local the environment and local communities (UNEP 2005).
most commonly used one is given in the Brundtland
activities. This relationship is unique, because the consumer is in
report of the World Commission on Environment and
direct contact with the producer and the product, which
Development in 1987 (UNEP 2005). According to them,
The new middle class is a driving force in this case. They leads to three important conditions for sustainable
sustainable development is:
are considered as the key group in promoting and development: interaction (with the producers and the
implementing notions of sustainability (Mowforth and product), awareness (of environmental issues and cultural
a process to meet the needs of the present without
Munt 2008). New tourism can be described as an activity differences), and dependency (of the environment,
compromising the ability of future generations to meet
or experience in which terms sustainable, no impact, nature, culture, social life of the destination) (UNEP
their own needs.
responsible, low impact, green, or environmentally 2005).
friendly are applicable (Mowforth and Munt 2008). In
In other words, this means creating better life
this thesis we combine these different kinds of tourism Despite the importance of sustainable tourism there
circumstances for everybody without harming the
together in one term: sustainable tourism. is no clear agreement on the definitions (Mowforth
resources that guarantee our future (UNEP 2005). This
and Munt 2008). It is still seen as a vague concept
concept evolved further in the Agenda 21 agreement
(Farsari, Butler et al. 2007). The most commonly used
which is signed during the United Nations Conference
definition of sustainable tourism is of the United Nation
on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro
Environmental Program in collaboration with the World
(1992). The agreement is a comprehensive plan of
Tourism Organisation (UNEP and WTO 2005). According
action to be used globally, nationally, and locally by
them sustainable tourism development is:
organizations of the UN, Governments, and Major
groups in every area in which humans impact on the
The suitable balance between the environmental,
environment (UNEP and WTO 2005). Among population
economic and socio-cultural aspects, which is
this ideological discourse of sustainability is supported
established to guarantee its long-term sustainability.
by the new middle classes, which are prepared to pay for
sustainable products (Mowforth and Munt 2008).
A remark should be made that tourism development
is something different than tourism growth (UNEP
For tourism, Agenda 21 was an important step as
2009). While tourism growth is about the increase of
well, because tourism was mentioned specifically as
tourism numbers, it does not mean good economic
an important tool for sustainable development of
prospects,especially for the local population.
communities and the environment (Mowforth and
Sustainable tourism development does include these
Munt 2008). There are two reasons for this special

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 27

 elements and the environmental benefits (Mowforth
and Munt 2008). The main focus of sustainable tourism
is on environmental issues, but besides the focus on
the environment itself, the socio-cultural and economic
issues are also important. From the definition of the
UNEP and WTO three main pillars of sustainable tourism
could be derived:
Environmental sustainability is the conservation
and management of resources, especially the un-
renewable ones (UNEP 2005). The relationship
between tourism and the environment is mutual
dependent (UNEP 2009). Tourism is not only
dependent on the environment, but it needs tourism
as well. Tourism generates a lot of environmental
concern and money for protection of the resources
(figure 12).
Socio-cultural sustainability in tourism refers to the
respect of human rights and by the stimulation of
tourism without the creation of social disharmony in
Figure 12: in the national park of Krka (Croatia) tourism revenues are Figure 13: respect local traditions (socio-
use for maintainance of nature (environmental sustainability)
28
the social community. Also the community should be
able to absorb tourism inputs, for example the large
inflow of tourists and working people (Mowforth and
Munt 2008). Furthermore socio-cultural sustainability
is the continuation of the functioning of a society
in social harmony, despite the changes caused by
tourism. Besides that the relations are changing, the
life styles and traditions of a host society should not
change rapidly. Of course, changes are not inevitable
and interaction between cultures have positive
effects. But local cultures should not been displaced
by other, more international cultures.
Economic sustainability is the level of economic gain
from the activity, which is sufficient to cover the costs
of the visiting tourists (Mowforth and Munt 2008).
In other words: the local people have to earn an
appropriate income out of the tourism (figure 14).
Economic sustainability should not compete with the
other criteria of sustainability in tourism. It should
have the same importance as other conditions, but
Figure 14: Local people have to earn an appropriate income out of the
cultural sustainability) tourism, for example by selling local products.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
it cannot be seen as the only condition. Economic
sustainability should not only focused on locals, but
on the long term viability of the tourism as well (UNEP
2005).
A main part of this thesis is design and from the scope of
landscape architects, aesthetics are important concept
in achieving sustainability. According to the Oxford
dictionary aesthetics is a set of principles concerned
with the nature and appreciation of beauty. Despite
aesthetics is involved in each of the three main pillars
of sustainability, but we want making it more explict
by adding a fourth pillar of sustainability: aesthetic
sustainability. According to John Stuart-Murray (Benson
and Roe 2007) a sustainable landscape is not just about
ecology, economy and environment, but about aesthetics
as well. Makhzoumi and Pungetti (Makhzoumi and
Pungetti) supported this view by stating that:
The adverse impact of the contemporary Mediterranean
landscape, however, is not only ecological but also
aesthetic and social. As it replaces the traditional

landscape the contemporary one destroys the regional
landscape identity, erodes local distinctiveness and
alters local values and aesthetic priorities (Makhzoumi
and Pungetti 1999). More about aesthetics can be found
in chapter 2.6.1.
In order to achieve environmental, economic and socio-
cultural sustainability the UNEP and the WTO (2005),
set up an agenda of twelve sustainability aims for the
future of tourism (table 3). Each of the twelve aims is
supporting all of the three main pillars of sustainable
tourism in a greater or lesser extent. In all these aims
aesthetics are also included, but there are not explicitly
mentioned. For example in the aim of cultural richness
aesthetics of the landscape is important to enhance
historic heritage, authentic culture and traditions.
These aims are used many times as a framework for
policy development on sustainable tourism (UNEP and
WTO 2005). Regulations about the implementation
of sustainability is necessary, because sustainable
tourism is expected to grow significantly in the future.
According to Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (2007)
sustainable tourism is expected to have the biggest
growth of importance in Croatian tourism (Roland Berger
Strategy Consultants 2007). This development is likely
to continue the coming decades, also because one of
the elements of sustainable tourism development is to
protect one of the main touristic product: the landscape
(Holden 2008). To implement sustainability in reality,
landscape is a concept par excellence (Benson and Roe,
2007). Therefore sustainable tourism landscapes will be
addressed in the next subchapter.
Aims UNEP and WTO
Economic Viability
Local Prosperity
Employment Quality
Social Equity
Visitor Fulfilment
Local Control
Community Wellbeing
Cultural Richness
Physical Integrity
Biological Diversity
Resource Efficiency
Environmental Purity
Table 3: the 12 aims for achieving sustainable tourism of the UNEP and WTO (2005)
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Description
Ensure the viability and competitiveness of tourism destinations and enterprises, so
that they are able to continue to prosper and deliver benefits in the long-term
Maximize the contribution of tourism to the prosperity of the host destination
including the proportion of visitor spending that is retained locally
Strengthen the number and quality of local jobs created and supported by tourism,
including the level of pay, conditions of service and availability to all without
discrimination by gender, race, disability or in other ways
Seek a widespread distribution of economic and social benefits from tourism
throughout the recipient community, including improving opportunities, income and
services available to the poor
Provide a safe, satisfying and fulfilling experience for visitors, available to all without
discrimination by gender, race, disability or in other ways
Engage and empower local communities in planning and decision-making about the
management and future development of tourism in their area, in consultation with
other stakeholders
Maintain and strengthen the quality of life in local communities, including social
structures and access to resources, amenities and life support systems, avoiding any
form of social degradation or exploitation
Respect and enhance the historic heritage, authentic culture, traditions and
distinctiveness of host communities
Maintain and enhance the quality of landscapes, both urban and rural, and avoid the
physical and visual degradation of the environment
Support the conservation of natural areas, habitats and wildlife, and minimise damage
to them
Minimise the use of scarce and non-renewable resources in the development and
operation of tourism facilities and services
To minimize the pollution of air, water and land and the generation of waste by
tourism enterprises and visitors
29
 2.5 (SUSTAINABLE) TOURISM
LANDSCAPES
The concept of tourism landscape consist of the terms
tourism and landscape. Tourism is the commercial
organization and operation of holidays and the visit of
places of interest (Oxford dictionary 2008). Landscape
are all the visible features of an area of land (Oxford
dictionary 2008). By combining those terms, a tourism
landscape is an area of land were the operation of
holidays and visit of places of interest took place.
In designing tourism landscapes, the main focus is
still on architecture. Architects are designing hotels,
facilities, attractions, and public spaces, often without
paying attention to the historic, social and spatial
context. Instead, architects try to design iconic buildings,
which promote themselves. The idea of architecture as
form persists even until today (Koh 2008). It focuses
on the visible rather than the invisible, more on outline
than on surface, on coherent image rather than chaotic
phenomena, on manifestation rather than on underlying
process (Koh 2008). Architecture also focuses on the
detached spectators who view an object, rather than
engaged participants, who experience a places. Because
of this, the relation between architecture and the
surrounding landscape is lost. That happens especially in
coastal tourism landscapes, where an increasing group
of tourists, experience the areas as less attractive.
Landscape can be seen as an act of beautification for
pleasure and consumption versus landscape as healing
and generative production (Koh 2008). In designing
tourism landscapes the main focus is on beautification
for pleasure and consumption, which fits in the
30
unsustainable Fordist tourism. On the other hand the
healing and generative production of landscapes fits
more in the concept of sustainable tourism. The massive
coastal tourism landscapes of today are now iconic bad
designed landscapes, while the ordinary evolved coastal
landscapes are disappeared. In sustainable tourism
development the ordinary evolved landscapes is used
as tourism source in which all tourism accommodations,
facilities and attractions have to fit in.
Landscape function as the basis for sustainable
development, because includes the ecological processes
of an area (Makhzoumi and Pungetti 1999). Furthermore
landscape is a useful way to research social and economic
issues (Benson and Roe 2007). The different landscape
aspects should not be researched separately, but
landscape should be seen as a holistic and integrative.
It is not only a context for evaluation and research,
but landscape can also offer a framework for ensuring
a sustainable future for tourism as well (Makhzoumi
and Pungetti 2008). In sustainable tourism landscapes
is the main (inspiration) source for all kind of tourism
purposes, such as accommodations, facilities, attractions
and activities (figure 15).
The concept of sustainable landscapes of today is primarily
based on the landscape ecology discourse (Koh, 2008).
The focus of landscape ecology is to restore the ecology
of the landscape and is in general nature descriptive.
Discourses, such cultural and physical geography, and
landscape ecology in addition to art and architecture
expanded the concept of landscape design beyond iconic
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
designed landscapes (Koh 2008). Some of the discourses
contribute to add the symbolic, experiential, and cultural
aspects of landscapes (Koh 2008). This contributed to the
fact that the word landscape has emerged as a borderless
and integrative concept of multi-layered meanings (Koh
2008). In tourism landscapes, and especially sustainable
tourism landscapes, the symbolic, experiential, and
cultural side of landscapes is more important. However
this importance is often not recognized by designers and
planners of tourism landscapes. The focus in sustainable
tourism landscapes should be, besides on landscape
ecology, also on the aesthetics, experiences and social
values of landscapes. In the following paragraphs is
described what aesthetics, experiences and social values
are and why they are important in making tourism
landscapes sustainable.
2.6.1 Aesthetics
The preferences for a tourism destination are strongly
depending on the visual quality, the aesthetics, of the
destination. If the aesthetic quality of a place is low,
people experience the place as less pleasant and the
other way around. While designing tourism landscapes,
designers (landscape architects) do not only deal with
technical aspects, environmental impacts, regulations,
cultural factors, and users, but also with aesthetics
(Saito 2007). According to Motloch (2000), the truth
and beauty in landscapes cannot be found in functions
or experiences, but in an aesthetic ideal. Important in
aesthetic ideal are the visual form, which is derived from
the language of art such as line, form, colour, rhythm,
texture, proportion, balance, symmetry, harmony, unity,
variety and so on (Motloch 2000). All these elements
contribute to the appreciation of a beauty of a place.
In general, aesthetics can refer to certain qualities of a
place, which are constituted by a set of sensory qualities
(Saito 2007). Others authors think that aesthetics is
a special kind of experience or even a kind of attitude
(Saito 2007). In aesthetics design appreciation and
quality detection are the basic conditions (Carroll in
Saito 2007).

In the book of Site engineering for landscape architects

(Strom, Nathan et al. 2009) four different categories
of aesthetics can be distinguished: geomorphic,
architectonic, sculptural, and naturalistic.
Geomorphic aesthetics reflect to the geologic forces
and natural patterns which shape the landscape
by repeating similar landforms and physiographic
structures. To keep the geomorphic aesthetics intact,
footloose developments of the landscape should be
minimized. In some cases, restructuring is necessary
to restore the character and ecological function that
have been lost (Strom, Nathan et al. 2009).
Architectonic aesthetics are based on geometric forms
and shapes, which is arise when the overall impact is
human dominated or when there is a strong contrast
between the built and natural landscape (Strom,
Nathan et al. 2009).
Naturalistic aesthetics are the most common kind of
aesthetics. It is a stylized approach, in which abstract
or organic landforms are used to represent or initiate
natural landscapes (Strom, Nathan et al. 2009). Designs
with naturalistic aesthetics are successful, because
Figure 15: a sustainable design for a hotel resort in Sand City, California.This includes the complete ecological restoration of
the site and fits into the existing landscape patterns.
people appreciate landscape what they consider as
natural, while they are completely designed and man-
made.
The sculptural aesthetics are bridging the gap
between the naturalistic and architectonic aesthetics.
It includes the range of forms which are neither fluid
(natural) curves, nor architectonic (geometrical)
forms.
For this thesis we distinguish the aesthetic qualities of our
case study area. Instead of using Strom four categories,
we distinguish the aesthetics of the islands landscape
layers, such as the natural, cultural and tourism layers in
the landscape.
In aesthetics coherence (balance and harmony) between
the different elements is important. If the coherence
between the different elements is right, the aesthetics
of an area are usually high. In most tourism landscapes,
the balance between the different elements is lost. Most
places are constructed for short term purposes with no
coherent vision. To make tourism landscapes sustainable,
aesthetics should be taken into consideration. If the
aesthetics of a place are highly valued, the associations
with the place are positive. Tourists, but also local
residents ,will be attracted or even attached to a place
and it is more likely they are prepared to go back to
places and use them more often.

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 31

 2.6.2 Experiences in tourism
The experiences of tourists are very important to
understand their choices (Williams 2009). Urierly (2005
in Williams, 2009) suggest that there was an important
shift in tourist experience during the last years, which
is reflecting the transition from modernism to post-
modernism. In the Modernist era, a single-year holiday
was for people a way to escape from their ordinary
lives. Post-modern tourism becomes more integrated
into their everyday lives rather than tourism is seen a
ambivalence to peoples daily lives (Williams 2009). On
the other hand Lengkeek (2001) states that there is a
paradox between people who want on holidays other
experiences than at home, but at the same time they
want to have similar or familiar experiences (such as
comfort). To fulfil the expectations and experiences of
tourists, tourism landscapes becoming generic and not
place specific. In sustainable tourism landscapes more
attention is paid to the personal values of different
actor groups, which result in diversification in offering
accommodations, facilities, attractions and activities.
2.6.3 Striking values in tourism landscapes
Tourists are looking for a unique, distinct, and unusual
landscapes, which are different from their daily
environment (Knudsen, Greer et al. 2008). Therefore
local identity in tourism landscapes becomes increasingly
associated with the significance places have for people
from elsewhere: the tourists (Lengkeek 2001). This could
cause a lot of friction between the tourism sector and
the local population because they have their own values
regarding the landscape. According to Knudsen et al.
(2008) this main social discourse in tourism is between
32
three sets of actors: tourists, locals, and intermediaries
(externals, such as travel companies, travel agencies
etcetera). Jaap Lengkeek (in van Marwijk, Elands et al.
2007) explains the differences between these actor
groups by the concept of the symbolic environment,
which is the combination of the physical and social
environment. He states that the symbolic environment
could have four different kinds of values for its users:
use value: instrumental or economic value, this value
refers to functions;
perception value: this value refers to qualitative
schemata or filters people have in their minds when
evaluating an environment (good or bad);
narrative value: this value refers to the knowing of
specific stories and interesting facts about an area;
appropriation value: the intensity of being mentally
attached to the environment.
These values are interesting for tourism landscapes,
because they could be linked easily to the major actor
groups in the tourism discourse. For example, external
investors in the tourism business valued the landscape
has only value in economic terms. In order to achieve
this they are only interested in the function and use of
the landscape. Meanings and narratives does not matter
to them, as long as they cannot commodify them into
products to sell to tourists and gain more revenues.
However for tourists the perceptions and narratives of a
place are, besides the use value, important their holiday.
Roughly, we can distinct two groups of tourists: the Fordist
tourists who are mainly interested in the perception
value and the post Fordist and the new tourists who
are interested in the narrative value of the landscape
as well. Because tourists are just for a short time active
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
in the landscape of a tourist destination and most of
them are not mentally attached to the landscape, like
the local host population. For locals the landscape has
much more value than only in terms of use, perceptions,
and narratives. It belongs to their personality and there
is a bond created between them and the landscape (van
Marwijk, Elands et al. 2007). Through these bonds,
people acquire a sense of belonging and purpose that
gives meaning to their lives (Relph 1976; Tuan 1977;
Bricker and Kerstetter 2000 in van Marwijk, Elands et al.
2007).
The different kinds of landscape values for each
stakeholder group could create conflicts between
them. For example, a local, who is very attached to the
landscape, sees tourists and external investors taken
over their place and making decisions based on their
own values which are affecting the values of the local
population. Thus an important characteristic of tourism
landscapes is the contrast between local, endemic,
insider meaning and broader, pandemic, outsider
meanings (Lowenthal and Prince 1972 in Knudsen, Greer
et al. 2008). In sustainable tourism landscape design
the different values have to be combined, so that the
demands of all actor groups fit into the landscape.
 2.6 CONCLUSION
In tourism development two important process are
leading: Fordist tourism and Post-Fordism tourism.
Fordist tourism is in general mass scale which offering
the same tourism product of sun, sea, and sand. People
spend their single year holiday in large hotels, campsites
or bungalows, directly situated at the coast. This mass
tourism caused a lot of environmental, socio cultural,
economic, and aesthetic problems. The most urgent
environmental problems in tourism are the overuse of
water and energy sources, and the alteration of land for
tourism purposes. Social-cultural problems focus mainly
on the lack of place identity and the conflicts between
tourists and the host population. The crowded summer
season is one of the economic problems, because
accommodations and facilities are only in used during
the summer months. Aesthetic problems are focusing on
the under-designed public spaces and accommodations.
This process of Fordist tourism and the accompanied
problems is by the UNEP called unsustainable tourism
development.
In order to minimize the problems of tourism and to
optimize the profits for the local population on the long
term a sustainable tourism approach is needed. This
awareness and the need for sustainability developed
during the post-Fordist era, when new forms of tourism
occurred. In post-Fordist tourism the focus is on the small
scale, individual tourism where a wide range of tourism
products is offered. The new middle class have other
expectations than Fordist tourists and want to have
local experiences in environmentally places. They want
to participate in local life and are in general favoured to SUMMARY CHAPTER 2
have an active holiday. The landscape itself formed the
Fordist tourism: mass scale and offering sun, sea and
basis for local experiences and active holidays.
sand product. Fordist tourism caused environmental,
socio-cultural, economic. and aesthetic problems
Environmental awareness is important in the concept
which together form is unsustainable tourism.
of sustainable tourism, but it is not leading. Sustainable
tourism development focus on The suitable balance
Post-Fordist tourism: small scale, individual tourism.
between the environmental, economic and socio-cultural
Diverse kind of tourism products, based on local
aspects, which is established to guarantee its long-term
experiences and environmentally consiousness.
sustainability (UNEP and WTO 2005). Sustainable
tourism focus on three pillars environmental, socio-
Environmental awareness the basis for sustainable
cultural and economic sustainability, but in our thesis
tourism. Sustainable tourism is: the suitable balance
we add a fourth one: aesthetic sustainability. Aesthetics
between the environmental, economic and socio-
are important in sustainable tourism landscapes,
cultural aspects, which is established to guarantee its
because expectations and preferences of tourists are
long-term sustainability (UNEP and WO 2005).
strongly depend on the visual quality of a place. Besides
aesthetics, the experiences and the values of different
Sustainable tourism consist of three existing pillars:
actor groups are important as well. Values are important,
environmental, socio-cultural, economic and we
because different groups of tourists, local inhabitants,
added a fourth: aesthetic sustainability
and investors value tourism differently. Landscape is a
concept par excellence for thinking about sustainability
Besides landscape ecology, in tourism landscapes,
and that landscape professionals do have a significant
aesthetics, experiences and values are important as
contribution to that (Benson and Roe 2007). In the next
well.
chapter, instruments, planning approaches and impact
based methods discussed in making tourism landscapes
sustainable.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 33
 3. APPLICATIONS OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN PRACTICE
In this chapter the solutions will be examined, which
are addressed in literature to implement the concept
sustainable tourism in reality. In the first subchapter
is about principles, tools, and instruments which are
used in policies to make tourism more sustainable.
In the second subchapter planning approaches will
be discussed and how they can contribute in making
tourism more sustainable. The third subchapter is about
the most used quantitative spatial methods to test if
tourism in areas are saturated. In the conclusion the
value and applicability of these solutions are discussed
for our further research.
3.1 PRINCIPLES, TOOLS, AND
INSTRUMENTS FOR SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM
In dozen of articles and reports many different ways
are given to categorize the actions for making tourism
more sustainable. Different authors used different terms
(principles, indicators, tools, instruments, etcetera) to
make tourism more sustainable.
Principles are used in literature to operationalize
the term of sustainable tourism and facilitate the
implementations. Most of the sets refer to aspects
such as involving local communities, sustainable use of
resources, planning for tourism, promoting information
and research. For each principle Farsari and Prastacos
proposed indictors to measure and monitor if the
principles are sustainable or not. For example he used
for the principle using resource sustainable the indicator
34
of water/energy consumption per tourists. Bramwell
(Bramwell 2004) used also indicators but in other way
than Farsari and Prastacos. The indicators of Bramwell
are general statements, while the indicators of Farsari
and Prastacos are more specific and measurable. For each
indicator Bramwell suggests appropriate sustainable
characteristics such as for the indicator waste he used
the sustainable characters of reduce waste, encourage
re-use and encourage recycling. With these sustainable
characteristics specific and measurable criteria can be
derived. Mowforth and Munt (2008) are using the term
tools, instead of indicators to implement sustainability
in practice. In their book Tourism and Sustainability they
distinct ten different groups of tools such as industry
regulations, area protection, environmental impact
assessment and carrying capacity calculations which can
be used in assessing or measuring various aspects of
sustainability. For every tool they propose some practical
examples.
The report Making Tourism More Sustainable of the
United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP and
WTO 2005) used instruments to make tourism more
sustainable. The basis for these instruments are the
twelve aims (see table 3 on page 29). For each aim several
policy areas were defined, which are related to the
overall performance and impact of tourism. Therefore
they are interesting for national and local governments
or stakeholders (UNEP and WTO 2005). The UNEP
proposed five categories of instruments (table 4) which
could be used by governmental institutions to influence
sustainability in tourism. Important to mention is that
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
each instrument cannot used exclusively. According to
the UNEP, governments should consider the instruments
as a complete set.
There are similarities between the principles,
indicators and tools as well. For example they are all
using quantifiable instruments (such as sustainable
indicators, carrying capacity and ecological footprint).
However Farsari and Prastacos use only measurements
and calculations to monitor the different principles of
sustainability. Another similarity is the involvement of
local inhabitants and stakeholders in making tourism
more sustainable, which is mentioned by to all of them.
For Farsari and Prastacos these notion can be found
in the principles of involving local communities and
consulting stakeholders, for the UNEP report in the
Instruments (UNEP and WTO 2005)
Measurement instruments
Used to determine levels of tourism and impact, and to
keep abreast of existing or potential changes
Common and control instruments
Enabling governments to exert strict control over certain
aspects of development, backed by legislation
Economic instruments
Influencing behaviour and impact through financial means
and sending signals via the market
Voluntary instruments
Providing frameworks or processes that encourage
voluntary adherence of stakeholders to sustainable
approaches and practices
Supporting instruments
Through which government can directly and indirectly,
influence and support enterprises and tourist in making
their operations and activities more sustainable
Table 4: Five categories of instruments (UNEP and WTO
2005)
voluntary instrument and for Mowforth and Munt this is
in the tool of consultation and participation techniques.
A third similarity is the importance of planning in
making tourism more sustainable. This can be found in
the principle integrating tourism in planning of Farsari
and Prastacos, the area protection tool of Mowforth and
Munt, and the common and control instruments of the
UNEP report.
In general, each author is using different terms for
legislations, management techniques, planning, and
calculations to make tourism (landscapes) more
sustainable. Legislations and management techniques
are for planners and landscape architects less interesting,
because they are not directly spatial applicable. Indirectly
they have influence, for example legislation caused
restrictions for planners and landscape architects.
Moreover planners and landscape architects can
contribute to improve the framework of processes, as a
mediator, between governments, stakeholders and the
public. Planning tools and instruments are for planners
and landscape architects very important, because
they are mainly based on spatial aspects. For example
planning and design can contribute to the tool of visitor
management techniques, by using zoning and vehicle
restrictions. Two of the most used sustainable planning
approaches are the Integrated Coastal Zone Management
(ICZM) and the Environment Impacts Assessment (EIA).
These approaches are explained in the next paragraph.
3.2 SPATIAL PLANNING APPROACHES
To minimize the tourism related problems and involve
sustainability issues in the tourism industry and other
sectors, attention must be paid to integrate coastal
tourism into strategic development planning. Especially
the planning of tourism growth in relation to the capacity
of the local resources.
Regional and national tourism planning has a lot of
benefits. According to the report Indicators of sustainable
development for tourism (UNWTO 1994 in UNEP 2009)
there are ten benefits of tourism planning. For our
research the following three benefits are important:
Developing tourism so that its natural and cultural
resources are indefinitely maintained and conserved
for the future;
Providing a physical structure which guides the
location, types and extent of tourism development of
attractions, facilities, services and infrastructure;
Establishing the guidelines and standards for preparing
detailed plans of specific tourism development areas
that are consistent with and reinforce on another and
for the appropriate design of tourist facilities.
According to the UNWTO (2004 in UNEP 2009) tourism
should be planned in first instance at national and
regional levels. At these levels, planning is concerned
with tourism development policies, facility standards,
structural plans and institutional factors. More detailed
plans for tourist attraction, resorts, urban, rural and
other forms of tourism development can be prepared
after the planning phase. Tourism planning should be
recognized as a transparent, adaptive, flexible and
continuous process, but in many cases is this an utopia.
Integration is the key word of tourism planning and
many aspects of integration should be taken into
account such as the geographical, systemic, functional,
temporal, and interdisciplinary aspects. Especially
geographical integration is important, especially
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
between the different scale levels. There should be
a relation between the individual site, a region, and
even the nation. The integration between the different
scale levels has to achieve balance, aesthetic harmony,
cooperation, efficiency identity, sensitivity, and most
important sustainability (UNEP 2009).
One of the most well-known tourism planning approach
is the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM).
The ICZM is and adaptive, multi-sectorial governance
approach which strives to a balanced development,
use, and protection of coastal environments (UNEP
2009). The planning approach of ICZM is more
comprehensive than static land use planning, because of
the understanding of the relationship between coastal
resources, their users, the uses and the mutual impacts
of development on the environment, society and the
economy (UNEP 2009).
The goals of the ICZM are to attain the sustainable
development of coastal and marine areas; to reduce
vulnerability of coastal areas and their inhabitants to
natural hazards, and to maintain essential ecological
processes, life support systems and biological diversity in
coastal and marine areas (Cicin-Sain and Knecht 1998).
The process of the ICZM is an iterative process, which
means that the process go through a number of cycles
before the process is sufficiently refined to produce
effective results (see figure 16). According to the UNEP
(2009) the implementation of the ICZM can stimulate
and guide sustainable development of coastal areas;
it can minimize the degradation of natural systems;
provide a framework for the management of activities
and maintain options for the future use of resources.
35
 This integrated tourism planning approach is especially
useful in areas where tourism is one of the main
economic pillars. Here tourism development has a key
influence upon the development of agriculture, trade
and traffic. The Mediterranean coast a vulnerable
ecological area in where most negative consequences
are related to tourism. Therefore it is necessary to
harmonize the overall development planning with
tourism development.
The ICZM has been widely recognized by many tour
operators and decision makers in the Mediterranean
as a framework for sustainable tourism development.
Especially in Spain decision makers are using ICZM as a
planning approach for sustainable tourism development
(Sano, Gonzalez-Riancho et al. 2010). They are ahead
in implementing ICZM for their costas. In Croatia, the
ICZM is not widely recognized and is still unknown in
many places.
Besides the ICZM another important planning tool
is the Environmental assessment (EA) The EA is a
decision-making process used to promote sustainable
environmental planning by assessing the potential
effects and benefits of certain activities on the
environment (UNEP 2009). Environmental assessments
should ensure that all environmental effects (risks
and benefits) of a proposed development plans,
policies, programmes, and or projects are identified
and addressed (UNEP 2009). Environmental Impact
assessments (EIA) is the most well-known of the
environmental assessments. It is been described as
among the foremost tools available to national decision
36
makers in their efforts to prevent further environmental
deterioration (Mowforth and Munt 2008). The purpose
of the EIA is to identify the potential positive and negative
impacts of large scale (tourism) developments on the
environment of an area (Mowforth and Munt 2008)
The EIA is a widely used and accepted planning tool
to assess the impacts of the development. In many
European countries the EIA is required. Croatia uses the
EIA too, but not as a requirement every project. Before
the accession of Croatia into in European Union (2012)
the EIA should be implemented in all projects. Although
the EIA is widely used, the main critique of the EIA is
that is arbitrary and not objective, so it is sensitive for
manipulation, like many other techniques. The EIA inputs
and assessments can be qualitative and quantitative and
hence subject to degrees of subjectivity (Mowforth and
Munt 2008).
3.3 IMPACT BASED METHODS
More objective are the impact based methods to test
sustainable development. The most important ones
are the Tourism Carrying Capacity method and the
Ecological Footprint. These calculation methods can be
used measure for the sustainability degree of an area.
For example when the carrying capacity is not reached,
it is general more sustainable than when the carrying
capacity is reached. When the ecological footprint of an
area or development is low, it is more sustainable than
when the footprint is high.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
The concept of Tourism Carrying Capacity arises from
a perception that tourism cannot grow forever in an
area without causing irreversible damage to the local
systems (Coccossis and Mexa 2004). The TCC is a basic
technique used in tourism to determine the upper limits
of development and visitor use and to find an optimum
exploitation of tourism resources (UNEP 2009). The
UNTWO definition for tourism carrying capacity is as
follows: the maximum number of people that may
visit a tourist destination at the same time without
causing destruction of the physical, economic and socio-
cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in
the quality of visitors satisfaction (UNEP 2009)
Tourist attractions are assets which cannot be reproduced.
A maximum number of users visiting tourist attractions
lead to their saturation which result eventually in a
poorer quality of tourist experiences. The greater the
intensity of tourist use, the more limited the appeal of
the tourist attraction becomes (UNEP 2009). Especially
in the Mediterranean, with the popular tourist areas the
saturation levels are high, which could eventually result
in dissatisfaction for the tourists and disconnection with
of the local people.
The tourism carrying capacity proved in several cases to
be an efficient tool applicable in highly developed areas
(UNEP 2009). The tool is strong, but it is difficult to define
it into practice, because the tolerance of areas will vary
according to time of year, the place specific characteristics
can change and the complicated interaction between
tourists, residents and the environment is difficult to
taken into account (Middleton and Hawkins 1998).
Another critique is the implementation of the concept
which has little evidence about the changes between
the use of an area and the impact measurements (Hall
and Lew 2009). These impacts are highly dependent on
the conditions of visitors management (time and space)
and the changing expectations about what could be
acceptable impacts (Hall and Lew 2009). Despite these
critics the carrying capacity assessment method will
contribute as impact based method for tourism.
The carrying capacity formed the basis for the idea of the
ecological footprint (EF). With the ecological footprint
is it possible to measure the intrinsic sustainability of
a certain area and level of consumption (Hall and Lew
2009) or give an estimate of the human pressure on
global ecosystems (UNEP 2009). The ecological footprint
has the same basic ideass as the ecological carrying
capacity, but focuses more the maximum impact of
an area in the support of a community or region. Hall
and Lew (2009) described EF as a net ecological budget,
expressed in area terms by dividing human consumption
(the demand) by the ecosystem productivity (the
supply). Environmental degradation occurs when the
demand is larger than the supply. In sustainable tourism
assessments this consumption based method is one
of the key indicators (Hunter and Shaw 2007). The
ecological footprint analysis provides a unique global
perspective on sustainability that is absent with the
use of locally derived and contextualize sustainable
tourism indicators (Hunter and Shaw 2007). Ecological
foot printing is commonly used to measure progress
towards sustainable development by cities, businesses
and service providers (tourism included) (UNEP 2009).
Ecological footprint calculations are made for the use
of energy, food, raw materials, water and also capture
transport related impacts, the production of waste
and the loss of productive lands. Unfortunately there
are less calculations been made which address the
environmental impacts of tourism.
3.4 CONCLUSION
The principles, instruments, and tools are different in
categorizing ways of how to implement sustainability
into practice. But there are a lot of similarities as well. For
example local participation, planning and calculations
where mentioned by several authors. Of the categories
the most useful for our research are the aims and
adjacent policy areas and instrument of United Nations
Environmental Programme. Their proposals where the
most clear and complete. The list of policy actions and
instrument function as basis for our starting points,
which will be discussed in subchapter 4.6. For the scope
of planners and landscape architects, the management,
economic and social tools are less interesting, but the
spatial planning and quantitative tools are more useful as
sporive tools. ICZM and the EIA are two good examples
of how to implement sustainability in planning and
especially in tourism planning. They are both valuable
approaches for planners, but clear, concrete spatial ideas
or methods for sustainabile development (in tourism) are
missing. Landscape architects can contribute especially
to the ICZM approach by making clear spatial solutions.
The impact based methods of the carrying capacity and
the ecological footprint are useful as method to give
an impression of the impacts of an area of a plan. The
disadvantage of the impact based methods is that they
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
can only be used in testing if an area is reaching their
limits or not. They are impact based methods, but no
tools for making tourism landscapes more sustainable.
Concluding, there are a lot instruments and tools for the
implementation of sustainability in the development of
tourism landscapes , but clear, tangible, and useful spatial
examples are missing. Most solutions were found in the
field of legislative and economical fields. More research
is needed to find clear and concrete spatial solutions to
solve the main conflict between the benefits tourism
provides for the economy as a whole and for the societal
environment its operating in and its heavy impact on the
coastal physical environment in terms of urban sprawl,
linear urbanization, pressure on sensitive areas, the
production of waste and the fragmentation of habitats,
and the social environment in terms of loss of social and
cultural identity and values (UNEP 2009).
SUMMARY CHAPTER 3
Instruments of UNEP are the most complete list of
clear actions to make tourism sustainable: useful as
basis for the staring points discussed in subchapter
4.6
Planning approaches ICZM and EIA are helpful in
integrating sustainability in tourism planning, but
concrete spatial applications are lacking.
Tourism carrying capacity and ecological footprint
are only helpful to give an insight of the impact of
plans, and cannot be used as tool to make tourism
sustainable.
37
 4. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Chapter two and three demonstrated the need for use of solar panels and windmills for gaining natural scale solutions for individual hotels and resorts. Overall
sustainable tourism, but there is a lack of a concrete electricity and innovative treatment facilities for sewage large scale design solutions for tourism landscapes are
(design) solutions. The main goal of this thesis is: and waste. not proposed in this book.

To develop a landscape strategy and general design
principles for sustainable development of coastal
tourism landscapes.
The main goal is divided in three aims: the landscape
strategy and general design principles to contribute to
existing tourism theory (theoretical aim). To reach this
aim, the research focuses on a particular case study area:
the island of Murter, Croatia (empirical aim). To fulfil the
empirical aim a specific method has to be developed.
This method can be seen as a landscape approach to
sustainable tourism. In this chapter each of the aims
is described in detail. Also is discussed what landscape
architecture can contribute to these aims.
The literature study proves the lack of spatial design
solutions. In most articles, reports, and books the
spatial solutions are rare or even absent. Bramwell
(2004) recognized this with the remark that there are
only a few books published about spatial development
of coastal tourism. In his book Coastal Mass Tourism
he tried to tackle this absence, by policy approaches
and conceptual planning techniques. However they are
not clear, practical, and visual. Most literature about
design solutions for tourism are based on ad-hoc, small
scale architectural interventions. For example the book
Architecture and Tourism: perception, performance and
place of Lasansky and McLaren (2004) offers just small
In the Mediterranean area, the landscape designs
are often made by architects. Landscape architecture
is quite a new profession in many Mediterranean
countries, like Croatia. It would be therefore beneficial
to address architects as well as landscape architects
when introducing alternative approaches in design, i.e.
ecological landscape design (Makhzoumi and Pungetti
1999).
Besides the lack of design solutions in scientific literature,
relevant case-studies with clear spatial sustainable
interventions for coastal landscapes are also rare.
Most of them are designs for large sustainable resort

4.1 THEORETICAL AIM

A lot of scientific literature has been written about the
environmental, socio-cultural, and economic problems
caused by unsustainable forms of tourism (see chapter
2.2). Most solutions for these problems are found in
the concept of sustainability. Sustainability, and in
particular sustainable tourism, is elaborated in dozen
of articles and reports of governments, but especially
non-governmental organizations. However in literature
the solutions are mainly theoretical and technical. The
theoretical solutions are mainly legislative, planning,
and policy guidelines. Technical solutions are mainly
Figure 16 The research gap in making sustainable tourism landscapes
about making resources sustainable. Examples are the
38 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

complexes, designed by architecture or urban planning
firms. The focus of resort design is mainly on sustainable
buildings with closed energy systems. Less attention
is paid to the surrounding landscape. There are a few
exceptions, for example a project of the Dutch landscape
architecture company West 8. They made a design for a
new boulevard in Playa del Palma, Mallorca (see figure
17). This design uses diversity as basic key principle for
sustainability. According to West 8, diversity is reached
by the sum of different identities providing for various
areas with multiple experiences (West 8 2011). Diversity
of experiences causes that tourists and also locals can
enjoy culture, landscapes, wellness, sports, and local
gastronomy in a typical Mediterranean atmosphere.
So there is a lack of coherent spatial design solutions
for sustainable tourism on the scale of the landscape,
Figure 17 Design of West 8 for a new boulevard in Playa del Palma, Mallorca
which are derived from and supported by research.
This is the theoretical research gap of this thesis (see
figure 16). From our landscape architecture scope,
spatial design solutions are useful and even necessary
to reach the goal of sustainable tourism landscapes and
to solve or diminish the problems of tourism on coastal
landscapes.
This research aims to make a link between theory and
practice by producing a landscape strategy and general
design principles. This is translated in the following
theoretical research question:
Which landscape strategy and general design principles
can contribute to translate sustainable tourism
theory into a spatial design for sustainable tourism
developments?
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
4.2 EMPIRICAL AIM
To reach the theoretical aim a case-study is necessary for
proper local research and design. In the search for a case
study, Croatia is a suitable country for three reasons:
the country and in particular the coast is highly
dependent on tourism (Plan Bleu 2009);
the landscape is relatively untouched (mainly due to
the Yugoslavian civil war), but problems caused by
tourism increased rapidly, especially the uncontrolled
apartmanization (Plan Bleu 2009);
spatial planning and landscape architecture is still
unknown field for creating sustainable tourism
landscapes.
During our search for a case study we get in touch
with Dr. Irena Ateljevic, working at the Socio-spatial
Analysis group of the Wageningen University. She was
working for years on Island Sustainability Education
Centre project (Argonauta) on Murter, an island in the
Adriatic Sea, where she originally comes from. The main
goal of this project was to make local people aware
of the concept of sustainability and involve them to
implement sustainability in (tourism) projects. To reach
awareness she set up a sustainability centre. The centre
is a success, which proved that there is a support by the
local population of Murter island for sustainability and
implementing this in future (tourism) projects.
39
 In this context, the municipality of Murter-Kornati wants
to develop tourism on the island, but in a sustainable
way. However, at the moment there is no clear vision on
how to develop sustainable tourism spatially and visually.
Through Dr. Irena Ateljevic the municipality asked us to
develop a sustainable future with clear spatial plans for
tourism from a refreshing Dutch landscape architecture
perspective. So the empirical research question will be:
What kind of landscape design and principles can guide
tourism developments in sustainable way on the island
of Murter, Croatia?
The case of Murter island will function as an example to
create a landscape strategy and principles which can be
also applicable for areas which deal with the same issues
and problems as Murter. In that sense the Murter case
contribute to fulfil the main goal.
4.3 METHODOLOGICAL AIM
Besides the theoretical and empirical aim, the
development research method is an aim of the research
itself. Therefore the methodological research question
will be:
How to develop a landscape strategy and design
principles for sustainable tourism developments?
For the research and design method the landscape
approach will be used as a basis (see chapter 4.5). It uses
several landscape analysis methods (quality and problem
analyses) and design techniques (scenarios, principles,
landscape plans, and photomontages). These methods
will contribute in developing a landscape strategy and
40
design principles for sustainable development of coastal
tourism landscapes on Murter island.
To conclude, spatial solutions, in the form of landscape
strategy and design principles, will provide ideas for
touristic developments at the Mediterranean coast in a
sustainable way.
4.4 CONTRIBUTION OF LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTS FOR SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM
In existing tourism landscapes, the relation between
tourist facilities, attractions, accommodations, and the
surrounding landscape becomes fuzzy and even lost. This
one of the main reasons landscape and tourism planning
is considered as very important by several reports of
the United Nations Environmental Programme and the
World Tourism Organization (UNEP and WTO 2005).
According to these organizations, the advantage of land
use planning is not just about influencing tourism, but
also about other forms of development, which could
contribute to sustainability (UNEP 2005). Chapter 3
described the planning approach of the ICZM as an
example how the UNEP paid attention to implement
sustainability in tourism with the help of planning
approaches. Unfortunately, landscape architecture plays
not yet an important role in implementing sustainability
into practice. However several authors noticed the
importance of landscape architecture, especially in the
field of sustainable tourism.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Landscape architecture has a great ability to solve
major problems in coastal tourism. This matches with
the twelve aims of the sustainability agenda from
the UNWTO (UNEP and WTO 2005, see figure 18).
Landscape architecture can contribute to the aims and
the adjacent policy areas by making spatial designs.
The contribution of landscape architects is mainly in
the field of environmental sustainability, because the
environmental aspect has more significance in landscape
design than the social and economic part.
Landscape architects have the ability to discover the
characteristics of the landscape (history, geomorphology,
and ecology). They use them as a guide for future
developments in a sustainable way. The strength of
landscape architects is the ability to make connections
between the social, cultural, environmental, and
historical elements in the landscape and link them
without losing the balance and the overall perspective
(Waterman 2009).
According to Makhzoumi and Pungetti (1999), landscape
architecture could play a active role in guiding touristic
developments in a spatial and holistic way. Landscape
architects can contribute especially in finding clear design
solutions. Landscape architecture has a great ability to
solve major problems in coastal tourism and matches
perfectly the aims of sustainability. However it is often
unknown in the Mediterranean region (Makhzoumi
and Pungetti 1999). Makhzoumi and Pungetti (1999)
summarized the important role of design in creating
sustainable (tourism) landscapes in the Mediterranean
by the following statement:
Increasing awareness of environmental degradation,
resource scarcity, and aesthetics blight characterizing
the contemporary (in our case touristic) landscape
means that we should co-ordinate our efforts to produce
efficient and sustainable design .An ecological approach
to landscape design has the scientific and philosophical
framework that can assist the designer in understanding
the complex interaction of natural and cultural processes
and their role in shaping the Mediterranean landscape
(Makhzoumi and Pungetti 1999).

Landscape architects can play the role of intermediator

between the tourism sector, tourists, and the local
population as well. They can integrate the different values
of those groups by design. By involving the demands
of locals and tourists tourism development can create
a win-win situation for all actors. It creates a better the
daily living environment for the local population, by
improving the public space and strengthening the local
identity, and a more attractive place for tourists as well.

Landscape architect Hester (2010) liked the involvement

of the community (democracy) and combined this with
ecology in the concept of ecological democracy. Ecological
democracy is a government by the people emphasizing
direct, hands-on involvement. Actions are guided by
understanding natural process and social relationship
within our locality and the larger environmental
context (Hester 2010). Ecological democracy is in that
sense making a place more sustainable by involving local
communities in the process and the implementation of
new plans. Therefore, new designs should have respect
to the existing ecology of landscapes. In landscape
architecture, applied ecology, and participatory
democracy are from different discourses (Hester 2010),
but they are together necessary in making landscapes Figure 18: the twelve aims for sustainability of the UNEP and WTO
sustainable.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 41
In the previous decades, the discipline of landscape
architecture grew fast. The main reason were external
conditions, such as environmental degradation and
cultural homogenization (Koh 2008). Currently, two
directions are leading in the discipline of landscape
architecture. The first one has a focus on design or form
giving, which has a close relationship with architecture.
The second direction has more in common with rural
regional planning or natural resource planning, based
on systems (Koh 2008). The main focus of landscape
architecture education in Wageningen is regional design
based on natural and cultural systems. The (Wageningen)
Landscape architecture approach can contribute to make
tourism more sustainable, because:
Landscape architects try to find the identity or the
character of a place, also called Genius Loci (spirit
of a place). This could be natural, cultural, or urban
patterns, but also the use of local materials, traditions
and techniques;
Landscape is used as a basis for new sustainable
tourism development;
Landscape architects can visualize the impact of the
possible changes in the landscape;
Landscape architects can work as an intermediator
between the local community and the governmental
institutions by working independently;
Aesthetics could contribute to a better tourism
product and a more pleasant landscape for tourists
and the local population.
Benson and Roe (2007) recognize the importance of the
landscape architecture as well by making the following
statement: landscape architects promote aesthetic
pleasing, functional, ecologically, and biologically healthy
landscapes and fit new developments into the landscape
(Benson and Roe 2007). Besides landscape architects can
think globally and act locally to make sense. A remark
about this statement is that landscape architects should
not just think about: is it affordable? Is it beautiful? Is
it what the client wants? Is it art? Will my professional
colleagues approve? But instead start asking, first and
foremost, how sustainable is it? Or at least how could
it be less unsustainable? (Benson and Roe 2007).
An important question Benson and Roe in their book
Landscape and Sustainability is about how to make the
landscape sustainable? That is exactly the point which is
important in this thesis: how to design spatial solutions
for creating sustainable (coastal tourism) landscapes.
In the next subchapter the landscape approach will be
examined as a method to design sustainable tourism
landscapes.
4.5 THE LANDSCAPE APPROACH TO
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
The landscape of today becomes a bio-geographical
and a cultural concept which emerged as a borderless
and integrative concept of multi-layered meanings
(Koh 2008). Landscape is a palimpsest of continually
overlaid layers, each of them reflects a certain time
period. Landscape help with their unique qualities to
create an identity for a society. Therefore landscapes
must not be wrenched out of their context of time and
space (Cosgrove 1989 in Knudsen, Greer et al. 2008).
This is exactly what is happing in unsustainable tourism
landscapes. Landscape as an integrative concept is used
to understand the landscape in relation to an ecological
understanding of people-place systems. The integrative
concept of landscape consist of different views on
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
landscapes. Motloch (2000) described ten different
views on landscape:
Landscape as Nature: conservationist view in which in
the natural landscape as an entity should be preserved
at all costs.
Landscape as Habitat: in this view the landscape
is home for humankind. People are envisioned
as working with and altering land to increase its
productivity and domesticate the earth.
Landscape as Artefact: anthropomorphic view sees
the landscape as entity created by people. The holder
of this view sees human expression everywhere in the
landscape.
Landscape as System: holistic view sees the
landscape as a system consisting of independent
subsystems, with elements seen as expressions and
cues for understanding systems and their underlying
processes.
Landscape as Problem: in this view sees the landscape,
including its natural and human-made elements as a
situation which needed correction. Spoiled beaches,
eroded lands, urban blight and sprawl, congestion
and dilapidated buildings are seen as evidence of
problematic landscapes.
Landscape as Wealth: this view is based upon the
perception that people own land. The primary value
of land is its economic worth: all other landscape
measures are secondary to investment potential. In
coastal landscapes tourism is seen as the primary
value for land. Agriculture is replaced by tourism.
Landscape as Ideology: is a view where landscape is
seen as symbol of the values, ideals, aspiration, hopes
and dreams of culture. The landscape is the physical
expression of the culture.
 Landscape as History: is a view in which the landscape
is a complex documentation of the history of natural
and human activities in a particular location
Landscape as Place: is a phenomenological view which
sees the landscape as a sensual experience. It focuses
not on the elements, but on the senses.
Landscape as Aesthetics: this view focuses on the
artistic quality of landscape features and the landscape
as visual scene.
For this thesis landscape as system, landscape as a
problem and landscape as aesthetics are the most
important ones. The landscape is considered as system,
in which all elements are related to each other, and new
developments have to fit into this system. The designs
for Murter aims to fit new tourism developments
into the natural and cultural systems on the island.
Furthermore we see landscape as a problem, because
of tourism interventions created a lot of problems in the
landscape. The new landscape design strategy of this
research needs to contribute in solving these problems.
Landscape aesthetics can help to solve these problems,
by increasing the experience, values, and history of a
place. In our research we elaborate the aesthetic part in
further detail, in for example by discussing the aesthetic
qualities of Murter (see chapter 5.3).
In architecture and tourism discourses, landscape
is still seen as scenery, rather than landscape as an
experiential phenomena and context (Koh 2008). On
the contrary, in landscape architecture, landscape itself
form the basis for new developments. The concept of
landscape replaces place (experience orientated) and
ecology (process orientated) and see it as a integrative
and dynamic concept instead of separate parts (Koh
2008). The application of the landscape concept became
important in the landscape architecture discipline by
the landscape approach. The landscape approach is
an approach which the landscape is central instead of
place or the environment, which means that function is
combined with the sensory world (Lassus 1998 in Koh
2008). According to Koh (2008) the landscape approach
is an integrative, dynamic, evolutionary approach to
seek for understandings and experiences of landscapes
and make designs out of them.
The landscape approach has six implications to the field
of contemporary environmental design practice and
theory. The implications according to Koh (2008) are:
1. Landscape approach applies that landscape, spatially
inclusive of city and countryside, is not just a system/
process, but also an experiential phenomenon;
2. Landscape approach implicated both theoretical
and operational aspects. Landscape is not just what
(space system, scenery), but also how (process, time,
change);
3. Landscape approach provides an alternative to a
compositional and a typological approach to the study
of design;
4. Landscape approach has descriptive and prescriptive
aspects. It is more responsive to change, context
and culture than an architectural approach which is
prescriptive;
5. Landscape approach pays more attention to the
horizontal spread of the land, street level experiences
of everyday landscapes for locals and unique
landscapes for tourists;
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
6. Landscape approach sees architecture in the context
of a landscape, which is based on cultural and local
processes.
The six implications of the landscape approach can be
applied on different domains of design. Koh proposed
four different fields in which the landscape approach
already exist: architecture, landscape architecture,
urban/regional planning and design, and civil-/infra
engineering. By this thesis we add a fifth field: the
landscape approach to (sustainable) tourism. We think
this is a very useful approach because landscape is the
basis for (new) tourism developments. This approach
uses place specific local characteristics and resources
for new developments. This creates an identity and
coherence in tourism landscapes, which can be used as
a tourism resource and improve local community life as
well. This will be the basis for sustainable tourism (Koh
2010). According to a conference lecture of Koh (2010),
identity reduces competition and increase recognition
and attractiveness. For tourism landscapes is creating an
identity important to distinct itself from other tourism
destinations. How the landscape approach is applied
to the field of sustainable tourism is addressed in the
following parts of the report.
43
 4.6 STARTING POINTS FOR SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT
To translate theory into practice, a set of general starting
points for sustainable tourism landscape developments
will be used as basis for the design phases. The basis
for these starting points is derived from Guide for
Policy Makers for Making Tourism more Sustainable
of the UNEP and the UNWTO (2005). There are many
documents about making tourism sustainable, but we
consider this document as the most clear and applicable
one for our thesis. The guide for policy makes mentioned
twelve aims of sustainability, each covering the fields of
environmental, economic, and social sustainability (see
figure 18). Every aim is divided into several policy areas.
In table 5, only the ones are mentioned which could be
improved by spatial interventions. Because there are
still too many policy areas to serve as starting points
we generalize them into a set of preconditions for the
design phase.
Use the local landscape for the production of renewable
resources
According to guide for policy makers of the UNEP and
the UNWTO (2005): A sustainable future depends
on the careful management of resources to ensure
their availability for present and future generations.
Resources are land, water, raw materials and energy. In
first instance, resource management is about reducing
the use of resources. Resource consuming aspects of
tourism (golf courses, terrace air-conditioning, swimming
pools, etcetera) should be banned or restricted. For the
production of resources it is important to look what
nature, in terms of landscape and climate, has to offer.
By using the landscape resources the (environmental,
44
socio-cultural, economic and aesthetic) impact of the
production should be minimized The resources have to
be renewable, so the geo-physical cycles (wind, water,
sun, etcetera) are closed (Benson and Roe 2007).
Transition to green modes of transport
Also the promotion of sustainable transport modes
is significant in reducing the use of natural resources
(UNEP and WTO 2005). This exists of discouraging car
use and promoting public transport or slow modes of
traffic (walking and biking).
Protection of the (agri-) cultural and natural landscape
Urban sprawl should be prevented by protecting the
most valuable (agricultural and natural) areas (UNEP
and WTO 2005). Instead of constantly new construction
of new tourism buildings, existing buildings should be
regenerated or empty places within the urban area
should be build first (infillment). If new structures are
built into the (agri-) cultural or natural landscape the
design of new buildings should be in harmony with the
existing landscape patterns (UNEP and WTO 2005).
Strengthen the landscape identity
The Guide for Policy Makers (UNEP and WTO 2005)
states that respect for, and understanding of, cultural
diversity between nations and peoples is a key principle
of sustainable development. The use of local urban
planning traditions, architecture, materials, and habits
will distinct the destination from others and increase
the marketing position of the destination (UNEP and
WTO 2005). Secondly, landscape matters to locals,
because they create their identity through social and
physical experiences in this landscape (Benson and Roe
2007). Sustainable tourism makes local residents aware
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
of the social and also economic value of their cultural
and natural landscape, which will make it more easy to
protect them.
Increase the physical/Social-perceptual carrying capacity
To prevent conflicts between locals and tourists, the
enlargement of the physical and social-perceptual
carrying capacity of a touristic hotspot is recommended.
By increasing the carrying capacity more people can be
at the same place, at the same time, without raising the
feeling of overcrowding (Mowforth and Munt 2008).
Zoning could be a spatial strategy at a local level to
increase the carrying capacity. The identification of
zones should be based on a very careful assessment of
resources and related to strategic spatial issues (UNEP
and WTO 2005).
Make connections between tourist accommodations
and local facilities
Physical connections should be made between the large
scale tourism facilities and the environment, so tourists
are more likely to visit the surroundings of their resorts
and spend their money at local businesses. Connections
will improve the collaboration between businesses,
which will optimize the profits for the local community
(UNEP and WTO 2005). On the other hand tourist
facilities and amenities should be accessible for the local
community as well (UNEP and WTO, 2005).
Facilitate new modes of tourism
The first policy implication of the guide for policy makers
is understanding the market. This means adaptation to
trends and changes in travel patterns and tastes (UNEP
and WTO 2005). One of the most important trends in
tourism is the shift to post-modern tourist and the
increase of environmental concern (see chapter 2.3). To
facilitate this trends, it asks for a completely new spatial
vision on tourism. New modes of tourism (cultural,
active, wellness, adventure) are less climate based than
the traditional fordist tourism, and therefore they could
also take place out of the main tourist season. This
contributes to another aim of the UNEP and UNWTO:
the decrease seasonality in tourism to deliver quality
employment (UNEP and WTO 2005). The creation of a
better micro-climate at touristic areas will contribute to
make places more attractive out of season.
Use local aesthetics for new developments
Tourism landscapes are filled with different meanings
and experiences for the tourists (Knudsen, Greer et al.
2008). This is very important for the economic situation
of a destination, because when tourist are satisfied, it
is more likely that they will return to the destination,
recommend others to visit, or spend more money
(UNEP and WTO 2005). Landscape experience is about
physical elements (light or colours), magnitude (daylight
and weather conditions), and geometry, but also about
aesthetics which is strongly related to the scenery of the
physical elements, the landscape itself (Makhzoumi and
Pungetti 1999). The impact of tourism development
depends partly on sympathetic and creative designs,
effective landscaping using indigenous species, and use
of high quality materials. The design of new buildings
should be in harmony with the landscape, and where
appropriate reflect traditional designs (UNEP and
WTO 2005). Beauty is an essential ingredient for the
satisfactory of humans, and thus tourists (Makhzoumi
and Pungetti 1999). Pikkemaat and Weiermair (2003)
recognize this importance by stating that the search
for an ideal design or aesthetic form for a destination is
trying to evoke the most positive feelings among tourists.
This is difficult, because aesthetics like culture undergoes
changes throughout time and it varies between different
groups of people. However aesthetics play a crucial role
in making landscapes more sustainable, because when
the majority of the users like the place more, it is also
tend to last longer.
Hiding the negative aspects and show the quality of the
landscape
The quality of the visitor experience is strongly depended
on the visual aspect. One of the major goals of the policy
guide of the UNEP and WTO (2005) is to maintain and
enhance the quality of landscapes, both urban and rural,
and avoid the physical and visual degradation of the
environment. Besides the use of local aesthetics and the
strengthening the place identity, the visual experience is
about what can be seen and what can be seen not.
Involve local stakeholders in the design process
Despite the lack of involvement of the local population
in the decision making process which is not a spatial
problem, giving people responsibility and control over
their lives is a fundamental principle of sustainable
development (UNEP and WTO 2005). Sustainability
requires engagement of the community and democratic
participatory design (Koh 2010). Therefore this landscape
approach to (sustainable) tourism should include public
involvement in the process.
This involvement of local stakeholders is important,
because they are exploiting, in most cases, the tourism
businesses and they have to be convinced of the necessity
of sustainable future. Furthermore the differences in
values between the three main stakeholder groups
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
(External investors, tourists, and the local population
is very important in this participatory approach.
Landscape architects can play the role of intermediator
between the tourism sector, tourists, and the local
population. They can integrate the different values and
the associated demands of those groups in designing
tourism landscapes.
SUMMARY CHAPTER 4
The research has three important aims:
- Theoretical aim: develop landscape strategy and
general design principles to translate sustainable
tourism theory into a spatial design for sustainable
tourism developments;
- Empirical aim: develop a landscape design and
principles which can guide tourism developments in
sustainable way on the island of Murter, Croatia;
- Methodological aim: Develop a method make
a landscape strategy and design principles for
sustainable tourism developments.
Landscape architects are able to distinguish the
character of a place and use them in the designs.
Besides they can visualize the designs and function
as an intermediator. Therefore they are suitable to
design sustainable tourism landscapes.
This thesis uses the landscape approach to
(sustainable) tourism.
From the policy guide of the UNEP and WTO ten
starting points are created. They serve as input for
the design phase.
45
 Aims UNEP and Concrete policies where spatial interventions can contribute Starting points as input for the scenario designs
WTO (2005) (UNEP and WTO 2005) and location designs
Economic Meet the market conditions (demand) Facilitate new modes of tourism (cultural, active, natural tourism)
viability Nature and quality of experience by maintaining an attractive Use local aesthetics for new developments
environment
Local prosperity Support and encourage a network of businesses. Make connections between tourist accommodations and local
facilities
Promoting local business and purchasing local products Make connections between tourist accommodations and local
facilities
Employment Extend the tourist season Facilitate new modes of tourism (cultural, active, natural tourism)
quality
Social equity - -
Visitor Ensuring that tourism facilities and infrastructure are accessible and Facilitate new modes of tourism (cultural, active, natural tourism)
fulfillment useable for different target group
Encourage and enable tourists to learn about and appreciate Strengthen the landscape identity
cultures and the environment they visit
Local control Fully engage the local community in the development of tourist Involve local stakeholders in the design process
policies and plans
Raise public awareness of the ways in which tourism can affect Involve local stakeholders in the design process
communities.
Community Increase social carrying capacity Strengthen the landscape identity
wellbeing Improve traffic management and infrastructure Transition to green modes of traffic
Take the environment into account in new tourism development Increase the physical and social perceptual carrying capacity
plans
Maximizing the availability of open space (accessible for visitors and Make connections between tourist accommodations local facilities
locals
Cultural richness Effective visitor management: spreading and deflecting demand Increase the physical and social perceptual carrying capacity
Conserving and show the historic and cultural heritage features Strengthen the landscape identity
Incorporating aspects of local cultural heritage and distinctiveness Strengthen the landscape identity
into various elements of visitor experiences

Table 5: Concrete policies where spatial interventions can contribute to and the derived starting points for the design phase (UNEP
and WTO 2005).

46 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

Aims UNEP and Concrete policies where spatial interventions can contribute Starting points as input for the scenario designs
WTO (2005) (UNEP and WTO 2005) and location designs
Physical integrity The siting of new structures with respect to physical landform, Strengthen the landscape identity
vegetation and the coherence of existing urban structures
The scale and density of new developments should be clustered: to Strengthen the landscape identity
keep a place natural as possible
Quality of development and attention to detail. The impact of Use local aesthetics for new developments
tourism development depends partly on sympathetic and creative
design, effective landscaping with indigenous species and use of
high quality materials.
Visitor management measures to reduce pressures and deflect Increase the physical and social perceptual carrying capacity
activities to more robust sites.
Maintaining traditional rural landscape features, Strengthen the landscape identity
Controlling intrusive new development, such as unsightly buildings Hiding the negative aspects and show the quality of a place
Maintaining the quality of public open spaces Use local aesthetics for new developments
Maintaining the fabric and facades of historic properties Use local aesthetics for new developments
Biological Creating network of protected areas and consider their potential for Protect valuable natural and (agri) cultural areas
diversity sustainable tourism
Rural landholders can earn additional income from tourism directly Make connections between tourist accommodations local facilities
and indirectly, such as selling organic food.
Resource An integrated planning approach is required for creating an Involve local stakeholders in the design process
efficiency equitable balance between the needs of local communities and
tourism industry.
Reusing and recycling water where possible Use the local landscape for the production of renewable resources.
Providing renewable energy sources in tourist destination Use the local landscape for the production of renewable resources.
Promoting the use of design and materials for tourism facilities that Use the local landscape for the production of renewable resources.
maximize insulation and the use of natural heat, light and
ventilation
Use of local materials can add to quality and distinctiveness Use local aesthetics for new developments
Environmental Favour low-impact forms of transport: promotion of walking and Transition of green modes of traffic
purity cycling

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 47

II MURTER CASE

Figure 19: Slanica bay, Murter

 INTRODUCTION
The Mediterranean is too large to develop a landscape
strategy and design principles for sustainable
development of coastal tourism landscapes. Therefore
the island of Murter was selected as a case study for this
thesis.

The island of Murter is situated in the ibenik-Knin

county in the historically Dalmatian region, in Croatia (see
figure 20). This region is a famous holiday destination.
Tourism in this region is concentrated along the coast,
except a few hotels and campsites at the edge of the
National park Krka can be found (see figure 21). Nearby
the cities of Zadar and ibenik a few resort clusters are
situated. Murter island is considered as a touristic cluster
as well in terms of accommodation, but the quality of
the hotels, campsites apartments and bungalows is low
(mainly 2 or 3 stars). One of the main tourism sectors
of Murter island is the marine tourism. The island has
a dense concentration of marinas is considered as the
main gate to the popular National Park Kornati. Except
the marine and the classic sun, sea, sand tourism Murter
has not that many exploited tourist attractions. However
the Dalmatian landscape offers tourists a lot of cultural
and natural attractions. The UNESCO listed, old towns of
Split and Trogir and the national parks Krka and Kornati
are the most well-known attractions in the region.

Currently more than five thousand people living on

Murter, of which most of them in the four villages:
Murter, Betina, Tisno, and Jezera (see figures 23-26). The
island is eleven kilometres long, two kilometres wide,
Figure 20: location of Murter island
and it contains a lot of hills, including the highest one:
Radu, which is 125 meters above sea level (figure 22).

50 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism


A fifteen meter draw-bridge connected the island with
de mainland, which is a major advantage of Murter
island in comparison with other islands (Lonar 2009).
From this bridge a primary road connect the island to the
former Adriatic highway: the 8-road. In the beginning of
the twenty-first century by the construction of a real
highway (A1) was completed. This caused an economic
impulse for the region, because the travel times
decreased significantly. Tourists from western Europe
arrive at the airports of Split or Zadar. Remarkable is that
almost every flight is seasonal.
Murter island enhances a lot of spatial qualities: 25
beautiful bays, sandy beaches, great panoramas, Roman
remains, numerous of dry stone walls, wonderful
historic cores, and so on. These qualities attracted a lot
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Figure 21: Tourism map of the Dalmatian region
of tourists to the island during the last decades. Tourism
brought a lot of positive things to Murter (especially on
the economic level), but on the other hand it caused a
lot of problems as well. This second part of this thesis
is providing an extensive analysis about the landscape
qualities, the tourism development and the problems
which caused by tourism developments on Murter
island.
51
 Figure 22: Base map of Murter island

52 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

Figure 23: Murter town Figure 24: Betina

Figure 25: Jezera Figure 26: Tisno

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 53
 5. LANDSCAPE QUALITIES
In the latest tourism brochure Murter island presented
itself as otok toka, translated as the greatest island.
Right in the middle of the Croatian coastline, in the
vicinity of the mainland, a beautiful jewel with a ring
of pearls was caught, the greatest island Murter
(Argonauta 2011). But what makes this island a beautiful
jewel? In this chapter this will be explained by the
natural, cultural and aesthetic qualities of the island.
5.1 NATURAL LANDSCAPE QUALITIES
The island of Murter is part of the Dalmatian littoral and
situated in the Adriatic sea. The Dalmatian coast is called
a canale- or vallone (Italian words for narrow) coasts,
because it consists of a chain of very narrow islands with
channels in between (Oertel 2005). This landscape is
formed by ingression of the rising postglacial sea into
a relief of coast-parallel anticlines and synclines from a
young orogenesis (Holmes 1965; Kelletat 1995; Jackson
1997 in Oertel 2005). The Dalmatian archipelago is
Figure 27: the sandy beach of Slancia bay
54
part of the North Dalmatian plateau, but the plateau is 5.1.1 Karst landscape
not visible anymore because of by sea level rise in the
The primary landscape type of the Murter island is
post-glacial period (since 10.000 years BC) (Kovaevi
the karst landscape, which stretches out from the
2000). Only the mountain tops, which became islands,
bay of Trieste (Italy) to Albania. This karst landscape
are today above sea level. The Archipelago of Zadar and
has different characteristics than, for example, sand,
ibenik is the most intended part of the Croatian coast
clay and other rocky landscapes (Bonacci 2009). The
which resulted in very unique landscape, flora and fauna
main reason for this difference is the water circulation
and climate (Kovaevi 2000). The master plan of the
of the karst landscape. The enormous differences in
Sibenik Knin County (Louis Berger S.A. 2005) recognize
water availability in time and space, causes typical
this by stating that Murter has an extraordinarily nice
mountainous, green landscape, with many bays cut deep
hydrological and ecological characteristics (Bonacci
2009). Main characteristics of the karst landscape are
into the mainland, with peninsulas and stunning views
steep slopes with small to large depressions, subsurface
onto the Kornati. This subchapter is describing the
draining, and a strong connection between surface
different facets of this beauty. A research by the institute
and groundwater. The karst landscape of Croatia has an
of Tourism is confirming this, because 93,1 percent of the
unusually rich diversity, which is of European and even
tourists a satisfied with the landscape on Murter island,
global significance (Bonacci 2009). The subterranean and
while Croatias average is 86,3 percent (Louis Berger S.A.
terrestrial karst ecosystems are fragile, interconnected,
2005). This is by far, the most satisfying aspect of their
and depend upon the maintenance of a delicate balance
holiday (number two, good for families, is second with
between topographic relief, hydrology/climate, and
just 72,4 per cent).
vegetation.
Figure 28: view on Kosirina bay with on the background: the Figure 29: The natural landscape with indigenous pine
Kornati islands forests
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Figure 30: Climate map of Murter island
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 55
 The coast of Murter island exists of twenty-five bays
(uvalas in Croatian) and cliffs, which differ in size, and
steepness. Some bays have the privilege of a sandy
beach. The most famous one is Slanica bay (figure 27),
followed by Kosirina (figure 28), igrada and Podvrske
bay. Sandy beaches are rear along the Dalmatian coast,
which made them one of the main tourist attractions of
the island. The characteristics of all these bays could be
found in a table in appendix A.
5.1.2 Flora and Fauna
According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection
and Physical Planning (2000), the contribution of the
Adriatic coast to the total biological diversity is very high.
However the islands of these littoral are very sensitive
ecological units (Kovaevi 2000). The island of Murter
belongs to the evergreen area, due to their geographical
location, witch evades the strong salt Bora winds from
the North-east (see figure 30) (Kovaevi 2000). The
most common flora specimens on the island are: pine
trees, fig trees, cypresses, rosemary, lavender, bearberry
and the most important ones: the olive trees (see figure
31.
Flora of Murter island, and especially the Kornati islands,
Figure 31: Common trees Olive tree (Olea euopaea), Holm oak (Quercus ilex), Common fig(Ficus Carica), Black Pine (Pinus nigra)
56
includes 881 different plant species including 12 orchids,
17 endemic species and 28 Croatian Red List species.
Six of them are critically endangered. Especially the
spring flora is impressive for tourists who can discover a
paradise of flowers (Louis Berger S.A. 2005).
Murter and the Kornati islands are famous for their
underwater fauna, such as the Bottlenose Dolphins,
Loggerhead sea turtles, Basking sharks, lobsters, crabs,
sea urchins, and a lot of other kinds of fishes. On land
there is less variety of animals: the European Shag,
different kinds of lizards, bats and multiple kinds of birds
are the most common ones. Wild large mammals are
absent on the island of Murter and the Kornati islands.
5.1.3 Climate
The Northern Dalmatian coast is characterized by mild
and temperate winters (with an average temperature
of 8 degrees Celsius) and hot summers (with an average
temperature of 27 degrees Celsius) (Vukievic, Jurec et
al. 2005). It is one of the sunniest and warmest coasts
in Europe with an average of 2,698 hours of sunshine per
year (Lonar 2009). As in the most Mediterranean holiday
destinations, Murter has the largest precipitation during
the autumn and early winter. The driest months are July
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
and August, with just five days of rain and an average
precipitation of forty millimetres a month (Vukievic,
Jurec et al. 2005).
One of the most important factors of the climate on
Murter are the two main types of wind: the Bora and
the Jugo (see figure 30). The Bora is a very strong, cold
wind that blows from the north-eastern mountains
onto the Adriatic coast region of Italy, Slovenia, and
Croatia (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2010). This wind
can occur unexpectedly and can reach speeds of more
than hundred kilometres per hour. Most of the time the
Bora blows in the winter, with an average frequency of
six days a month (Weather Online 2010). In the summer
this is less than one day a month. The Jugo is a southerly
or south-easterly warm and humid wind customarily
considered as sirocco wind (Vukievic, Jurec et al.
2005). Despite it is usually less dangerous than the Bora,
which can reach wind speeds up to 120 kilometres an
hour. A less common, but pleasant wind on the island
is the mistral. This is a cold, dry wind blowing from the
north over the northwest coast of the Mediterranean
(Cavaleri, Bergamasco et al. 1996). This wind is pleasant
in summer, because it bring a cool breeze to the island.
On Murter island these winds have, in combination with
the southern sun orientation, an impact on land use on
the island. For example the Turistika Ulica road, which
is full of second homes is situated on the south side of
the island. In the back of this residential areas is Radu
mountain, which protect the houses from the strong,
cold Bora winds in spring and autumn. This location is
one of the most favourable locations for second home
owners, which profits from the benefits of this micro-
climate during spring and autumn.
BOX 1: NATIONAL PARK KORNATI
The history of Murter island cannot be seen apart from the history the Kornati islands. The Kornati
islands consist of 120 islands/land bodies, of which Kornat (32 square kilometres) and Zut (14,8 square
kilometres) form 69,0 percent of the total land surface (Kului 2001). Despite that most of the soil is rocky
and infertile, the Kornati island have an important meaning in the history of Murter. The relationship
between Murter and Kornati started in 1627 (Kului 2001). Living on the overcrowded island of Murter
was because of socio-economic circumstances very hard. New land was needed to extent the agricultural
areas. As an extension of their lands on Murter, local inhabitants started to colonize the Kornati islands,
because they were the only free inhabited islands areas left in the region. They use the islands for
breeding of their cattle on the pastures of the islands (see figure 33). Furthermore, the sea offered them Figure 32: One of the main villages on the Kornati
fish and salt. Later on, they started olive cultivation as well, because it guaranteed them short stays on
the islands. Even wine grapes were produced on the quaternary layers of the islands, which resulted in
longer stays on the islands.

In 1852, the Murterians decided to buy the land supported by a big mortgage, because of the enormous
taxes, which where even higher than the lands income. Despite the devastation of the vineyards, by the
phylloxera disease, the agrarian revolution tripled the production, especially on the cleared limestone
land. This success was overruled by the Second World War, which took many lives from the most vital
part of the population. This, in combination with the search for jobs in the civil-service employment, the
interest of the islands nearly disappeared Kului 2001). At that time, the Kornati was called a dessert
where only a few old and low class people where working.
Figure 33:Stretched dry stone wall to seperate the sheeps

However tourism causes a renaissance for the Kornati islands and turned them into a gold mine for the
people of Murter. The landowners explored the opportunities of tourism developments on the islands
and constructing restaurants and holiday homes (nowadays sold as Robinson tourism destinations see
figure 34), to gain extra income from their land (Ateljevic and Doorne 2003). A lot of landowners put
effort to change their land to gain the highest profit out of their property on the Kornati. This resulted
into a uncontrolled development which degraded the area. With the aim to change this situation the
government established the Kornati as a National Park in private ownership to bring order. But still a
far-reaching protection failed to occur. At one hand the Murterians show a lot of pride while they are
talking about the Kornati, but on the other hand they tend to develop all tourist facilities in order to gain
as much money as possible, which destroys the unique value of the islands.
Figure 34: One of the houses sold as Robinson tourism

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 57

 5.2 CULTURAL LANDSCAPE QUALITIES 5.2.1 Agricultural landscape during the spring and autumn (Croatian Environment
On Murter island we can distinct two types of cultural Agency 2007). In order to keep these lands suitable for
Besides the natural karst landscapes, the cultural karst
karst landscapes (see figure 35): the asymmetrical agriculture, small canals were dug for dehydration. The
landscape of Murter island is also divers, because karst
terraced dry stone wall landscape and the karst valleys canals took over the function of dry stone walls as parcel
landscapes asks for different forms of cultivation (in terms
(Anii and Perica 2002). These landscapes are originally border as well. In general, the parcel size in the valleys
of agricultural practices, methods, and intensity of soil
poor soils with a thinner pedagogical cover (Lonar 2009). is larger than the average amount on the island. Those
exploitation) (Anii and Perica 2002). Anii and Perica
The terraced dry stone wall landscapes are situated on parcels are used for multi-purpose cultivation. They have
(2002) distinguish at least ten basic land use categories.
the hills of the island. The form of the small terraces is smooth and straight plots witch are created by gathering
The most important categories are pastures, crop fields,
asymmetrical and are mainly planted with olive trees stones for the pastures and grasslands (Anii and Perica
olive orchards, vineyards, and forests. The main cultivation
which are planted in a low density and in an irregular 2002).
method for the agricultural site preparation was stone
pattern. In former times, people used to cultivate grapes
gathering and arrangement (Anii and Perica 2002).
as well. However most of the grape cultivation on the Besides the two main karst landscapes, another,
Farmers removed stones from their land and created dry
island of Murter came to an end, because of a disease completely different landscape type can be found on
stone walls and heaps, which were constantly changing
outbreak among the grape plants. Murter island: the polder landscape. Between the
and enlarging in parallel with land cultivation activities,
villages of Murter and Betina this agricultural area has
and create structures that support, intersect and border
The karst valleys could be found near the old town of the name Poje, which means polder in Croatian (see
among arable lands of various shapes and sizes (Anii
Murter and on the south-west side of Jezera in the so figure 36). This area contains a sandy/clay soil with a
and Perica 2002). These dry stone walls are the most
called Blato area. The valleys become fertile, because thick layer of terra rossa, which is much more fertile
obvious cultural landscape characteristic of the Croatian
of leaching of nutrients. The process of leaching was than the rest of the island (Lonar 2009). Furthermore
coastal landscape. They have had several functions:
happened for ages and ages (Lonar 2009). Beside the the surface of Poje is really flat and relatively low. These
defining borders, protecting the fertile soils on the steep
high fertility of the valleys, the soils are also wet. This characteristics result in a more intensive land use with a
slopes and they are important for the bio diversity as
made it less useful for intensive agriculture. This wet lot of crop cultivation, vine yards, and allotment gardens.
well, because they provide shelter, shade and moisture
landscape is exposed by the name of Jezera town which Also the allotment pattern is really different: the polder
for all kind of animals during the hot summers (Bonacci
means literally lakes. The name Jezera refers to the natural has really straight and long parcel borders, while the rest
2009).
lakes in the these valley, which arise by heavy rainfall of the island exist of irregular block parcels.

Figure 35: The Karst landscape near Luica bay Figure 36: The polder landscape between Betina and Murter
58 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Figure 37: Map of the cultural qualities on Murter island

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 59

 5.2.2 Historic artefacts near the historical site). There is assumed that Colentum buildings are packed together in most cases separated
existed until the sixth century when a devastating by tiny alleys of approximately one to two meters wide
The first occupation on the island dates back 3200
earthquake slide the village into the sea. Nowadays local (see figure 39 and 42). These alleys are connected to the
years by a Libburnian tribe (interview with professor
people considered Colentum as the Croatian Atlantis. main street of the historical town. The historical main
Kristijan Juran by Zellmer 2008). They were the only
On the other hand, some scientists assumed that pirates streets often have a very small profile with a maximum
inhabitants on the island until the first century before
robbed and destroyed the village in the second century of six meter wide. While the historical streets used to
Christ, when the Murter became part of the Roman
after Christ (DomoNet 2008). be the centres of activity on the island they are now
empire. Nowadays there are two places on the island
generally have just a residential function.
were you can still find remains of the Roman times: the
After the disappearance of Colentum in the sixth century,
Roman village of Colentum at the spit of Gradina and
the island was abandoned for more than hundred years The harbours are the most important spots on the island
villa Rustica, near Plitka vala bay. The remains of the
(Zellmer 2008). In the twelfth century there is the first for centuries. In former times this was because of the
village Colentum became an important attraction among
prove of settlement on the island, in the form of two fishing and shipbuilding activities and the harbour was
tourists (especially divers, see figure 40). According to
graves. Written proof is available since the fourteenth and is the gateway to the Kornati islands, where the
archaeological findings the village contained a harbour
century when the first written documents about Murter farmers have their olive groves and cattle stocks (more
of quite a maritime significance. The houses of the
Selo, then called Viliko Selo (big village) and Jezera, then about the Kornati island in box one). The squares near
village were built at the slope on the of hill Gradina.
called Malo Selo small village, appeared (Zellmer 2008). the harbour provided space for a market to sell their
The main street lead from the foot till the top of the
These first towns are split up in two parts: the historical goods to locals or traders. Because of the decline of
hill. Remarkable are the remains of and old villa of fifty
part on a hill, to protect the inhabitant from flooding, these traditional professions, and the rise of tourism, the
meters length which was situated along the coast. This
and the harbour in the bay. harbourfronts are now tourism centres with restaurants,
luxury building, probably decorated with marble and
cafs, shops, apartments and marinas. In Tisno and
frescoes, was extended with an thermal complex with sea
The historical cores of the cities which are located on the Jezera the storage buildings are facing seaside while in
oriented rooms. This used to be the first form of tourism
slopes of a hill (Murter and Jezera) or at the coast (Tisno Murter and Betina the backside of these buildings facing
on the island of Murter (according the information board
and Betina) have a concentrated building structure. The the sea. These buildings were mainly storage places for

Figure 38: Roka Church in Figure 39: Small alley in the Figure 40: Remains of a Roman villa Figure 41: Dry stone wall Figure 42: Alley in the historic
Murter harbour of Murter core Murter Selo
60 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
the fishers and Kornati farmers to store their nets, fish churches. The oldest one is the Romanesque church island was harsh and the prospects of development
and olives. so on. During the fifteenth century, Tisno and of St. Martin, which dates back to the end of the 11th were, despite the cultivation of the Kornati islands, very
Betina were founded by refugees of the Turkish-Ottoman century (Argonauta 2011). Other famous churches are limited (Strien 2008). Professions in that time were: olive
empire. These villages do not have the favour of a calm the Sv. Roka church with a magnificent view on the village cultivation, cattle breeding, fishery, and shipbuilding.
bay and are more oriented towards the mainland. of Murter (see figure 38) and the Baroque church of St. Since the sixties of the twentieth century, tourism
Francis of Assisi which dates back to 1602 (Argonauta offers increasing prospects as an exit out of these
It is unclear where the name Murter came from. In 2011). Also some roman remains are still visible, there harsh life circumstances. It became interesting for the
general there are two theories: the first one claimed is an old military complex on Raduc hill, and the village people to make a living out of it (Ateljevic and Doorne
that Murter is derived from Morter which refers cores itself can be considered as historic artefacts. 2003). Tourism started as an extra income next to their
to the notion of death (mors or mortis) (Kulusic 1967). traditional jobs, but during the last three decades it has
This name was given in the thirteenth century with the Last, but not least, Murter island has some very special become the main income source for the inhabitants of
vestiges of the Roman Colentum. When the Murterians historic water catchment installations, which are typical the island.
are cultivating the land they discover a lot of tombs. This for the region. Near the Sv. Mihovila church in Murter, at
claim is supported by the Latin name of Murter (Insulis the south of Tisno still bare rocky slopes could be found To commemorate those traditions, and to show them to
Cruciferum), which means cross-bearing island and with at the bottom of the slope a water collection tank. the tourists, several festivals are organized throughout
refers to the death. These installations are not in use anymore, in Murter the year (especially in the tourist season). Examples are
the even make parking lot on top, but they are icons for the traditional regattas (sail races), The international
An important moment in the history of Murter island sustainable water management of the past. donkey race (to show the old way of transport), the
was the construction of a bridge, which connects the Murterski Pir wedding ceremony (presenting the
north-eastern part of the island to the mainland. This 5.2.3 Cultural traditions traditional wedding customs), Brganja Day (to honour of
bridge was constructed in the eighteenth century and a special type of shellfish caught in Betina) and Marian
In the past it was harsh to make a living on the island,
replaced by a draw bridge in 1832 (Info Adriatic 2011). pilgrimage (holy religious day) (Argonauta 2011). A
because of the lack of fertile soil. From the beginning
Important visible historic artefacts of today are the ten calendar of all festivals could be found in appendix A.
of the twentieth century till the sixties living on the

History of Murter Island

Construction Hotel Collentum

Construction Marina Hramina

Construction Marina Jezera
Construction Hotel Borovik

End of the socialist regime

Start Yugoslavian civil war,
Murter connected to the

Tourism numbers on the

Settlement of the Croats

Murterians bought the

many murterians died

Foundation of Murter

First tourism building

mainland by a bridge

same level as before

Start of Colonization

End wine cultivation

Foundation of Tisno

Second World War,

Roman settlement

First written proof

collaspe tourism
First occupation

Selo and Jezera

Kornati islands

Kornati islands
Abandonment

on the island
of the island

by a disease
and Betinna

the war
The fordist The tourism

war
Liburnian era Roman era The agricultural era Settlement of the villages The Kornati era The harsh living era tourism era revival era

3200 100 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2011
b.c. b.c.
Figure 43: The history of Murter island
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 61

5.3 AESTHETIC QUALITIES
Besides the natural and cultural qualities, there are also
qualities based on design, making places beautiful, and
aesthetics. Tourists are in general attracted to beautiful
natural, cultural and urban places. In this subchapter
especially the urban aesthetics are examined such as,
the public space and architecture. The aesthetics of the
natural and cultural landscape are already examined in
the previous sub chapters.
5.3.1 Public space
Squares are considered as the basic features for public
live for tourists and locals. Most of the squares on Murter
island are located along or nearby the sea. In general the
squares on the island are not very attractive. The most of
them are made of concrete or asphalt and in some case
they are more luxurious and made of (concrete) stones.
On the squares there are white benches situated. The
scarce plantation of the squares consist mostly of small
white painted planters or pots with one year flowers in
it. The squares are mainly used as parking lots, terraces,
places for events, and summer touristic markets. Besides
bad aesthetic examples there are also some squares
where more attention is paid to create pleasant squares.
These squares have in general more green in the form
of trees and varied plant borders. Shade constructions
covered with vine related plants offers a lot of shade for
terraces, parking lots and building entrances. The trees
are commonly situated around the square surrounded
by planter of local stones. More attention is paid to the
pavement as well, because of the use of (sometimes
local) stones. An impression of the charateristics of
public space can be found in figure 44.
62
ARCHITECTURE CHARACTERISTICS
gable roof with red tiles
Besides the squares, the seaside boulevards are like the boulevards and some really busy road like the
important public spaces on Murter island as well. These Hrvatskih vladra in Murter town. The material of this
coastal sidewalks are (of concrete, asphalt or stone sidewalk is very diverse.
plastered Remarkable is the colours
walls with pastel pedestrian
pavers) decorated with some benches and green (palm zone which is a path between the town center of Murter
trees, pine trees, olive trees, etcetera, with flowering and Slanica beach. This is the only path on the island
two
plants, grass, or gravel underneath). Most of the which is just made fororpedestrians.
three storiesForhigh
bikes there are
boulevards have a beautiful view on the harbour where no special lanes orwooden
tracks, all thegreen
dark time they
or skyhave
bluetowindow
share
shutters
there is a lot of activity by fishermen load or unloading their lane with cars. There are some tourist agencies
walls
their boats. The winds from the sea and the shade by the which are offering bikeofroutes
local stones
for tourists, but these
trees provide a pleasant micro climate in summer. routes are not ongoing. Most of the time the end of in a
bay and the cyclist needs to take the same road back.
There are many different types of roads on the island. The
main roads are made out of asphalt and the minor roads Murter island has no large parks. However there are some
on the countryside are just made out of lose stones. The pocket parks, with a size between 50 and 100 square
maintenance of the roads divers a lot. Most of the roads meters. They could be found in the towns of Murter and
does not have a sidewalk, so the pedestrians have to walk Jezera. These parks are considered as a quality, because
along the road. Of course there are some exceptions, the offer a nice place to chat and relax in the shade for
PUBLIC SPACE CHARACTERISTICS
wine covers
indigenous- or palm trees
plastered walls with pastel colours
pocket parks
wooden benches
pavement of local flag stones
white concrete planter to mark space
Figure 44: typical public space characteristics of Murter island
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
both: tourists and locals. The best example a pocket 5.3.2 Architecture upstairs. The main reason for this inverse lay out of floors
park is the small botanic garden, founded by the island was that that during the summer months is that ground
Most of historical buildings on Murter island have similar
sustainability centre Argonauta. This park is showing the floor was much cooler than the first floor. In the garden
architectural characteristics (figure 47). All the traditional
indigenous plants to tourists as a small point of interest. there an outdoor stove is very common.
houses are built with local stones form the island and are
The beaches are the main attraction of Murter island.
two or three stories high. It depends on the importance
Especially the sandy beaches of Slanica, Korsirina, and Currently, the traditional building style is reinvented.
of the building or the wealth of the owner, if the walls are
Cigrada bay are highly rated by tourists (Tourism Master- This neo-building style makes use of place identical,
plastered or not. The plastered walls are often painted
& Marketing plan ibenik-Knin, 2005). To accommodate historical principles and combine them with modern
white, but also have pastel colours like yellow, brown or
those tourist certain public facilities, such as a boulevard, techniques. On Murter these buildings are made out of
green. The walls are covered with gable roof covered
sport- and play facilities or benches are constructed local stones with a red tiled roof. They have more and
with red tiles. The door- and window frames were
near the beaches. Also pebble beaches attracting a lot bigger windows than the traditional buildings, because
constructed out of wood and most of the time coloured
of tourist during the peak season, although they are less of new techniques. They are adapted to new lifestyles
with a sky-blue or dark-green paint. The windows often
favourable. as well. The appreciation of those buildings is high,
have wooden hatches. Remarkable is that the main
because they express to local identity and they use local
entrance of some traditional houses is on the first floor.
materials which is aesthetic responsible. However this
This entrance is accessible by stairs, which sometimes
building style is quite labour intensive which increases
have a toilet or animal shed underneath. Sleeping rooms
the building costs. Examples are the Fabro restaurant at
are on the ground floor, while the reception rooms are
Murter harbour and a small home on Pudarica hill.
ARCHITECTURE CHARACTERISTICS

gable roof with red tiles

plastered walls with pastel colours

Figure 45: attractive boulevard in Tisno two or three stories high

wooden dark green or sky blue window
shutters
walls of local stones

Figure 46: traditional houses in Murter Selo Figure 47: typical architecture of Murter island

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 63

 Figure 48: landscape unity map of Murter island
64 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
 URBAN SPRAWL HARBOUR FRONT VILLAGE EDGE

CULTURAL LANDSCAPE AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE TOURISM BAY

NEW TOURISM DEVELOPMENT BAY 5.3.3 Landscape Unities

Another aesthetic quality of Murter island are the diverse landscapes on the island. On Murter island we can distinguish
eight different units (see figures 48 and 49). The built environment exists out of the historic cores, harbourfronts, and
the urban sprawl areas. The historic cores are situated on the hills (Murter Selo and Jezera Selo). The harbourfronts
are concentrated in the bays (Murter and Jezera) or near the historic cores (Tisno and Betina). In Murter town and
Jezera the area between the old town and the harbour area filled with apartment sprawl, while in Tisno and Betina the
sprawl mainly occurred along the coast. The villages are surrounded by village edges, which are connecting them with
the cultural, dry stone wall landscape and the agricultural landscapes in the valleys and polders. Tourism concentrates
mainly around the bays. Most of the bays are still natural, but are facing a lot of touristic pressure (see appendix A).

Figure 49: eight different landscape unities on Murter island

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 65
 5.4 TOURIST INFORMATION ABOUT THE
ISLAND QUALITIES
On the island of Murter there are no attractions such
as museums. Although the Educational Centre for the
Sustainable Development of Islands and Coastal Regions
is offering a small place where tourists could get to know
more about the natural, cultural and historic heritage
of island Murter and the Kornati islands (Argonauta
2011). There is also a small shop in this centre where
tourists can buy a variety of authentic and educational
souvenirs. Furthermore tourists can get some
information of the island are the tourist offices situated
in each village. They are offering some flyers, maps and
booklets about the island. Last year Argonauta started
a signage campaign to make historic sights more visible
and provide information about important historic places
(see figure 50 and 51). They were also the initiators of
the construction of a small botanic garden which shows
some indigenous plants of the island (see figure 52).
Figure 50: an old Roman cistern is resorted and made more
visible through signage by Argonauta
66
5.5 CONCLUSION
On the quality map (figure 53) all the, in this chapter
described, spatial qualities of Murter island are
summarized. From the analysis in the paragraph we can
conclude that Murter island has a lot to offer for tourists.
Not just beaches, but beautiful landscapes, nature,
history, culture, public spaces and architecture as well.
In the scenario and design phase (see part III and IV)
these qualities will be used as a directory to guide new
touristic developments. Before the scenario and design
phase, the problems, which are threatening the qualities
of the island, have to be investigated in detail. This is
described and illustrated in the next chapter.
Figure 51: new information signs nearby Gradina hill
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
SUMMARY CHAPTER 5
Natural qualities unique karst landscape, sandy
beaches, beautiful bays, rich flora and fauna,
magnificent panoramic views, and a pleasant climate
Cultural qualities dry stone wall landscape with olive
groves, historic cores, churches, roman remains, old
harbourfronts, and rich cultural traditions.
Aesthetic qualities use of local materials, architecture
and public space design
Figure 52: information sign about the botanic garden in the
village of Murter
Figure 53: map in which the main qualities are summerized
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 67
 6. TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
6.1 THE TOURISM AREA LIFE CYCLE
THEORY
To structure the development of tourism in Croatia and
Murter, the Tourism Area Life Cycle model of Butler is a
helpful method. In his book The Tourism Area Life Cycle:
Applications and Modifications, Butler describes six
stages of development in tourism areas (Butler 2006).
The original model is constructed by Richard W. Butler in
1972. The basis of this model was the product life cycle
concept whereby the sales of a product proceed slowly
first, continued with a rapid rate of growth, followed by
stagnation and eventually decline (Butler 2006). Butler
connects the phases of the product life cycle concept to
the development of tourism areas. He noticed a similarity
between the sales of a product and the development
of tourism. Initially, the tourism numbers in areas are
small, because of the lack of access, facilities, and local
knowledge. As the facilities and the awareness grow, more
visitors arrive. With the help of marketing and facility
provision the areas popularity grows rapidly. Eventually
the rate of increase of visitor numbers decline because
the carrying capacities are reached (Butler 2006). In
figure 53 the hypothetical evolution of a tourism area is
visualized. Each step is explained shortly.
are not present yet. Because of the limited numbers
the impact on the local economy, the social life and the
environment is low.
Involvement
While the number of tourists grow, a certain regularity
in the visitor patterns (first signs of a tourist season)
occurred. Local residents begin to notice that there is a
possibility to make money out of tourism. As a result they
start to provide services, facilities and accommodations.
In this stage the contact between the visitors and the local
population remains high and increase for locals which
are involved in tourism. The increasing popularity of an
area causes the first pressure on the local government to
organize and provide facilities (transport, information,
signs etcetera) for tourists.
Development
While tourism continues to grow the number of tourists
is equal or exceed the local population in peak periods.
This signal starts a new phase: the development stage. In
this stage a well-defined tourism market is created with
heavy advertisement in the area to attract more tourists.
Local involvement and control of the development by the
government decline rapidly and an increasingly number
of facilities are provided by external organizations, in
particular for accommodation. Changes in the physical
appearance of areas become visible, which is not
approved by most of the local population.
Consolidation
This rapid and often uncontrolled development is followed
by the consolidation stage. In this stage the number of
tourists is still growing but the rate of increase is declining.

The six stages of tourism development are:

Exploration
This is the first start of tourism in an area. A small
number of individual tourists arrive and their behavior
is irregular. They are attracted by the natural or cultural
beauty of the site and not by the facilities, because they Figure 53: graph of the tourism area life cycle of Butler (2006)
68 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
A major part of the regions economy is dependent on
tourism and in the peak season the number of tourists
exceeds the local population. Marketing and advertising
will be wide-reaching and dominates the landscape. The
large numbers of visitors and facilities can arouse some
oppositions among the permanent residents, particular
those involved in the tourist industry.
Stagnation
While the tourism numbers in the area peaks, it enters
the stagnation stage. The capacity levels in terms of
accommodation, infrastructure, facilities, and public
spaces are reached. This causes a lot of environmental
and social problems. The area has still a well-established
image, but is no longer fashionable, which result in
surplus in accommodations and facilities. The natural
and cultural attractions are superseded by imported
artificial facilities.
Figure 54: graph of the TALC combined with tourism arrivals in Croatia
6.2 APPLICATION OF THE TALC ON
CROATIA
For the description of the development of tourism in
Croatia the stages of Tourism Area Life Cycle function as
a guide. To get a visual impression of Croatian tourism
development a graph (see figure 54) is created between
the number of tourist arrivals and time. The light blue
line is the real development of tourist arrivals, while the
dark blue line is simplified line of the real development.
The different stages of the TALC are positioned in the
graph.
Exploration
Tourism started in Croatia the 19th century by the
construction of popular seaside health resorts (Ateljevic,
Corak et al. 2006). Opatija, which is situated at the
northern Adriatic coast, emerged as the first tourism
destination in the country (Corak in Butler 2006). Opatija
and other spa resorts such as in Hvar were hosting the
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
European aristocracy of the time (Ateljevic, Corak et
al. 2006). It was initially a health retreat and winter
destination for wealthy aristocracy who wants to escape
the cold mid-European winters (Corak in Butler 2006). In
the first half of the twentieth century hotels and second
houses were build, mainly for Italian and Austrian visitors.
Concentration of those tourist developments took place
primarily in the Istria region. Until the Second World War
tourism in Croatia grew slowly and stays in many places
in exploration phase. The only exception is the Opatija
Riviera where at that time a lot of accommodations and
facilities were build (Corak in Butler 2006). After Second
World War, tourism changes significantly and in the
fifties/early sixties the involvement stage started.
Involvement
After the second world war the new Yugoslavian
federative Republic, led by Tito, had a national communist
system (Hall 2002). Yugoslavia had a different form of
communism than in the Soviet union. The country
was led by a market socialist system, where federal
devolution and the private sector was allowed particular
in the tourism development (Ateljevic, Corak et al.
2006). The international need for sun, sea and sand
tourism and the good relation of Yugoslavia with the
West European countries, contributed to the growth of
West European tourists, mainly from Austria, Italy and
West-Germany. The good relationship was expressed by
the fact that western European tourists did not need a
visa to enter the country. To meet the growing demand
of tourism, the government was actively involved in the
tourism sector by planning large scale public owned
hotels (Ateljevic, Corak et al. 2006). The first tourism
resorts emerged in late fifties/early sixties nearby big
coastal cities such as Split and ibenik.
69
 Development
To meet the growing demand for tourism, people began
to offer rooms in their own houses, because capacity
of the official state owned accommodations were
insufficient (Ateljevic, Corak et al. 2006). The government
realized the pressing situation of the capacity shortage
and allowed locals to set up family bed and breakfast
accommodations, because they realized the economic
and political benefits of tourism (Jordan 2000). To
stimulate tourism the government decided to improve
the infrastructure by the construction of the Adriatic
highway with the intention to open the borders to
the west (Hall and Page 2006). The opening of the
highway in 1965 was the starting point for a booming
construction era of uncontrolled and unplanned
construction of apartments. In (Plan Bleu 2009 II)this
phenomenon is called apartmanization of the Adriatic
coast. The significance of small-scale, local involvement
in tourism is illustrated by the fact that in 1987, private
accommodations together with campsites comprised
two-thirds of the overall accommodation capacity in
Croatia (Insitut za Turizam 2005 Ateljevic, Corak et al.
2006).
Consolidation
In the second half of the eighties the fast growth of tourist
arrivals diminish. According to Corak (in Butler 2006)
there are no noticeable trends if consolidation of the
tourism demand in Adriatic destinations. The diminish
growth has to deal with the cycle of the Croatian tourism
product. From 1960 until 1990, Croatia was almost a
textbook example of trends in a life cycle curve (Ateljevic
and Corak 2006). A homogeneous market (seasonal,
summer tourism and uniformity of motives for visiting)
and product (seaside passive recreation at favourable
70
prices), formed the ingredients for the occurrence and
identification of stagnation and decline (Weber 1998 in
Ateljevic and Corak 2006). This conclusion was further
strengthened by the notion of the declining value of
money, tour operator withdrawals, and uncoordinated
promotion (Weber 1998 in Ateljevic, Corak et al. 2006).
Also the political instability of Yugoslavia at the end of
the eighties can contribute to the lower growth rate the
late eighties. Despite the diminishing growth of tourist
arrivals, tourism in Croatia was at its peak in the period
between 1985 and 198 with more than 60 million tourist
arrivals in total (Plan Bleu 2009 II). In this era Yugoslavia
secured itself a place in the top ten tourism destinations
in the world (Pearce 1991 in Ateljevic, Corak et al.
2006).
Stagnation and decline
Short after the peak year for tourism in 1988, one of the
most devastating events for Croatian tourism occurred:
the Yugoslavian civil war. In 1991, Croatia declared
independence which was the direct the starting point for
the Yugoslavian civil war (Strien 2008). The war, which
last until 1995, damaged a lot of touristic areas and
expelled the tourists. The Dalmatian region, before the
war in number of foreign overnights, one of the biggest
tourist regions. Due to the war this number dropped
dramatically. In 1992, 129.000 tourists spend their
night which is very low compared with the more than
20.000.000 overnights in 1989 (UNEP 2009). Especially
the western European markets from countries such as
Germany, Netherlands, Great Britain and France were
negatively affected by the five years of political conflicts.
The only area of Croatia with some real tourism in that
period was Istria (Plan Bleu 2009 II). This region was
far from the actual war zone near the border of Serbia
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
and Bosnia (Kunst 1996 in Strien 2008). Most tourists
which visiting Istria came from the neighbouring already
independent country of Slovenia (Plan Bleu 2009 II).
Redevelopment
The recovery of Croatian tourism started after the end
of the war in 1995. The growth continued slowly until
2000, because tourism was endangered again with the
crisis on Kosovo and NATO action in Serbia in 1998 and
1999 (Plan Bleu 2009 II). In the desperation to attract
any form of tourist income, Croatia reduced prices
significantly in the mid-1990s. Especially East Europeans
(Czech republic, Poland and Hungary) were attracted to
what was perceived to be the inexperienced and lower
end of the market (Weber 1998 in Ateljevic and Corak
2006). The real growth started after 2000, because of
positive trends, such as stabilization in the area, the
peaceful change of the government in 2000, and the
negotiations about joining the EU (Plan Bleu 2009 II).
In the last few years, the growth of tourism was the
strongest in Dalmatian region due to the construction
of a new motorway from Zagreb. The accommodation
sector, as the main area of tourism entrepreneurship,
has continued the trend of pre-war times. While the
major hotel capacity remained more or less the same
in the 19872004 period, small scale enterprises (family
hotels and apartments) increased their share and in 2004
represented 73% of the overall accommodation capacity
(Institut za Turizam 2005 in Ateljevic and Corak 2006).
Consolidation
The last few years growth rate of tourism numbers
declined. Besides the diminishing growth rate also
other parameters such as low occupancy rate, heavy
reliance on trade and reaching the limits of the tourism
carrying capacity could contributed to consolidation product to prevent the stagnation or even decline phase. and environmental problems as well. Stagnation could
stage. A possible reason for this is the one-side tourism As long as decline is prevented, stagnation is not directly be even a solution to the problems caused by tourism,
product of sun, sea and sand and the one-sided offer of a problem, because an unlimited growth will outreach because the region could stabilize, and areas could be
accommodations (in general three star apartments. This the different carrying capacities and cause socio-cultural protected from tourism growth.
one sided tourism offer did not adapted the needs of
tourists from the pre-war market such as Great Britain
(CROSTAT 2008 in Zellmer 2008). This product needed
changes, which is recognized and supported by national
tourism strategies (like the Tourism Master Plan). The
strategies are disregarded by the economic irregularities
within Croatia, especially the very obscure privatization
process and the resistance against foreign investors
(Jordan 2000). Besides the very nontransparent and
often non-market orientated activities were not at all
supportive to build the tourism infrastructure proposed
in the national and strategies (Strien 2008). The lack of
adequate long term development strategies and the
negative consequences of the new free market economy
caused wild growth of more private apartments (Zanko Figure 55: The north side of Tisno before the arrival of tourism (Source: Flickr, by eljko Veldi).
2009). The lack of concepts for spatial planning and
management in the new market state of Croatia, caused
for a lot of local environmental, socio-cultural and
aesthetic problems. These problems, in particular for
our case study area Murter island, are described in the
chapter 7.

Stagnation
At the moment Croatian tourism is not entered the
stagnation phase yet. In the year 2009, there is small
decline visible, but does not mean that Croatian tourist
arrivals are declining. Only after consecutive years of
zero growth or decline, Croatian tourism stagnated. This
could happen in the future when the tourism sector
Figure 56: The north side of Tisno in 2010: a lot of appartments and seccond home sprawled allong the coast.
does not change the tourism offer. There are at national,
regional and local scale plans to diversify the tourism
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 71
 6.3 APPLICATION OF THE TALC ON
MURTER
For Murter island we used the number of tourist
overnights to give an impression for the development
of tourism. The light blue line is the real development
of number of tourist overnights, while the dark blue line
is simplified line of the real development. The different
stages of the TALC on Murter are positioned in the
graph (see figure 57). In contradiction to the history
of tourism development in Croatia, the development
in Murter is more specific and therefore it is possible
to make this process visual by maps for the different
stages of the Tourism Area Life Cycle. The village of
Murter is an example for spatial development of
tourism on the island. Most of the information about
tourism development on the island is based on talks
and interviews with the people from the municipality
and the tourism office.
Figure 57: graph of the TALC combined with number of tourist overnights on Murter island
72
Exploration
The first occurrence of tourism on the island was in
the 1930s by the construction of a villa for a rich Czech
family. The first small family hotel, named Borovnik,
occurred also in the 1930s in center of Tisno. On this
location a new, much larger hotel was constructed in
the late sixties. Tourism was in the exploration phase
not a major issue and people on the island lived from
the fishery, agriculture and shipbuilding . The men were
fisherman while women were left alone on the island
to take for the children and work on the land (Strien
2008). The prospects of development on the island
were limited until the arrival of tourism, because of
the natural characteristics and insufficient traditional
economic resources (Kunst 1996). The families lived in
the settlement, called Murter Selo, which is situated
land inwards on hill to protect the inhabitants from the
sea (Strien 2008).
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Involvement
This phase started for Murter in the fifties and early
sixties of the 20th century. Due to economic prospects
in Western Europe and the open attitude of the
Yugoslavian government, the first foreign tourists
came Murter. At that time, there were no large
accommodations on the island and tourists spend
their nights in small scale family hotels or apartments.
Most tourists came from nearby countries such as Italy,
Austria and West-Germany. Tourism on Murter gets a
boost by the construction of the Adriatic highway in
1965. Murter was much better accessible for foreign
tourists, because the island got a direct exit of the
highway. The highway construction introduced a new
era of the Tourism Area Life Cycle: development.
Development
While the growth of tourists continues in the 1970s and
1980s, local people started to set up small businesses
related to tourism such as apartments, small restaurants
and shops. The apartments were constructed around the
old cores of the villages (see figure 58). The first sprawl
of building occurred in this phase. The construction of
apartments were exclusively local initiatives and the
black-market practice of avoiding taxes enabled the
people of the village to earn sufficient profit (Ateljevic
and Doorne 2003). This black-market practice was
paradoxically underpinned by the socialist system
of public ownership, which ensured the absence of
individual accountability. Despite this paradox small
scale family development was allowed by the socialist
government (Ateljevic and Doorne 2003). In this
context, many local tourism businesses flourished in
the absence of strict tax control, enabling locals to
generate capital over a short period of time (Ateljevic
 before 1950: exploration stage 1950- 1965 involvement stage 1965-1980 development stage

1980-1990 consolidation stage 1990-1995 Stagnation and decline stage 1995- 2011 redevelopment stage

Figure 58: maps of different stages in tourism development on Murter island

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 73
 and Doorne 2003). Large scale accommodations and
facilities, such as the hotels and campsites, were owned
by large governmental organizations. On Murter Island
examples of large scale accommodations are hotel
Colentum (1968) in Slanica bay in Murter and the new
Borovnik (1957) hotel in Tisno. The biggest owner of all
tourism facilities on the island was the Slanica company
which had a monopoly position (Strien 2008). The
accommodations and facilities were managed by local
regional companies who are owned by the government
as well.
Another important tourism development for the
island of Murter was the construction of two marinas
on the island in the 1980s: Marina Hramina (1979) in
Murter (see figure 58) and the ACI Marina (1987) of
Jezera. These marinas meets the growing demand
for nautical tourism in the Adriatic sea (Strien 2008).
The construction of marinas awakes a development of
small-scale restaurants and other catering facilities by
the local population (Ateljevic and Doorne 2003). During
the socialist times marinas were all state-owned.
Consolidation
At the end of the eighties there is a stabilization of
tourism overnights visible. Place specific reasons are
probably not cause this stabilization. General reasons
could be changes in tourism trends, which make Murter
less fashionable compared with other national or
international tourism destinations. The political unrest
in Yugoslavia will probably be the main reason for the
slow growth rate of tourism overnights. The political
unrest of the late eighties was followed by a worse
political crisis which started the Yugoslavian civil war.
74
Stagnation and decline
The island of Murter was not directly effect by war
damage, but experienced the enormous negative
effects on tourism. During the civil war years,
the tourism overnights dropped dramatically and
eventually no tourist spend their holidays on the
island. No facilities and accommodations were build
and some of them were even abandoned (see figure
58). After the war local inhabitants started to renovate
their accommodations to attract tourists again with the
savings from the flourishing tourism industry before
the war. In the beginning the traditional generating
countries (Italy and Austria) were replaced by tourists
from eastern Europe (Randi and Ivandi 1999 in
Zellmer 2008). . Luckily, the community of Murter was
able to stay away from a complete devastation and
people were soon ready to return to business as usual
(Strien 2008).
Redevelopment
After the struggling years the previously dominant
markets find their way back to Murter, mainly because
of the upgraded accommodations, the reasonable
prices and the prevailing attractiveness of the natural
surrounding (Zellmer 2008). The established markets
are families travelling by their own car and older
couples. Both stay primarily in apartments and rooms
offered by the locals (Zellmer 2008). Representative
for this phase is the construction of more apartments
and second homes (see figure 58). According to Butler
live cycle a characteristic of the development stage, is
the development and marketing of natural and cultural
attractions for the tourists. On Murter Island cultural
and natural attractions are not marketed for the tourists
yet, but there are plans to do this.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Consolidation
The growth rate of tourist overnights on Murter
diminish the last few years. They are following the
same trend as in Croatia. The slower growth rate should
be evaluated carefully, because of the unregistered
grey tourism economy. In Croatia, and also in Murter,
there is black market where non-registered tourist
leave the accommodation owner a full income, which
means that they do not pay taxes (Zellmer 2008). This
could mean that the actual number (including non-
registered) tourists overnights stills grows, while the
registered tourist numbers decline. Registered tourists
spend their nights on campsites and in hotels, because
of the spatial and organizational inflexibility of tourism
businesses the tourist overnights stagnated. Examples
of the organizational inflexibility are the auto camp
near Slanica bay and the adjacent Hotel Colentum
(Zellmer 2008). They are not interested in improving
their services and facilities (Zellmer 2008).
Stagnation
There is no indication of stagnation of tourism on
Murter Island yet, but Murter has some problems which
can contribute to stagnation of the growth in tourism
in the future. To prevent stagnation and overcome the
problems of the mass tourism trend, the locals and the
local municipality has to change from defensive reactive
behaviour towards innovative, long term planning and
design (Kunst 1996). Privatizing tourism resources would
be the ideal situation but the local observed suspicion,
mainly because of bad experiences in the past and the
feeling losing own resources (Zellmer 2008).
 6.4 CONCLUSION difference is the number of tourism overnights on Spain, France, and Italy. This situation should not be
Murter which is higher today than previous peak years considered as negative. Natural and cultural resources
The TALC is an useful method to describe the tourism
at the end of the eighties, while the Croatian tourist are still quite well preserved and offer a huge potential
development of an area in an explicit way. The different
arrivals of today is on the same levels as in the peak for new sustainable forms of tourism. This sustainable
stages are clear, which result in clear phases of tourism
year of 1988. approach has the potential to keep the development of
development in Croatia and on Murter island. The
the tourist area within predetermined capacity limits
hypothetical evolution of an tourism areas is different
In linking the Tourism Life Cycle to the current state (Butler 2006). This is maybe less profitable on the short
than the actual development of tourism in Croatia and
of tourism in Croatia and Murter Island it seems that term, but the potential competitiveness maintained over
also Murter. The major difference is caused by the
Croatia and Murter island is somewhere between the a longer period, because natural and cultural resources
Yugoslavian civil war, which has as consequence that
redevelopment and the consolidation stage. At the are facing less pressure.
tourism after the war has to redevelop again. In that
moment, of the number of tourism developments
sense the Croatian and Murter tourism development
is still growing but the first negative side-effects The arrival of tourism has an enormous impact on the
has to pass the different stages of the Tourism Area Life
occur: the growing black market, one-side tourism landscape (see figure 59 and 60). Each different stage
cycle twice, with as exception the exploration and the
offer, resistance of local population, and the lack of of tourism development entailed it own problems.
involvement phase. Between the TALC of Croatia and
adequate tourism planning. Mainly due to the civil war, However, what are these problems exactly? In the next
Murter there were no major differences. One of the
the quantity and quality of tourism still lays behind, chapter the problems are described according the four
main differences is the decline of tourism during the war
compared with other Mediterranean countries like different categories of sustainability: environmental,
was much higher on Murter than in Croatia. Another
socio-cultural, economic and aesthetic.

Figure 59:
an impression
of Murter
island before
the arrival of
tourism (left),
and after
(right).

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 75

 Figure 60: map of all the tourism related facilities on Murter island
76 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
 SUMMARY CHAPTER 6
Butler proposed different stages in tourism development:
Exploration, involvement development, consolidation
and stagnation
In tourism development for Croatia the following
characteristics are applicable for different stages:
Exploration: early 20th century, health resorts for rich
people;
Involvement: market socialist system with large state
owned hotels;
Development: more private accommodations and
facilities. State provide infrastructure;
Consolidation: homogeneous tourism products and
political instability;
Stagnation and decline: Yugoslavian civil war, tourism
arrivals dropped significantly;
Redevelopment: upgrade accommodations, for new
target groups: east-Europeans. Positive tourism
trends: construction new motorway ;
Consolidation: growth rate declined, one sided
tourism offers. Wild growth apartments.
Stagnation: not yet occurred.
In tourism development on Murter the following
characteristics are applicable for different stages:
Exploration: first small family hotel;
Involvement: no large scale accommodations, tourism
get a boost by Adriatic highway;
Development: small private tourism businesses, larger
hotels (Colentum), construction marinas;
Consolidation: no specific reasons for slower growth
rate;
Stagnation and decline: dramatically drop of tourist
overnights;
Redevelopment: upgrade accommodations, but they
general do not fit tourist demands;
Consolidation: growth rate declined: lack of
improvements facilities and accommodations
Stagnation: not yet occurred.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 77
 7. LOCAL PROBLEMS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
Figure 61: graph about the tourist satisfaction for different kind of parametres
In this chapter the problems are described which occur
on Murter Island. The problems are divided in categories
which are the same as the categories (environmental,
socio-cultural, economic, and aesthetic) of the general
problems described in chapter two. For Murter island
there is less scientific information available about the
problems on the island. The only useful data about
local problems was an article of (Lonar 2009) and
a report Tourism Master and Marketing plan for the
County ibenik-Knin (2005). Lonar used in his article
the DPSIR model (Driving forces - Pressures - States -
Impacts - Responses) as integral model for studying
the environment and defining the of Murter. The
DPSIR model is a causal framework for describing
78
the interactions (and problems) between society and
environment (Lonar 2009). The advantage of the model
is the wide applicability in different fields of study. It is
often used for evaluating the aspects and assessment
of the state of the environment and conditions for
sustainable development of the coastal areas using the
ratio of interaction between socio-economic indicators
and environment (Lonar 2009).
In the Tourism Master plan of the county the part about
the satisfaction of tourists was useful for describing the
location specific problems. In the report a comparison
is made between the satisfaction of tourists for several
touristic areas in Croatia and in the ibenik-Knin
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
county. Murter was one of those areas. In figure 61 the
satisfaction is visible for different kind of parameters on
the scale of Croatia, the benik-Knin county and Murter.
This survey was especially useful as support for the
economic and aesthetic problems.
Besides the article of Lonar (2009) and the Tourism
Master Plan, interviews conducted with the municipality
and the tourism office function as input for describing
the local problems.
 7.1 ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
In this subchapter different environmental problems will
be examined. As main input for this particular part was
the article of (Lonar 2009). In his article he described
mostly the environmental problems on the island.
7.1.1 Natural resource usage
Water
The water supply for the island is not yet a major
problem. Since the 1960s the island of Murter was
supplied with drinking water from the Krka River. While
there is enough water available on the island, the water
consumption with an average of 270 litre/resident/day
is high compared with other places in Croatia (Lonar
2009). A possible explanation is the high volumes of
water use during the tourist season, when local resident
rent their apartments. The disposal of waste water
is a bigger problem, because the island of Murter has
not yet the favour of a sewage system. Waste water of
households are now disposed in septic tanks near the
houses. Many of these tanks are not build according to
Figure 62: waste water dump into the sea near Figure 63: the island largest waste dump, Hripe
Slanica bay
the local and national governmental regulations. Because
of the lack of implementation of local regulations these
septic tanks cannot cope with the extra capacity during
the summer months. When the capacities of the tanks
are reached, the rest is disposed into the ground or into
the sea (figure 62). This caused local environmental
problems, for example eutrophication of the seas, which
could endanger the sea ecosystem. At the moment the
quantities of waste water discharge are not substantive,
so the ecosystem is marginally harmed. At the moment
only the Marinas and some auto camps have a full
sewage treatment system, but there are far-reaching
plans to build a central sewage plan including a sewages
treatment facility for the villages. The first constructions
have already started in the beginning of 2011. While the
capacity for the new sewage system increased, it is still
doubtable if the capacity is enough for the very crowded
summer months of July and August. The number of users
for the sewages system is in summer months three till
four times higher.
Figure 64: the use of airconditioning cost a lot of energy
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Waste
The amounts of waste on the island is 2.5 times above the
average of the Republic of Croatia (Lonar 2009). Most of
the waste is transported to the mainland to landfills near
ibenik. The landfills near ibenik are the official places
for waste disposal of the island, but still large quantities
of waste is disposed on the waste dump Hripe near
Murter town (figure 63). The landfill of Hripe is mostly
used during the summer months when the amount of
waste increase, because of the tourists. Another, more
serious, problem is the illegal landfills on private land
(olive orchards and fallow lands) and are spread around
the island. The majority of the wastes on the illegal
landfills are construction waste. The increasing amount
of waste and illegal landfills disturbs the ecological
balance and the physiognomy of the landscape (Lonar
2009). Since a few years Murter has a garbage collection
system, but an organized collection of separated waste
is not possible yet (Lonar 2009). Regional plans predict
improvement and re-cultivation of wild landfills and
restoration of the area to its original condition in order
to prevent their negative impact on the environment.
The Hripe landfill is one of such priorities.
79
 Electricity
Electricity is normally not a major problem for the island.
Murter Island is connected with the mainland with
transformation stations located in the town of Bilice.
Normally there are no problems related to electricity
on the island, except in the peak season because of
overcapacity. The tourists are using a lot of electricity,
especially for air-conditioned accommodations and
facilities (figure 64). In the future new sustainable
forms of electricity should be found, so the island can
handle with the overcapacity of electricity during the
peak season. Solar energy will be probably one of the
most suitable solutions. There is a high potential for
solar energy on the island, because Murter has a large
number of sunny days a year. Namely, the insolation on
the island is high, with an average of 2,698 sunshine
hours a year and particularly large number of average
hours of sunshine per day, especially during the peak
season (11.6 hours in July) (Lonar 2009).
7.1.2 Climate change
According to report about Climate for Change, Climate
change and its impacts on society and economy in Croatia
of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
climate change will create uncomfortably hot summers
along the Adriatic coast which may cause many beach
tourists to avoid these destinations. Instead, tourists will
visit locations in Northern Europe which will become
more attractive with climate change (UNDP 2008). The
temperature in spring and autumn will increase in the
future, which is attractive for tourists who visiting Murter
in the pre- and after-season. According to the Ministry
of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning the
80
Adriatic sea level is expected to rise between 20 and 86 7.1.3 Human behaviour towards the environment
cm in 2100. However, there is a lot of uncertainty about
In the time that tourism starts to develop, the process
sea-level rise and it will occur slowly, meaning that there
of deagranization or in other words abandonment of
will be time to adapt. However plans for infrastructure
arable land intensified (uka 2004 in Lonar 2009, see
and long-term investments should consider possible sea
figures 65 and 66). Today only 16.3% of the total area
level rise. For Murter it is unclear what the effects will be
is used for the agricultural activities, and 66.1% of this
of sea level. In the report of the UNDP, Murter and his
area is located on distant Kornati Islands, while 33.9% is
surroundings is not mentioned as a vulnerable coastal
on the mainland and small islands located near Murter
area. Places on Murter which could be vulnerable are
Island (Lonar 2009). In that sense a minority part of
the villages in the bays. The quays are not so high and
the landscape is used for agricultural purposes, which
probably they are to low when sea level substantially
means that the rest of the land is abandoned. Most
rises in the future.
of the existing land is cultivated by elderly people and
it is expected that within a few years the number of
total areas used for agricultural activities will decrease
further. The main reason for this is the lack of sufficient
people who are able and willing to work on the
Figures 65 and 66: The island of kolji is a good example of what could happen with an abandoned landscape. Figure 65
(left) is taken ten years ago. Here the olive groves and dry stone walls are clearly visible. Today (figure 66, right), the island is
overgrown by Pine forrest.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
agricultural fields. The lack of sufficient people has to
deal with the human behaviour towards the destination
environment. People, especially the younger generation
realize that they can earn easy more money in tourism,
than working hard on the agricultural fields. Today most
people on the island are working in the tourism service
business.
To improve the awareness of the valuable cultural
landscape of Murter Island, youngsters should be
educated about the uniqueness of the landscape. Their
behaviour towards the destination environment should
eventually change in a positive way: respect and improve
the unique cultural landscape of Murter. The proposed
sustainable education centre of Dr. Irena Ateljevic
could contribute in the change in the awareness of the
landscape (see design phase in chapter 9-11).
became less compact and are today sprawled along the
coast (Tisno and Betina) or in the periphery of the old
town (Murter and Jezera). An example of this sprawl in
Murter is the areas between Slanica and Cigrada bay. In
this area 146 houses are build, which the most of them
are directly build along the coastline. Remarkable fact
about this area is that only ten of the houses are occupied
by local people (Strien 2008). A lot of the apartments
and second homes are unplanned, uncontrolled and
illegal and they occupied large, former agricultural,
areas designated for tourism (figure 67). Tourism has
a huge contribution on land alteration on the island
and besides the physiognomy of settlements that are
expanding along the coastline, the neglected agricultural
areas plays an important role (Lonar 2009). The process
of neglected landscapes contributed that the traditional
agricultural landscape with the numerous olive orchards
is replaced by pine forests.
All kind of civil associations offer solutions and answers
to these pressures. One of them is Argonaut Ecological
Association in Murter whose activities contribute to
promotion and preservation of natural and cultural
values of coastal and insular zone (Lonar 2009). The
goal is to prevent the further process of neglected and
abandoned landscapes.

7.1.4 Land alteration

In general, the local population represent the major

driving force exerting a huge pressure on the coastal
environment through various activities. Given the high
population density (299 inhabitants per square km) and
development trends of the coastal area of Murter Island,
the pressure on the environment is very high (Lonar
2009). It is also expressed by the number of housing
units built on the island from which it is evident that in
30 years the number of housing units increased in on
Murter island by 64% (Lonar 2009). The main reasons
are the increased demand for tourism accommodations
and the increased mobility for tourists and residents. As
a result of the increased mobility the village extensions
Figure 67: On the west side of Murter Selo the impact of urban sprawl on the landscape is clearly visible, this
uncontrolled growth continues every year.

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 81

 7.2 SOCIO-CULTURAL PROBLEMS
On the island there are some socio-cultural problems
too. It is difficult to notice the problems, because most
socio-cultural problems are hidden into the local society,
and difficult to notice for outsiders. Only through a lot of
time consuming interviews and questionnaires, outsiders
can gain more information about what the socio-cultural
problems caused by tourism are. The focus of our thesis
is more about spatial aspects of the island and in that
sense we investigate the social-cultural problems which
have a spatial effect. The social cultural problems we
researched are derived from interviews and talks we
had with people from the tourism board and the local
municipality.
7.2.1 Lack of place identity
Abandonment of traditional activities (agriculture,
fisheries) accompanied by changes in the concentration
of population by place of residence and activities lead to
degradation of local lifestyle and socio-cultural identity
(Lonar 2009). Eventually through demographic changes
(immigration and aging) and the influence of globalization
(uniform products/lifestyles) the identity of a place will
be less visible and noticeable. The old generation will
disappear eventually, which has as consequence that a
lot of local knowledge and traditions about the landscape
disappeared. Spatially this is most visible in the already
described land alteration. The old cultural landscape
which has a major contribution to the place identity of
the island is changing rapidly because this landscape is
abandoned and neglected. The sprawl of apartments
along the historic cores of the villages contributed to
82
the lack of place identity as well, because of the use of 7.2.3 Lack of public involvement
standard urban planning principles, architecture and
Public involvement in spatial landscape projects is not
materials. However the effects of the urban sprawl have
common in Croatia. People like to give their opinion, but
a less visible influence on the lack of place identity than
more on an informal way, for example in a caf, rather
the disappearance of the traditional cultural landscape.
than through formal participation. These lack of public
In general, generic architecture and public spaces are
interest is formed by the perception that public interest
considered by tourists and by locals as less beautiful and
will not have influence in planning practices (Deranja
not fit in the identity and authenticity of a place.
2008). This feeling is developed during the socialist era
the national government and the counties decided what
7.2.2 Conflicts between the local population and
will be executed and not. For example they made plans
tourists
for large scale tourist clusters in the approximately of
In the case of Murter Island it is difficult to distinguish cities, without any public participation. Implementing
what the opinion and meanings of locals are about initiatives from bottom up were not usual in the socialist
tourists. In an interview with ime Jeina, head of the era and also rare in contemporary Croatia. In Murter
tourism agency Murter-Kornati, he told us that local this traditional method of policy and planning is slightly
people have in general no problems with tourists. This changing, because the municipality is for example open to
make sense, because the local inhabitants need the new ideas from the local society. The Argonauta project
incomes generated by tourists. But, on crowded places of Irena Ateljevic and our workshop have contributed to
during the summer months locals can have some apathy the changing attitude of the local municipality.
or even annoyance to tourists. The apathy stage is
characterized by an increasing indifference towards
tourists, who are more commonplace and larger in
number. Also the roles of tourists and hosts are more
formalized and become less spontaneous (Hall and Lew
2009). Annoyance against tourists could occur on busy
places in the bays or in village centres. A spatial reason
for the crowded bays are the low tourism capacity. In
the busy village centre the streets are small which could
result in traffic congestion. A final remark is that we did
not experience apathy or even annoyance by ourselves,
because we visit Murter island only in the low tourist
season. For better insights in the social conflicts it is
necessary to visit the island in high season when the
local population quadrupled by the inflow of tourists.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
 7.3 ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
Although tourism is a very important economic source of
income in Croatian coastal regions, and on Murter island
as well, it is causing economic problems too (Lonar 2009).
On Murter there are three major economic problems:
the leakage of economic profits, high seasonality and a
one sided tourism offer.
7.3.1 Leakage of economic profits
Most of the accommodations and tourist facilities on the
island are owned by families. But changes are ahead, large
scale national and international investors are looking for
opportunities to jump into the tourist market. Currently,
three places on the island could be considered as a resort
already: Marina Hramina, Hotel Colentum, and Camping
Jezera Lovisca. These accommodations and facilities are
owned by large companies from the mainland. They try
Figure 68: the montly tourist overnights of the county ibenik-Knin shows a high seasonality
to offer an all-inclusive stay to their guests and are hiring
even staff from the mainland. As a result the profits
for local people will be marginal. For example Marina
Harmina is not just offering berths, but also a restaurant,
private beach, shop, bar, and a hotel. Furthermore the
marina wants to extend with a swimming pool a second
bar and a new hotel. All these facilities are surrounded
by a gate and are just accessible for employees and
guests. The surroundings (such as the village centre) less
visited by the marina guests, because all the tourists are
inside the gated tourism community.
7.3.2 High seasonality
The tourist season of the County ibenik-Knin is like
elsewhere along the Croatian coast characterized
by a narrow peak period in July and August (Tourism
Master & Marketing plan ibenik-Knin 2005) (see figure
68). This period is mainly caused by the dependence on
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
sun-sea-sand tourism segment (see next subchapter), in
combination with the climatic conditions (see paragraph
5.1). The seasonality of today is even worse than in
the golden years before the war (Tourism Master- &
Marketing plan ibenik-Knin 2005). Seasonality cause a
high peak pressure on the environment, resource-use
and the social lives of the inhabitant as well. Out-of-
season there is not much to do, while in the peak season
people have to work very hard to get their income for
the rest of the year.
Besides the one-sided tourism offer (see next subchapter),
the tourism master plan of the county Sibenik Knin (2005)
mentioned the lack of climate proof accommodations
as a main cause for seasonality. For example on Murter
there are only two major hotels on the island (Borovnik
and Colentum) with a total of approximately 200
beds. On the other hand there are six campsites with
3900 beds in total. Campsites are less suitable and
favourable and in the pre and after season. If Murter
wants to increase the tourist season they should focus
more on the hotel-oriented market (Tourism Master &
Marketing plan ibenik-Knin 2005). Also improvements
of the private apartments are necessary, because they
have an occupancy rate of 30/28 nights a year. Heating
is one of the most urgent improvements because a small
minority of the private apartments has heating. With
heating apartments are more suitable for tourist in the
pre and after season.
83
 7.3.3 One-sided tourism offer Tourism Master Plan of the county ibenik-Knin (2005) For Murter the priority is to create new offers with all
is stating that these niche markets are non-existing in kind of specialist facilities and services, so that Murter
As been said, seasonality has much to do with the
the county at the moment. For example a tourist with island becomes the best on the market. Just copying
one-sided tourism offer of Murter. The island is mainly
interest in culture isnt offered much more than a visit ideas of others is not the right direction to make tourism
focused on beach tourism (see figure 69). This attracts
to the St. Jamess cathedral in ibenik. This is strange on Murter more attractive for different kind of target
certain kinds of tourists, mostly families, who are just
because the natural and cultural value of the area is high. groups (Stipanovi 2005). Also just copying ideas fit not
interested in cheap holidays and climate, and who does
The report assesses the environment as an extraordinary in the concept of sustainable tourism. Only creating an
less care about the environment and local culture. The
beautiful and green, hilly landscape, with a lot of split original offer will help to set up an unique product which
described beach tourism with the adjacent characteristics
bays, islands and the view on the Kornati island at the is advantage in the competition of tourism offerings.
fits exactly in the unsustainable tourism concept.
horizon. Other main attractions in this cluster are the
Furthermore this is the kind of tourism which could be
five traditional fishing villages, and especially Betina and The tourism product must go hand in hand with the
found everywhere along the Mediterranean coast and
Jezera. The national park Kornati and the healing mud out creation of a recognizable image and brand for Murter,
which does not fit the demands anymore of the new
of the Makirina bay (not exploited yet) are considered so that the island has competitive advantages compared
middle class (see chapter 2.3). The only other kind of
as important touristic attractions as well. So there is a with other places of Croatia (Stipanovic 2005). This is
tourism which Murter is addressing is nautical tourism,
need to exploit those cultural and natural attractions important, because in todays globalized world, where
which attracts a total different type of tourist: elderly
by making them accessible and visible for tourists and competition is the leading factor in tourism Murter
people with an higher income. This lack of other forms
linking to a new tourism network. According to the should distinct themselves in offering a unique tourist
of tourism is visible in figure 61 about the satisfaction of
master plan such a network can be created by theme or product. According to Stipanovic (Stipanovic 2005) one
tourists. On Murter the satisfaction about the cultural
regionally. It should combine activities, gastronomy and of the major tasks to carry out is to involve a pricing
programme is lower, compared with the ibenik-Knin
have a touch of fun and entertainment. To theme such policy that will provide an optimum value for money
county and Croatia
sites as transit station or goal is definitely, the culture by incorporating international tourist operators in
potential is definitely sufficient, especially if the guests combination with specialized domestic agencies.
Alternatives needs to be sought in niche groups: cultural,
experience simultaneously landscapes and vegetation as
adventurous, natural and eco-tourism. However the
an exotic frame.

Figure 69: Slanica beach during the peak season Figure 70: sign seen all over the island Figure 71: The entrance of hotel Colentum Figure 72: A slide as main attraction on Slanica
beach
84 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
 7.4 AESTHETIC PROBLEMS
For tourists the visual quality of a place is very important,
For tourists the visual quality of a place is very important,
because this will influence the perceptions of a
destination. For example one tourist can perceive a place
as beautiful, while others perceive it as less beautiful
or even ugly. Experiencing of place is exactly the issue
where aesthetics are about. In this paragraph five main
aesthetic problems on Murter Island are described:
lack of a sufficient planning system, standardized
architecture, concreting of public space, domination of
cars, and uncontrolled advertisement.
7.4.1 Lack of a sufficient planning system
During the socialism era, Croatia was avoiding
the dramatic emergence of coastal mass tourism
developments. The central planned economy was
regulating the coastal landscape by creating clustered
coastal resort zones near big cities on the coast, to
prevent large scale tourism expansions. The controlled
exploitation of the coast resulted that today 80% of the
coast is un-build (Zanko 2009).
Figure 73: Bare land, owned by hotel Colentum Figure 74: On the North side of Tisno the urban sprawl is causing visual pollution
After the Yugoslavian civil war Croatia shifted from a
socialist state to a free market economy. As a result,
the privatized tourism sector tourism developments in
Croatia expanded fast. Unfortunately there was a lack of
long term development strategies to counter or steer the
negative consequences of the new free market economy
(Zanko 2009).
Although there is a zoning plan for the whole island of
Murter, urban sprawl is one of the most urgent spatial
problems on the island (figure 74). Many buildings were
built in inadequate areas without the necessary licenses
and infrastructural facilities. At favourable places on
the island local people construct houses or place their
campers on their land to rent them to tourists (figure
75). The uncontrolled development of the landscape
will create for Croatia problems that hardly can be
solved. In the entire country, but particularly on the most
beautiful locations on the coast, family, holiday, and
apartment houses are being built (Croatian Ministry
of Tourism 2003) . Despite this statement, in 2003 the
uncontrolled apartmanization still continues. The
uncontrolled development is the result of the increasing
need for accommodations. The new regional plans of
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
the Tisno and Murter Municipalities predicts an increase
of building area for about 30%, mostly for economic
and tourism purposes (Lonar 2009). To prevent the
increase of built areas in an illegal way the Municipality
of Murter-Kornati is now investigating all the illegal
homes and try to sue the owners . Corruption makes
the adequate intervention very difficult. The practice
of illegal buildings and lack of adequate intervention
strengths the image of an over-built landscape, covered
by countless, ugly, unfinished houses. This is a serious
threat for Murter Island.
Besides economic and political issues there are also
other more landscape (owner) related problems which
contribute to the Croatian spatial planning problems. For
Croatia, there are several major factors (Deranja 2008).
Most of the factors are also applicable for the island of
Murter:
Small size of lots. In general, the parcel size on Murter
Island is small and owners own several small parcels
which are not connected. This is creating a patchwork
of small parcels which are owned by numerous of
owners.
Figure 75: Illegal mobile home near Slanica bay
85
 Several titleholders so an individual parcel. This is a
problem, because much of the land has been passed
down through the generations, without register this
properly. In many occasions one parcel is owned by
different owners. So the municipality dont know
exactly who the owners are.
Inability to transfer the title. Having more owners, it is
difficult to sell the land. When one of the owners does
not want to sell, the transaction is cancelled.
7.4.2 Generic architecture
The beauty of Dalmatian architecture is harmed by
generic architecture and construction materials.
These buildings are constructed as cheap as possible.
The aesthetics of the urban structures are in most
cases not place-specific anymore. Most buildings
have a Mediterranean style of architecture which
transformed traditional place specific urban landscape
styles and patterns (figure 76). The Mediterranean
style of architecture consist of a baroque decorated
balconies, roman style pillars, plastered walls with pastel
colours which are surrounded with decorated iron gates.
The new apartments have less correspondence with the
Figures 76: Some examples of generic architecture on Murter island
86
original building traditions. The only connection of the
new buildings with the original building style is the red
tiled gable roofs. Eventually, western style landscapes
are introduced with a total disregard to the local context...
It destroys the regional landscape identity, erodes local
distinctiveness and alters local values and aesthetic
priorities (Makhzoumi and Pungetti 1999). For Murter,
a more urgent aesthetic problem are the un-finished
houses. People start constructing their apartments in
an early phase, when they only have some money for
the foundations and some walls. When all the money is
spend, the construction stopped and an ugly, unfinished
house is the result. Unfinished houses and apartments
could stay there for years and after a few year when
the owner has enough money the construction of the
building will be finished. Beside the unfinished houses,
the maintenance of the buildings is also a problem. A lot
of plastered houses lost their paint coating which is in
general not attractive.
7.4.3 Low quality of public space
Another aesthetic problem on Murter Island is the
concreting of the public space (figure 77 and 78). In
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
the village centres a lot of green surface is sacrificed to
concrete and asphalt. In some cases the surface is even
painted blue or green to mark the terraces of the catering
facilities. This makes the public space very unattractive
and cheap looking. Another problem is the rainwater
drainage in winter and autumn which flood roads and
pedestrian areas. It is a problem, because much of the
surface is paved and the absence of a sewage system.
Furthermore the use of a lot of asphalt and concrete is
not place identical, because in the past the streets were
paved with local stones. Trees, planters, and grass will
make the public space much more attractive. Advantages
of adding more green, is the improvement of rainwater
drainage.
Another urgent problem on Murter Island is the state
of the beaches. They are one of the largest spatial
problems in the Croatian tourism business (Tourism
Master- & Marketing plan ibenik-Knin 2005). One of the
main reasons is that they are too crowed and the quality
of the public spaces and facilities around the beaches is
low. Especially the concrete and artificial stone plateau
beaches are valued very low (marked with a five),
mostly because they are not natural (Tourism Master-
& Marketing plan ibenik-Knin 2005). The low quality is
visible in figure 61 about the satisfaction of tourists. The
value of satisfaction about clean beach environment and
beach facilities is much lower on Murter compared with
the numbers in the ibenik-Knin county and Croatia.
7.4.4 Domination of cars
In northern Dalmatia seventy percent of the tourists
arrive by car (Tourism Master- & Marketing plan ibenik-
Knin 2005). All those cars causing a lot of problems during
the peak season, especially on touristic hotspots. Besides
traffic congestion, the domination of cars induces a lot
of parking problems as well. Because there is a shortage
of parking lots on the island, especially on the touristic
hotspots, most of the parking is disorganized. People
park their cars were ever they want: along the road, at
agricultural land or on fallow ground. This domination
of cars is causing visual pollution as well. For example at
natural bays the domination of cars is aesthetical wrong,
because it disturbs the natural image of the bay.
So the car parking should be organized on designed
parking lots at some distance from the touristic hotspots.
Figures 77 and 78: unsustainable urban design: no green, non place-identical materials and domination of pavement.
This will not disturb the image of a place. Designed
parking lots have visual advantages too; parking lots
can be covered by green. But the best solution will be a
transition from car use to slow modes of traffic (bike or
foot) or public transport. This will decrease the use of
cars and contributes to a cleaner environment as well.
7.4.5 Advertisements
To attract tourists, a lot of apartments, restaurants,
shops, hotels, and campsites advertise by putting large
signs along the roads and on buildings. The reason for
the heavy advertisement are that each tourist business
has to attract tourist and distinct their business from the
rest. In order to do this they use often bright colours and
large signs. The enormous number of signs together is
polluting the visual landscape image. These signs are
mainly illegal, but the authorities are allowing them,
although there are plans to remove them.
In nearby cities like Trogir and Split the authorities are
stricter and they have certain rules for advertising and
signage. For example in Trogir shop owners could just
have a sign on their building as long as it they are flags
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
with a battlement pattern. This will make the make the
image much more coherent and the businesses still
could have their advertisement space.
7.5 CONCLUSION
Most of the previous described problems occur during
the peak season. For example the waste water treatment
(still on Murter in septic tanks) is especially in the summer
insufficient, because of the extra use by tourists. Also
the waste is the high season much higher, which results
that the Hripe landfill on the island is still in use. The
electricity capacity reached peaks during the summer,
because of the air-conditioned accommodations and
facilities. On crowded places such as the village centres
and the bays apathy and even antagonism arise between
local residents and tourists. The generic architecture of
accommodations and facilities have a low quality and do
not meet the demands of the tourists anymore. Besides
the aesthetics of buildings the aesthetics of public spaces
is low as well, because of overuse of asphalt and concrete
and the lack of green. Also the domination of cars in
potential attractive places contributes to the experience
of low aesthetic quality. Especially the beaches in the
bays on Murter have a low experience rate, while the
bays are (in potential) the most beautiful places of the
island. All these problems are related to the economic
problems of high seasonality and the one-sided tourism
offer. The tourism product of Murter is still sun sea and
sand which resulted that most tourists are coming to
Murter in the high season. Only nautical tourism is a
tourism offer on Murter island which attracts tourists
out of season during spring or autumn.
87
 In the problem map (figure 79) the spatial distribution of
the different problems on the island is displayed. This map
shows that the majority of the problems are clustered in
the village centres and the bays. This is logic, because on
these places most tourists and residents recreate. In the
future vision for the island and the design phase these
places get the most attention. Sustainability will be the
key concept in solving or at least diminishing the place
specific problems by creating a spatial design.
SUMMARY CHAPTER 7
Environmental problems in Murter:
Natural resource usages: enormous use of water, illegal
landfills for domestic waste, shortage of electricity in
peak periods.
Climate change: coastal sea level rise: Murter is not
a endangered area. Heat waves during summer.
Favourable climate in spring and autumn.
Human behaviour towards the destination
environment: abandonment of arable lands (younger
generation not prepared to cultivate arable lands).
Land alteration: sprawl of apartments: unplanned,
uncontrolled and illegal buildings.
88
Socio-cultural problems in Murter:
Lack of place identity: degradation of local lifestyles
and the socio-cultural identity.
Conflicts between the local population and tourists:
on crowded places during peak season apathy or even
annoyance.
Lack of public involvement: people are not involved in
planning and decision making processes
Economic problems in Murter:
Leakage of economic profits: international investors
are looking for opportunities to invest in Murter. Risk
of gated resorts, such as Marina Hramina in Murter.
High seasonality: narrow peak period of tourism
numbers in July and August.
One-sided tourism offer: beach tourism and nautical
tourism. Cultural and natural tourism less developed.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Aesthetic problems in Murter:
Lack of a sufficient planning system: uncontrolled
sprawl, mainly though corruption and landscape
owner problems (inability to transfer the title, several
titleholders on an individual parcel, small size of
lots).
Generic architecture: Mediterranean style
decorated balconies, roman style pillars, plastered
walls in pastel colours.
Low quality of public space: domination of asphalt
and concrete. Green is absence in public space.
Domination of cars: lack of sufficient parking system
and other modes of transport.
Heavy advertisement: large signs along the roads and
on buildings to attract tourists.
Figures 79: map of the spatial problems on Murter island
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 89
 III FUTURE SCENARIOS

Figure 80: the dry stone wall landscape on the north-west side of the island
 8. SCENARIOS FOR THE FUTURE OF TOURISM ON MURTER ISLAND
Describing the future of tourism is difficult, because
it depends on all kinds of political, economic, social
cultural, and environmental variables. This variables
are linked with each other, when one of them changes
this will has effect other variables. All the different
variables and the relations between them, make the
future of tourism hard to predict. Despite the difficulties,
predicting the future is usual in the field of tourism. For
example Butlers Tourism Area Life Cycle model (see
chapter 6) predicts that the development of tourism
could stagnate, decline, or rejuvenate (see figure 81).
8.1 THE FUTURE OF TOURISM
ACCORDING TO THE TALC
In this subchapter is described what could happened
if Croatia and Murter enters the stagnation phase.
Especially important is how tourism will develop after the
stagnation phase. Will tourism rejuvenate or decline?
Natural and cultural attractions will be replaced by
fake/themed attractions;
Relation between the tourism area and the natural/
cultural environment is lost.
When stagnation in Croatia and Murter occurs, there
are two ways according to the Tourism Area Life Cycle
of Butler in how tourism will evolve after stagnation:
decline or rejuvenation.
Butler (2006) defined in his hypothetical evolution of
the Tourism Area Life Cycle five different possibilities
how tourism can develop after the stagnation phase.
(see figure 81). Curve A is the successful redevelopment
in which an area renewed the growth and expansion
of tourism. Curve B is the minor modification and
adjustment to capacity levels and continued protection
of vulnerable resources could allow growth, but in a
lesser extent. Curve C represents a readjustment to
meet all the capacity levels and would enable a more
stable level of visitation to be maintained after an initial
readjustment downwards. Curve D occurred when
the continued overuse of resources and decreasing
competiveness with other areas resulted in decline.
Finally the intervention of a war, disease or other
catastrophic event would result in an immediate decline
in visitor number (curve E). This decline phase was for
example clearly visible in Croatia and Murter by the
outbreak of the Yugoslavian war.
8.1.2 Decline
The term decline is used if a tourism destination area
cannot compete any longer with other areas, and will
face a declining market both spatially and numerically
(Butler 2006). The property turnover will be high and the
tourist facilities will be replaced by non-tourist related

8.1.1 Stagnation

In chapter seven, the development of tourism is described

for Croatia and Murter. The developments in both cases
end with the stagnation phase. Croatia and Murter are
not in a stagnation phase but this could happen in the
nearby future if the:
Capacity levels are reached (in environmental, socio-
cultural, economic terms);
The image of the area is well established, but not
re-orientation re-orientation
fashionable; Murter according Agarwal
The capacity of the accommodations is too high;
Figure 81: graph of the hypothetical evolution of the Tourism Area Life Cycle

92 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

structures. The facilities for tourists are becoming less
attractive, which results in a further decrease of tourist
numbers. Butler (2006) states that the local involvement
in tourism is likely to increase in this stage, because
residents are able to purchase facilities at significant
lower prices. The facilities are converted in retirement
homes or conventional apartments. Ultimately, the
area become a veritable tourist slum or lose its tourist
function completely (Butler 2006).
8.1.3 Rejuvenation
If an area wants rejuvenation, a complete change of
tourism attractions, accommodations, and facilities is
necessary. Rejuvenation can be done in two ways: first,
by adding new man-made attractions, which distinct the
area from competing areas, and secondly by exploiting
untapped natural resources (for example spas) (Butler
2006). Both ways will give the area a new input, which
resulted in renovation of the existing tourism facilities
and development of new economically feasible facilities.
Through rejuvenation an area stays attractive for
tourists.
To prevent stagnation, or even decline, in tourism
areas, a change of attitude is required on the part of
those who are responsible for planning, developing and
managing tourist areas (Butler 2006). Tourist attractions,
accommodations and facilities are not infinite and
timeless but should be viewed and treated as finite and
possibly non-renewable resources.
Contrary to the relative simplicity of the resort lifecycle
theory, the practice is complex. Especially to restructuring
or rejuvenating tourism is a difficult job, because the
economic and social changes in society and the changes
in geography of production and consumption have to
be taken into account (Agarwal 2002). To restructure
tourism the uniqueness of place, resulting from
cultural, political, and ideological aspects, is important
(Agarwal 2002). Strategies to restructure tourism are
repositioning and diversification of the tourism product
and tourism market.
8.1.4 Re-orientation
Restructuring of tourism is the only way to stop, or
even better prevent, decline. Decline will continue
unless corrective measures are initiated to stop decline
and rejuvenate tourism (Agarwal 2002). According to
Agarwal (2002), an intermediary stage of re-orientation
should be added between the stagnation and the post-
stagnation phases (decline and rejuvenation). Agarwal
contends that decline is unlikely to occur in such a
dramatic fashion as Butler predicts in his model (curve
D and E, see figure 81), because there are few economic
alternatives available in most tourism areas, for example
to invest in new tourism products, which meets the
new tourist demands.
8.1.5 conclusion
The analysis of tourism development in Croatia and
Murter island concludes that it is unclear the destination
are in the stagnation phase or still in the consolidation
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
phase (see chapter 7). To prevent stagnation and even
decline in tourism, the sector should re-orientate itself,
by adding divers offer of accommodations, facilities, and
attractions. A remark here is the concept of carrying
capacity. When the impacts of tourism growth go beyond
the (Republic of Croatia: Ministry of Environmental
Protection and Physical Planning) carrying capacity of a
destination, sustainability of an area is in great danger
(Priestley and Mundet 1998). In that sense, growth is not
the only way forward, because of unlimited growth the
negative effects on the environment and local identity
will also grow. It is plausible that stagnation could occur,
because tourism in Murter and Croatia has an one-sided
tourism offer and a high seasonality which slightly cause
al kind of environmental, social-cultural and aesthetic
problems. To prevent the increase of the problems of
tourism, The Municipality of Murter-Kornati and the
Municipality of Tisno want to re-orientate before the
stagnation phase begins. This is an ideal phase for
sustainable development, because there is a possibility
to keep the growth of tourism and the impacts of tourism
development inside the islands carrying capacity limits.
For this re-orientation phase they asked us to develop
spatial and visual ideas for the future of tourism on
the island. As a basis for the prediction for Croatian
and Murter tourism, international tourism trends are
useful (see chapter 2 and box 2). These trends will give
an impression in which direction global tourism will
probably develop. In the next sub chapter is investigated
with the scenario method how tourism could develop
on Murter island.
93
 BOX 2: GENERAL TRENDS FOR THE FUTURE OF TOURISM
Besides the shift from Fordist to post-Fordist tourism (chapter 2.1-
2.3) the rise of the new middle class (chapter 2.3) and sustainable
tourism chapter 2.4), other trends in tourism. Many of these tourism
trends are happening today and will likely to continue in the future.
It is difficult to predict exactly the trends for the future of tourism,
because many events could affect tourism development such as the
political situation, technology, economic situation, and so on. Next
to these regular society and technique developments there are
wildcard-events, which make de predictions for the future even more
difficult. These wildcard-events have an high impact and a very low
probability, such as terrorist attacks, decease outbreaks, or natural
disasters (Hall and Lew 2009).

Despite the difficulty of predicting the future, some general trends

can easy to predict, because they are likely to happen. In this textbox
Figure 82: international tourists entries in 2000
three other important trends for the future of tourism are described.
To make the trends more explicit the trends are mainly applicable for
the Croatian coast, where our case study area of Murter is situated.

Increase in tourism numbers

One of the organisations which does an attempt to describe the

future of tourism is the United Nation Environment Programme
(UNEP 2005). For the countries around the Mediterranean area the
UNEP predict an increase of tourist numbers, especially because of
the increase of tourists from Eastern Europe and Russia. According to
their report the future growth of the Eastern European markets will
depend on their economic growth and their progressive integration
in the European Union (UNEP 2005). For Croatia this is important
because the share of the Eastern and Central European tourist is
increasing. An another important factor they mention is the transport
system in the future (UNEP 2005). According to the quantitative Figure 83: expected international tourists entries in 2025

94 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

numbers of the United Nation Environment Programme
(2005) the East Adriatic countries would recover their
position by attracting 10 million international tourists
a year more by 2025 than they welcomed in the peak
years before the Yugoslavian war (figure 82 and 83).
This input would be concentrated mainly in Croatia,
with about 12 million arrivals per year. Comparable to
the other Mediterranean countries, this is a significant
increase and gives Croatia after 2025 a stable position in
the tourism market.
However these predictions are from 2001. The reality
shows that the growth was faster than predicted, but
in the last three years it seems the growth stagnated
on a total number of 11 million domestic and foreign
arrivals a year (Croatian Bureau of Statistics 2010). This
is a bit more than the peak before the Yugoslavian war
(10,4 million in 1987). This could possibly prove the
expectations of the predictions that the Mediterranean
market will stabilize on the long term, however this is a
bit earlier than expected.
Shift in countries of origin (markets)
The United Nation Environment Programme (2005)
notes that in 2025 the rise in Mediterranean tourism has
two important drivers. First, the international tourists
and after this, the increasing incomes of Southern- and
Eastern-Europeans will cause more domestic tourists.
Nowadays most foreign tourists at the Adriatic coast
are from Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Austria (Croatian
Bureau of Statistics 2010). In the future these countries
seems to be the main markets as well, but the South-
North, East-West and West-East holidays will develop
more quickly than the traditional North-South holidays
(Croatian Central Bureau of Statistics in Roland Berger
Strategy Consultants 2007) . The number of trips a year
is also likely to increase, while the number of days is
decreasing.
Aging of the population
The European Travel Commission (UNEP 2005) notes that
there will be a shift in age groups of tourists. Because of
the ageing of the population, senior citizens and retired
people are likely to have a larger share in the market. In
the year 2000 eleven percent of the worlds population
was aged older than sixty. In 2050 this percentage is
expected to be almost doubled (20 percent) (Hall and
Page 2006). This group of people have more time and
money to spend on traveling. The improvement of
healthcare services will make them able to travel more
and more. Health related travel is a trend for this group
as well (Hall and Page 2006), which could lead to an
increase of second homes to hibernate and an increase
in popularity of wellness resorts or spas. The Croatian
tourism business expect the role of elderly tourists will
increase with 23 percent in the nearby future (Roland
Berger Strategy Consultants 2007). On the other hand
the Croatian tourism business thinks that the youth,
high educated people are a new group on the tourism
market too (Roland Berger Strategy Consultants 2007).
These groups have their own demands which resulted in
suitable accommodations and activities.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 95
 8.2 THE FUTURE OF TOURISM IN
SCENARIOS
In tourism literature there are many methods to explore
the future of tourism. Hall and Lew (2009) summarize
them in six different methods:
Environmental scanning and monitoring
Trend extrapolation
Opinion surveys
Scenario-building
Modelling
Morphological analysis
The main method of this thesis will be the scenarios-
building method. This method is used to explore a
range of possible future outcomes (Hall and Lew 2009).
Because of the landscape architecture approach, the
focus is on the spatial effects of the future tourism
scenarios. To define the scenarios two different variable
are distinguished.
Unsustainable tourism - Sustainable tourism
From the first two parts of this thesis could be concluded
that sustainability is the best future for tourism in
general, Croatia and on Murter island. In order to
convince the stakeholders to choose for a sustainable
(landscape) approach it is important to show them the
impacts on the landscape if unsustainable development
continues as well as the advantages of sustainable
developments.
96
Major external investments - Small scale local existing larger-scale developments than by constructing
investments more smaller scale ones? (McCool and Moisey 2008). To
get grip on this situation a distinction is made between
According to the general trends, tourism in Croatia will
small scale local and major external investments. The
increase in the future (see box two). The growth of
variables have to deal with the time aspect as well,
these tourism developments depends on two factors:
because local (mostly small scale) investments are
the external factors (economic crises, increase of air
possible on a short term, within approximately ten years.
travel prices, etcetera) or internal factors (regulations for
External investments (mostly large scale) are more on
achieving sustainability). It is difficult to find the tipping
the long term, after ten years.
point in tourism growht: how could Murter maximize
its profits from tourism and still achieve sustainability?
While combining those two variables (un-sustainability
(McCool and Moisey (2008) endorse that by asking the
versus sustainability and small scale local investments
question: Can the benefits to the ideal of sustainable
versus major external investments) four different
tourism be more effectively achieved by working with
scenarios could be derived (see figure 84):
Figure 84: scheme of the four scenarios
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism


Unsustainable development Sustainable development

Local sprawl Mass tourism Tourism network Tourism clusters
Business-as-usual Gated resorts Conservation through New large scale sustainable
The general trends (chapter 2 and box 2) and the starting development by networks developments
Target groups
points (chapter 4.6) form the basis for the scenarios, Country of origin Larger share of East Traditional West Europeans Traditional west Europeans and Traditional west Europeans and
however the applications are different for each of the Europeans (Polish. (Germans, Austrians)combined New West European countries New west European countries
Hungarians, Czechs) with east Europeans (Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden) (Great Britain, Denmark,
four scenarios. In each scenario growth of tourism is Sweden)
Age Mainly families and elderly Mainly families Elderly people Dinkies(double Dinkies (double income no kids),
taken into consideration. The aging of the population, income no kids), and young active and Young Urban Professionals
the growth of the new middle class, and the increase people.
Income Low income High income vs. New middle class (income above New middle class (high income)
of environmental awareness are leading to the two low income average)
sustainable scenarios, because they will form the Environmental No environmental concern No environmental concern eco aware (high environmental The users (moderate
concern concern) environmental concern)
demand for sustainable tourism. Activities Sun, Sea, Sand tourism Sun, Sea, Sand tourism Nature watching, hiking, scuba Cultural visits, education,
& Entertainment (themed diving, peace seekers, local congresses, commodification of
tourism) natural and culture visits culture and nature, wellness
In six table on the right a summary is displayed of the Attractions The beaches and bays on the Themed artificial attractions Landscape itself and the Wellness centres, museums,
island (pirates, knights, romans), bar landscape bases attractions historic sites, nature reserves,
aspects of the four scenarios. Each scenario is explain in strips and shopping centres (stone maize, view tower)
Accommodations
the next paragraphs by text, images and a map. Hotels 2-3 star hotels New all-inclusive (themed) hotel Improvement of the existing Large sustainable hotels
resorts hotels and new small eco hotels
(until 30 beds)
Campsites Increase of small private Large scale campsites Small scale trekking campsites Eco camps integrated into the
campsites landscape
Apartments 2-3 star apartments 2-3 star apartments Improvement and expansion of New apartments on empty
existing apartments (renovate the spaces in the villages in
apartments to 4 stars) combination with minor
expansion at the village edges
Marinas Private berths for tourists and Expansion of marinas. The No expansion of marinas. Make Small expansion of marinas are
second home owners. The marinas are private and gated. the marinas more open to the allowed, but only when the
marinas are private and gated public negative ecological effects are
marginal
2nd homes Increase of 2nd homes along In gated resort communities Prevention of new second homes Prevention of new second
the coast homes
Spatial effects
Landscape Neglection of the landscape Land alteration by exploitation of Landscape as an attraction itself, Zoning of the landscape by
bays preservation and beautification protecting or renovating nature
Uncontrolled apartment sprawl of the landscape and cultural areas
into the natural and cultural
landscape
Villages Continuation of the urban Uncontrolled theming and Expansion of existing Centres of activities , facilities
sprawl at the edges of the expansion of accommodations, accommodations and facilities. and attractions. Focus on infill
villages facilities and attractions Focus on minor infillment and no and minor expansion.
expansion
Infrastructure Traffic congestion, especially Constructing of new roads for the No expansion of car Discourage car use in the
in village centres. As reaction increased car traffic in village infrastructure, but construct a villages by car free zones and
facilities move along the centres and gateways network walking and cycling public transport. Local
access roads paths construction of walking and
cycling paths (no large network)
Table 6: summary of different Public space In general no or small cheap Theming and commercialization Local, small scale design of public Large scale improvement or
aspects within the scenarios investments in public space of public space spaces restructuring of public space.

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 97

 8.2.1 Tourism sprawl

This is a business-as-usual scenario. Tourism
development on Murter island continues on the
same track as before, which means offering the same
tourism products and accommodations as today. Other
destination areas will offer the same standard products
and therefore the competition is high. Continuation of
the trends will result in more three star apartments and
second homes, which accommodate the sun-sea-sand
tourists (figure 85). Because of the lack of inadequate
policies and measurements, people can continue to
build on the most favourable places such as the bays, on
islands, near village centres, near main roads, and along
the coastline.
The poor offer of attractions on the island is not
improved. The only attraction are the beaches with some
old-fashioned and badly maintained attraction (slides,
trampolines, and fairground attractions). Because the
number of tourists increased and seasonality of tourism
remain, more resources (water and electricity) are
needed. However there is a lack of money to invest in the
resources network, which result in shortages of water
and electricity in the peak season. The investments
in the traffic network are also very low, which leads
to overgrown paths outside the villages and broken
pavements inside the villages (figure 88).
The black market in this scenario plays still an important
role. Apartment owners who offer their apartment on
the black market pay no taxes to the local municipalities,
which resulted in less availability of money for
investments in public spaces and landscapes. Because
of the lack of investments, the public places and the
agricultural landscape become neglected. Besides the
shortage of investments the agricultural tradition will
disappear, because most people are working in the
tourism business. Tourists in this scenario are in general
not interested in the landscape itself, because they only
come to the island for the sun, sea and the low price.
This combination is fatal for the traditional dry stone
wall landscape, which becomes neglected (figure 89),
inaccessible and overgrown by pine forests.
Target groups
Mainly eastern European families, who are interested in
the price and Sun, Sea, Sand activities. They do not care
about the environment.

accommodations attractions resources accessibility landscape public space

Figure 85: 3 star apartments Figure 86: sun, sea, and sand Figure 87: illegal waste dumps Figure 88: no investments in Figure 89: abandoned dry Figure 90: under-designed
with generic architecture (in reality concrete beaches) roads, paths, and quays stone wall landscape, because public space. domination of
of the disappeared agricultural concrete and asphalt, but no
tradition green

98 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

Figure 91: map of the scenario local sprawl
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 99
 8.2.2 Mass-tourism

In this scenario big external investors come to the
island with one goal: make a lot of money on a short
term. External investors are national and international
companies and in general they do not care about local
people, environment, and culture (figure 92). In spatial
terms the large scale investments result in new resort
clusters around certain bays on the island. Nikole bay,
Guscica bay, and one of the islands (Ziminjak) are examples
of bays where resorts can be constructed. These resorts
are only accessible for guests and keep as much of the
facilities internal in order to make more money. They
hire staff from the mainland, and the tourism venues
are leaking to the big companies. Besides the rise of the
resorts, the number of apartments and second homes
increase as well and the existing campsites will expand
further. Local people try to benefit of the proximity of
the resorts, by constructing more apartments in the
outskirts of the existing villages.
Entertainment becomes next to the sun-sea-sand tourism
a major tourist product. Theme parks, casinos and bar
strips facilitate the entertainment tourist product. The
appearance of international companies to the island and
the use of entertainment as new tourism product fits
in the globalisation of tourism. The globalisation of the
tourism sector brings global styles of architecture, food,
activities and public space to the island which fades the
local place identity.
The increase of tourists will put a high pressure on
resources. To diminish the pressure new extra water
supply and a new power line will be constructed to meet
the water and energy demand. The pressure on the
infrastructure will increase as well. The increase of car
will cause traffic congestion, parking problems, noise-,
and visual pollution.
Resort owners are only interested in investing money in
the maintenance of their own resort, because tourists
are staying only within a resort. Gated resorts will split
the island in two separated worlds: in and outside the
gates (figure 96). As a consequence the municipality
cannot profit and invest outside the gates in attractive
public spaces and landscapes. The neglected public
spaces are visible in the bad maintenance of squares
and streets and the use of cheap standard materials.
The neglection of the landscape change the typical dry
stone wall landscape with olive groves into pine forests.
Target groups
Next to eastern European families, who are interested
in the price and Sun, Sea, Sand activities. Western
European families who like to be entertainmented
during their all-inclusive holiday. In general they do not
have environmental concern.

accommodations attractions resources accessibility landscape public space

Figure 92: Large scale, themed Figure 93: faked and themed Figure 94: high usage of FIgure 95: domination of Figure 96: division in two Figure 97: themed and generic
and all-inclusive resorts with a attractions resources, especially by air parked cars and traffic worlds: Investments inside, objects in public (or semi-
gate around their property conditioning units congestion and abandonment outside the public) spaces
resort gates
100 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Figure 98: map of the scenario mass tourism
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 101
 8.2.3 Tourism network

This scenario focuses on small improvements by local
stakeholders which together make the island more
sustainable. Connection is the keyword in this scenario.
This can be done by creating a sufficient network for
cyclers and pedestrians (figure 102). This will make the
island more attractive for people who like sports, nature,
hiking, local culture, and a quite environment. Also the
improvement of the existing paths is part of the creation
of a slow traffic network. In the current situation many
paths ends at a bay. By making connections between
those end, a new route network can be constructed.
The path network connects the existing potential
attractions (qualities) of the island. In some cases these
attractions are already in a good shape (for example
the viewpoint at the Saint Roka church in Murter
Selo). However in most cases these attractions need
to be improved and exploited (panoramic views on the
hilltops, the old roman remains on Gradina and Plitka
Vala and the sandy beaches of Slanica and Luica bay).
At last, new landscape based attractions are added along
routes where no places/attractions exist (figure 100).
This is mainly the case in the middle of the island and on
the mainland. Examples of these attractions could be:
a stone maze, a climbing wall, land art, a watchtower,
and so on. In total this path network will offer several
different routes for different kinds of tourists (nature,
active, sports, cultural etcetera) and increases the
attractiveness of the island in a sustainable way, also out
of season.
Another network in this scenario is the network of local
resources, such as food, energy, water, and materials. The
use of local resources makes the island less dependent
from external factors and protects the place identity.
In terms of landscape, this means that the agricultural
production have to be revived, especially on the fertile
grounds in the Polder between Murter and Betina and
the lowlands near Jezera. These products could be sold
to tourists, which increase the profit margins for locals.
The roofs of the buildings will be used for rainwater
catchment and solar energy production. In this scenario
existing structures will be reused: accommodations are
transformed in green buildings by using local materials,
green walls/roofs, and sustainable resources.
To expand the tourism offer and the tourist season,
a new sustainable hotel is constructed near Nikola
bay, and new sustainable lodges are built in the bays
of Plitka Vala, Jasenovac and Slanica. The campsites
expand and become multifunctional by combining the
accommodation function with agriculture. For example
the campsite on Plitka vala is planted full with olive trees,
and Autokamp Kosirina has a suitable southern slope for
vine cultivation.
Target groups
Western European families and young urban professionals
who like to have an active holiday and enjoy nature and
culture without harming it.

accommodations attractions resources accessibility landscape public space

Figure 99: small scale, place Figure 100: small scale, Figure 101: local production Figure 102: construction of Figure 103: restoration of Figure 104: small improvements
identic lodges. landscape based attractions of sustainable resources a path network around the the agricultural landscape by of the public space with local
island for bikers and hikers combining them with tourism materials and more green

102 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

Figure 105: map of the scenario tourism network
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 103
 8.2.4 Tourism clusters
The scenario of new sustainable tourism clusters combines
large scale tourism growth with sustainability. External
investors come to the island to construct sustainable
resorts, in which local culture, nature, architecture is
involved into the design. These resorts will be clustered
around some of the bays, respecting the hundred meter
line restriction of the Croatian government, in order to
limit the visual pollution and minimize the ecological
impacts. Furthermore they are designed carefully
and meet several architectural preconditions which
made them fit into the landscape and limit the visual
pollution. This is just happening at a few bays which are
easy accessible: Luica bay, Nikola bay, and Jazina bay.
The tourism network which is already constructed
in the previous scenario will be extended with large
scale landscape based attractions such as an Kornati
information centre, an olive museum in the centre of
Murter (figure 107), a centre for education and human
accommodations attractions
Figure 106: clustered Figure 107: attractions based
accommodations, fit into the on local cultural- and natural
landscape and connected with traditions
the environment
104
development near Luica bay, a war museum on Raduc Natural and cultural protection zones are created in
hill, and a wellness centre in Jazina bay. Besides the order to conserve and improve the landscape. Natural
extension and further improvement of the path network zones are concentrated along the coast, because of the
the infrastructure will be extended by more sustainable natural transition zone, while the cultural zones are
modes of transport (water taxi and small electric found near the villages, because they are easy to access
vehicles) and car free zones are created to discourage for tourists. The edges of the villages will be transformed
car use and create space for improvements and greening into a physical and psychological barrier to prevent
of the public space. further urban sprawl.
For these tourism developments, the natural resources Target groups
are exploited sustainable on a large scale: windmills on
Western European families, young urban professionals,
the hills at the mainland, solar parks on the southern
and rich retired people. They want to combine a luxurious
slopes of the hills named Brdo and iroka and water
holiday with unique local experiences. Both groups have
catchment installations on slopes near the villages (figure
a high environmental concern.
108). A part of the tourist revenues are invested into the
renovation, maintenance and, if necessary, redesign
(according local design principles) of the public space.
This makes the daily living environment more attractive
for locals as well.
resources accessibility landscape public space
Figure 108: large scale Figure 109: water taxi connects Figure 110: agricultural and Figure 111: designed public
production of sustainable the villages in a sustainable nature reserves as landscape spaces which can cope with
resources and entertaining way. attractions large quantities people
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Figure 112: map of the scenario tourism clusters
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 105
 9. WORKSHOP
The workshop on Murter island was an important step in
this thesis project. In total 30 people from different ages,
backgrounds, and professions came to give feedback on
and input for this thesis project. This local knowledge
was very useful for the fine tuning of the scenario maps,
the scenario selection, and as input for the spatial
landscape designs. To gather information we organized
two interactive activities:

Picture rating: the participants have to choose whether

they like or dislike certain images for the future on
their island (figure 113,114, and 117). Figure 113: The disliked images of group 1 Figure 114: The liked images of group 1
Sketching: the participants were asked to come up
with spatial ideas for Murter island as they like to see
it in 2030 and draw the ideas on a map (figure 115
and 118).

The thirty attendees were divided into three groups of

ten people. Group 1 was a group of young people (20-
30 years old), group 2 existed of several stakeholders
(municipality, tourism boards, etcetera), and the last
group were mainly elderly people (50 years and older).
In this chapter the workshop results will be described. A
detailed description of the workshop can be found in the
workshop report in appendix C.

Figure 115: The sketch for Murter island in 2030 by group 2

106 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Figure 116: Our presentation, translated by our supervisor Dr. Irena Ateljevic Figure 117: Picture rating

Figure 118: Linking the images on a map of the island and sketching Figure 119: Presentation of group 3 to the other groups
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 107
 9.1 STRUCTURE OF THE WORKSHOP bit more (15 percent of the images were liked). A large comprehensive view of the different images and their
contribution to this preference are the pictures of a preference by the different groups can be found in the
In the first interactive part of the workshop, each group
banana boat and bungee jumping, which confused workshop report in appendix C
got hundred pictures with different kind of aspects
people because they rated this as a nice activity, and
according to tourism or the landscape. The pictures
not as an unsustainable one. On the other hand, more In the second phase the groups sketched their own ideas
were chosen by ourselves, which is arbitrary, but we tried
obvious unsustainable examples such as large scale for the future of tourism on Murter island and afterwards
to find clear pictures of unsustainable and sustainable
hotels, fast-food, casinos, golf courses, air-conditionings they presented their plans to the other groups. The main
tourism as much as possible. The groups had to rate
and traffic jams were disliked. It was obvious that the points of the group presentations are in table 7.
each picture by marking it as like (in Croatian: svida mi
sustainable images were preferred much more. The
se) or dislike (in Croatian: ne svida mi se) (Figure 113).
images, which were linked to the tourism network 9.3 CONCLUSION
It is important to note that the participants were not
scenario, were preferred most (87 percent of them were This workshop was an important step in the thesis
introduced yet by the concept of unsustainability and
liked). Only wooden eco-lodges and a pedestrian path process for several reasons:
sustainability, so they were not biased in advance. They
for Murter were disliked by two of the three groups. The With the help of this workshop local people now
also did not know that each image was linked to one of
tourism clusters scenario is a bit less popular (77 percent know more about sustainability and sustainable
the four scenarios we made.
of images where liked). Especially the green walls, large tourism landscapes and what landscape architecture
eco-hotels and the designed boulevard of Split were not can contribute;
After the explanation of the concept of sustainability,
liked. However the sailing yachts, olive museum, water It helped us understand local issues and opinions
the second phase of the group work started. In this
catchment installation, electric gas, wellness centre and about tourism and the future of tourism. The input of
phase the groups had to make a spatial plan for the
designed view point are liked by all of the groups. A the locals is taken into account in our further design
development of tourism on Murter island in 2030. They
could use the images of the picture rating and link them process;
to a location or came with new ideas as well. After thirty
minutes of discussing, thinking, and sketching each
group presented the ideas in a five minute presentation
to the other groups (figure 119).

9.2 RESULTS
Figure 120 displayes the results of the picture rating.
The tourism sprawl scenario is considered as the worst-
case scenario, because just 6 percent of the images
were considered as desirable for the future. Most of
the pictures for this scenario were liked by the young
group, because sports, such as jet skiing, were part in tourism sprawl mass tourism tourism tourism
network clusters
this scenario. The mass tourism scenario is preferred a
Figure 120: results of the group sketching phase

108 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

 The workshop helped to create a basis for practical
implementation. This is important because of this
thesis project had beside the scientific utility also the
utility for the real world;
The workshop proved that the local people have
a preference for a sustainable future (82% of the
sustainable pictures were liked) instead of an
Group 1
Landscape Protect dry stone walls
Reintroduction of wine
cultivation
Resources Solar power installation
on Raduc hill
Promoting local products
(wine, olive oil)
Accommodations New hotel/ lodges near
Lucica bay in harmony
with the landscape
Accessibility New bike- and foot paths
Attractions Museum or activity
centre on Raduc hill
Underwater museum
Public space Improvement of the
central square of Murter
Improvement of the
harbour front
Table 7: results of the group sketching phase
unsustainable future (only 11% of the unsustainable The spatial plans of the groups have a lot of similarities
pictures were liked) This preference showed the with ideas we already had, such as a better network
demand for a sustainable future in making spatial of paths, the re-introduction of wine groves, the
tourism development plans/designs. restoration of agricultural land, and the improvement
It gave us the opportunity to test our ideas and plans of certain public spaces. But there were also new ideas
for the future of tourism on the island by comparing which inspired us. One example was the idea to make
them with the sketches of local people. the agricultural sector more important by expressing
local traditions and landscape.
Group 2 Group 3
The workshop made clear that the stakeholders on
Nature conservation area No new construction, but Murter island want to develop tourism in a sustainable
(untouched) transformation
way. Because there is no significant difference between
Renovation of the olive
groves the preferences for a small scale development and large
Lighting on solar power scale development by external investors, both scenarios,
tourism networks and tourism clusters, will be used in
the design phase. The tourism network scenario will
represent the developments of tourism which can happen
Lodges out of local stones Only new apartments
within ten year (phase 1), because the interventions are
Improve hotel Colentum could be build when the
owner is revitalizing his easy to implement. The interventions of the tourism
land clusters scenario are much more complex, because the
New bike- and foot paths Boat connection from scale, impacts and the investments are much higher. So
Water taxi Murter to the mainland this will be after ten years (phase 2). Furthermore, the
(Modrave) presentations of the workshop supported the selection
Regional museum Olive groves as an of our design location for the next phase: Slanica bay, the
Kornati national park attraction
harbourfront of Murter and the koljic environment with
museum A centre of olive
Exploitation of panoramic cultivation Luica bay. In general, these places are marked by us and
views by the locals as key potential places for new sustainable
Revalue Roman remains on tourism developments. These designs will be explained
Gradina hill in great detail in the next part of this thesis.
Construction of an
amphitheatre
Remove the slide on Slanica
bay
Renovation of Slanica bay
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 109
 SUMMARY CHAPTER 8 AND 9
Butler: consolidation leads through stagnation to
decline or rejuvenation;
Agarwal: re-orientation phase between stagnation
and decline/rejuvenation;
Murter island already started the re-orientation phase
before stagnation, for example by our project;
Many ways of predicting the future, we use the
scenario method. Two main variables (sustainable
versus unsustainable tourism and small scale local
investments versus major external investments). This
makes four different scenarios:

o Tourism sprawl: business as usual scenario;

o Mass tourism: themed gated resorts, neglection of
the landscape outside the gates;
o Tourism network: connecting local attractions,
resources, and accommodations;
o Tourism clusters: clustering of sustainable tourism
developments to protect the agricultural and natural
landscape;

Local workshop results: sustainable scenarios where

preferred, but no major difference between the two
sustainable scenarios;
Design phase: work out both, representing a different
time scale.

110 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

Figure 121: overview of the participants of the workshop

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 111

 IV LOCAL DESIGNS

Figure 122: The west part of the harbourfront of Murter Town

 scale 1: 40.000

figure 123: spatial threats around the bays of murter island combined with the bay types
114 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
 INTRODUCTION
In this part the sustainable scenarios are implemented
in detailed designs. Three different areas are chosen as
representative areas for tourism developments on the
whole island. From the problem analysis can be concluded
that most of the tourism facilities and the entailed problems
are concentrated around the bays (see figure 123). The bays
are one of the main qualities of the island and they should
be preserved, restored, or redeveloped. In general, there
are three main types of bays (see bay analysis in appendix
A): urban bays, tourism bays, and natural bays. Combining
this with the map about spatial threats around the bays
(figure 123), there are three representative locations who
are facing the most urgent problems and are all a different
bay type: Luica bay, Hramina bay, and Slanica bay (figure
124). The workshop supported this location choice as well,
because all of the groups mentioned these locations as
areas for (re-)development. The demands for design are
different on each location:

Luica bay: a landscape design for a new tourism cluster

(small hotel plus lodges) and a centre for education and
human development;
Slanica bay: restructuring of existing tourism cluster in a
sustainable way;
Hramina bay: the improvement of the public space by
adding new tourism facilities.

These designs are made in two phases, which are linked to

the scenarios of local, small scale investments (within ten
years) and external, large scale investments (after ten years).
In the following chapters the designs of the locations are Figure 124: the three design locations on Murter island
explained by text, maps, photo collages, cross sections, and
principles for landscape, architecture and public space.

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 115

 10. LUICA BAY
10.1 SITE ANALYSIS
Luica bay has a lot of natural qualities: a sandy sea
bottom (figure 127), the beautiful small island kolji
(which is connected with the mainland, figure 125), a
relatively untouched coastline, and a magnificent dry
stone wall landscape (figure 129). As a result, Luica bay
is very popular among the inhabitants of Murter, who
are often walking to, and around, the small island kolji.
Problems in this particular area are the visual pollution of
parked cars near the coast and the difficult access to the Figure 125: the artificial pier towards the island of kolji Figure 126: the main access to Luica bay
sea over the sharp rocks. Furthermore the dry stone wall
landscape is degradading, because of the deminishing
interest in agriculture on the island.

These qualities in the area is under a lot of tourism

pressure. Apartments are already sprawling along main
roads towards the bay and two illegal buildings are
constructed nearby the coast. Besides that, a company
from Split bought already a lot of land near the bay and
wants to develop tourism facilities. In order to do this
in a sustainable way a group of graduated students, led
Figure 127: a sandy sea bottom is a unique quality of the bay Figure 128: the island of kolji has a small harbour
by Irena Ateljevic, has the idea to develop a centre for
education and human development in combination with
a hotel and lodges. We were asked by them to make
QUALITIES PROBLEMS
a design for this new sustainable tourism cluster. By
making a plan for the area the group of Irena Ateljevic sandy sea bottom visual polution by parked cars
and the municipality hopes to convince the company to small island kolji connected with the mainland inaccessible water for swimmers
construct the resort in a sustainable way. relatively untouched coastline degrading landscape
magnificent dry stone wall landscape pressure of touristic developments

116 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

EXISTING SITUATION
WITH PROBLEMS

Figure 129: The design location for the centre for education and human development: a slope of the hills are covered with numborous dry stone walls and olive groves

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 117

 10.2 DESIGN PHASE ONE

scale 1: 1500
scale 1: 1500
0 10 50 m

118 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

 2
1

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

 DESIGN PHASE ONE
The first phase of this design is based on local, small scale tourism development.
Investments can be executed by local stakeholders such as the municipality. From
the local sustainable tourism network scenario the path network needs to be
improved. In this area, the paths are widen in some cases and a new path is made
from the main road towards the north side of the bay. Furthermore a new central
square is constructed to make the path network more clear. This square is made
of gravel and is decorated with curved, stone benches with a wooden deck, which
are placed in the shade of pine trees (see photo montage 1). On the square, some
information signs are placed to give tourists some information about the area or
direct them to other interesting places on the island.

Figure 130: existing situation. See the map on the previous page for the location

stairs towards the sandy new curved benches central square makes the stone bench with a
sea bottom beneath the pine trees network more clear wooden deck

120 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

Another important feature of the tourism network scenario are the landscape
based attractions. To strengthen the attractiveness of the area, small attractions
are proposed. One of those attractions is a small wooden watchtower on the west
side of the island of kolji. From these tower tourists will have a great panorama
view on the Kornati islands and the hills of Murter island. New, wide stairs are
constructed to improve the accessibility of the sandy sea bottom of the bay (it is
now blocked by the rocky coast). The stairs are made of natural stones, constructed
on the artificial pier which connect the island with the mainland. The stairs are
located on this place, so that the natural coast is not harmed. This fits in the
sustainability concept of protecting the natural environment as much as possible.
The last problem is the visual pollution of the parked cars at the coastline. The
visual pollution problem is solved by a new parking lot in the valley, 200 meters
land inwards. The road from the parking lot to the bay is made inaccessible for
cars, but more accessible for cyclers and pedestrians (see photo montage 2).
Figure 131: existing situation

the bay is just accessible for paved road towards parking lot planted
pedestrians and cyclists the parking lot with pines

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 121

 10.3 DESIGN PHASE TWO

scale 1: 1500
scale 1: 1500
0 10 50 m
122 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
 A

B 4

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

 DESIGN PHASE TWO
The second part of the design can be realised when an external investor wants
to develop the hotel and the centre for education and human development. The
design for this is made in such a way that the visual pollution is marginal and the
identity of the landscape is protected (see photo montage 3). To limit the visual
pollution the buildings are constructed hundred metres from the coast (this line is
required by Croatian policies). The pattern of the dry stone walls serves as guide for
fitting the buildings into the landscape and the existing pattern will be kept intact.
The walls are renovated, sometimes strengthened by gabions. On the top of the
walls paths are created to provide access the lodges and the education buildings
(see photo montage 4). The lodges and education buildings are positioned in the
back of the parcels, between the dry stone walls, so they have a clear view on
the sea. The architecture of the buildings have to meet strict regulations, to make
them place identical, and to limit the visual pollution.
Figure 132: existing situation

main buildings in the lodges within the parcels amphitheatre for outdoor
valley for low visibility of dry stone walls conferences and water catchment

124 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

Extra facilities are added to provide services to the visitors of the centre: the
parking lot is extended on terraces on the hill, large panorama terraces are
located next to the main buildings. As a special feature and icon for the centre,
a large amphitheatre is constructed into the slope of the hill. The theatre offers
the opportunity to organize open air congresses with as background a great view
on the sea and the Kornati islands. The amphitheatre is a rainwater catchment
installation as well, which restores an old sustainable resource tradition on the
island. The water is used for irrigation of the gardens close to the main buildings.

Situation phase 1

paths over the restored terrace covers of grape main buildings buildt according local extended parking lot in terraces
dry stone walls vines (Olea Euopaea) design principles (see page 128) on the slope of the hill

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 125

 SECTION A-A
A A

SECTION B-B

B B

126 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

10.4 LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE PRINCIPLES Decreasing scale of the buildings
Connect the paths of the tourism Landscape based attractions connected Car accessibility are replaced from the uphill and positioning the buildings
cluster with the existing path network by an improved path network bay to a parking lot land inwards land inwards

fit in starting point: Make connections fit in starting point: Facilitate new modes fit in starting point: Transition to green fit in starting point: Hiding the negative
between tourist accommodations and of tourism modes of transportrenewable resources aspects and show the quality of the
local facilities landscape

Use the pattern of the dry stone walls Use the dry stone walls for paths to Windscreens of pine trees to protect Use roofs for solar energy and the
for the positioning of the buildings access the buildings against the cold Bora wind amphitheater for water catchment

fit in starting point: Protection of the

fit in starting point: Strengthen the (agri-) cultural and natural landscape fit in starting point: Use the local
landscape identity landscape for the production of renewable
resources
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 127
 10.5 ARCHITECTURAL PRINCIPLES
main buildings
color scheme

133 134 135 136 137

128 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

education facilities
color scheme

138 139 140 141 142

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 129
 Lodges
color scheme

143 144 145 146

130 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
10.6 PUBLIC SPACE PRINCIPLES
Paths Lighting Vegetation

Enhanced dry stone walls with gabions and smaller Solar street lights along the road until the hoteland Windscreens of pine trees (pinus nigra), terrace
stones on top to transform them into paths solar spots on the stone walls. The coast is not light covers of the common grape vine (genus vitis), and
groves of olives (olea euopaea) around the lodges

147 154
153

148

151 152
149 150 155

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 131

 stairs Amphitheatre

Make the sea accessible at the artificial pire by a wide An outdoor amphitheatre to give open air lectures
stairs, which are suitable for sun bathing as well and catch rain water under the stage.

158 159

156

160

157 161

132 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 133
 11. HRAMINA BAY
11.1 SITE ANALYSIS
The harbour of Murter is since decades one of the most
important locations on the island. Fish, olive, grapes, and
wool were brought from the sea and (Kornati) islands. In
the harbour, the products were stored, processed and
sold. Since the arrival of tourism and car traffic on the
island, the east side of the harbour was filled up with land
and new piers were constructed in front. However, except
of a new road and a bus stop, this place was not planned
with new functions (figure 166). As a result, the owners Figure 162: the public space at the west side of the bay is Figure 163: the inhabitants use the habour front as a storage
from the adjacent houses are using the harbourfront as badly maintained place
a storage place (figure 162 and 163). Also tourists use
it as a car park and local businesses use it as a market
place. This combination of functions is not regulated and
the area has a messy image. Furthermore there is hardly
any green on the east side of the harbourfront and the
public space is dominated with asphalt and concrete,
which makes it unattractive. The adjacent buildings
are facing with the badly maintained backside to the
harbour. Instead of a harbourfront it became a harbour
back, which is aesthetic unpleasing.
Figure 164: there are plans to move the gas station outside Figure 165: there is no on-going rout at west side of the
The west side of the harbourfront has become a back the village harbourfront
side too, because a lot of sheds are abandoned and QUALITIES PROBLEMS
the public space is badly maintained. For tourists this
place has a lot of potential, because of the small-scale dozens of tiny alleys lack of a sufficient parking system
and historic character of the place. The west side of the old fishing harbour no connections on the west side
harbourfront is nowadays difficult to access, because a lot of historic buildings no clear function of the east side of the
there is no on-going route along the waterfront (figure harbourfront
165). Besides the bad access, the public space is not a lot of concrete and asphalt and a lack of green
attractive and there is a lack of facilities. lack of aesthetic quality in public space
no pedestrian connection Marina Hramina village

134 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

EXISTING SITUATION WITH PROBLEMS

Figure 166: this row of trees is the one of the few green spot in the area. On the other hand there is a lot of concrete and asphalt
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 135
11.2 DESIGN PHASE ONE
PHASE 1

scale 1: 1500

0 10 50 m
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
 1

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 137

 DESIGN PHASE ONE
To improve the harbourfront restructuring is needed. The east side of the
harbour has different characteristics compared with the west side, which
resulted in different design solutions. In the first phase the construction of
connections is important. To improve the connections of the east side, a new
boulevard is proposed on both sides the existing road (photo montage 1). The
boulevard is made of natural light yellow/beige stones and planted with a
double row of indigenous Holm Oaks (Quercus Ilex). These strong evergreen
oaks function as wind screens to protect the boulevard for strong Bora winds
during the winter. The road could be crossed from the main alleys, where
the pedestrians have a view on the bay of Hramina (important experiential
quality). Along the water a place to stay is created by stretched benches. This
could be the new centre for locals and tourists to meet each other and enjoy
the activity of the harbour. The parking system is restructured and reorganised
by a new parking lot on the vacant area of the replaced gas station. Along
the new road, new parking lots are constructed as well (not the existing,
Figure 167: existing situation, see the map on the previous page for the location
extra green to make the green walls to cover the new boulevard of 90 degree parking Holm Oaks to protect
boulevard more attractive mess behind the buildings local flag stones along the road the boulevard from
the Bora winds

138 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

space wasting, oblique parking, but 90 degrees parking). Furthermore, the
storage places at backside of the buildings are covered by temporary green
walls, which are two and a half metres high, planted with climbers such as the
Common Ivy (Hedera helix) or grape vine (Vitis vinifera).

At the west side, a combination of small landfills, new bridges, removal of

constructions, and a new pavement will made so that it will be possible for
tourists and residents to walk along the water from the central square up to
the village beach (photo montage 2). To make this connection more attractive,
trees, climbers and planters are added to diminish the existing grey, concrete
image. This connection gives the owners of the abandoned sheds and houses
the opportunities to re-use them as small scale shops, restaurants, cafs
or accommodations. A set of architectural principles have to regulate the
renovation of the buildings (see chapter 11.5)

Figure 168: existing situation

bridges to make the new pavement of extra green and
old harbour accessible local flag stones sitting opportunities

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 139

 11.3 DESIGN PHASE2TWO
PHASE

scale 1: 1500

0 10 50 m
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
 A

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 141

 DESIGN PHASE TWO
In the second phase, the area will be developed further by external investors.
However this should only happen under strict rules of the municipality in
order to do this in a sustainable way. For the west side of the harbourfront
no major changes are proposed. Just some buildings will be renovated or
reconstructed.
This will organize the mess of ugly stables and boats during the year, which makes the area more
attractive. More architectural principles for these buildings could be found in subchapter 11.5 In
between the buildings there are two squares. The first square on the west, has a covered market
place to provide shade . The market place is the new centre for local farmers who want to sell their
products to other locals or tourists. The other square is a square surrounded by many restaurants

The major changes will be on the east side of the bay, where new buildings
will give the harbour a new front. To respect the principles of the historic
urban layout, the alignment of the buildings should be frayed and not
block the existing alleys. The ground floor of the buildings could be used
by shops, cafs or restaurants, while on the upper floors (two or three)
apartments for tourists are situated with a great view on the harbour.
Another building type along the boulevard are the flexible sheds. The sheds
are used during the season as a place to host market stables, while they
could be used out of season for the storage of small boats on dry berths.
Situation phase one
Sheds transformed infillment of new Small electric vehicles as an
into catering facilities buildings instead attraction and a green mode of
with terraces of sprawl transport

142 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

and cafs. The square is surrounded with parasol pine trees which provide
shade for the multiple terraces underneath. The main square which connect
the western and the eastern part of the harbourfront is repaved with local
flag stones. On the main square a lot of terraces are situated surrounded
by planters with trees and shrubs. Near the main square a new landmark
is proposed, which is the eye catcher for the new harbourfront. The eye
catcher could be an artwork, for example a large olive, constructed out of
local stones.
islands. Therefore it is the ideal starting point for tourist excursions to the Kornati islands. Another
typical Murter tradition is the olive cultivation. The existing olive factory (the centre of the olive
cultivation) is extended with an olive museum and a olive souvenir shop. In the outdoor space the
olive museum, factory and shop are represented by a large local stone planters filled with old olive
trees.

External investors gave also the opportunity to develop new sustainable

attractions. This bay offers, besides the harbourfront itself, a great
opportunity to develop typical Murter attractions. The first one is the
Kornati information centre where tourist could be informed about the
history, nature and life of the Kornati the islands. The harbour is the place
to host such a centre, because, this is the major gate way to the Kornati
Situation phase one
Sheds transformed information sign to restored houses offer Removal of an old shed and the
into catering learn tourists the oportunities to sell local creation of a terrace underneath
facilities or shops history of the place products to tourists the almond trees

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 143

 SECTION A-A
A A

SECTION B-B
B B

144 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

11.4 LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE PRINCIPLES
Accentuate the three different parts of the harbourfront Make pedestrian route along the waterfront

Fit in starting point: strengthen the landscape identity Fit in starting point: make connections between tourist accommodations local facilities

Use of trees, green walls and terrace coverings to create an attractive micro Uniform local pavement for the different parts of harbourfront
climate

Fit in starting point: use of local aesthetics

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 145

 Decrease the dominance of cars by replacing the parking lots outside the centre Use the irregular buidling line in new developments

Fit in starting point: transition to green modes of traffic Fit in starting point: strenghten the landscape identity

Update and create new landscape based attractions Maintain the viewlines from the alleys on the sea

Fit in starting point: facilitate new modes of tourism Fit in starting point: hiding the negative aspects and show the quality of a place

146 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

Create solar panels on roofs and water retention basin under square

Fit in starting point: use the local landscape for the production of renewable resources.

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 147

 11.5 ARCHITECTURAL PRINCIPLES
apartment buildings
Building sizes Facades Resources

Advertisements Facilities Outdoor space

169 170 171 172 173

148 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

 color scheme
Sheds

Building sizes Facades Resources

Advertisements Facilities Outdoor space

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 149

 Flexible sheds
Building sizes Facades Resources

Advertisements Facilities Outdoor space

150 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

11.6 PUBLIC SPACE PRINCIPLES west part harbourfront
Paths and networks Materials

Green Lighting

174 175 176 177 178

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 151
 central part harbourfront
Paths and networks Materials

Green Lighting

179 180 181 182

152 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
east part harbourfront
Paths and networks Materials

Lighting
Green

183 184 185 186

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 153
 12. SLANICA BAY
12.1 SITE ANALYSIS
Slanica bay is the most popular tourist destination of
the island. The main reason is the sandy beach of the
bay, which is a rare phenomenon along the Adriatic
coast (figure 191). Since the sixties, a large hotel called
Colentum is situated near the bay. In the previous decades
all kind of facilities are developed too, such as catering
facilities and sports and play facilities. Today, the hotel
and the facilities are out-dated and even neglected. The
hotel is not renovated for years, and it does not meet the
Figure 187: hotel Colentum profit from the environment, but Figure 188: many of the facilities are neglected, for example
demands of the contemporary tourist anymore. In front these table tennis
does nothing to maintain it.
of the hotel is a construction site, which is abandoned for
years, because of conflicts between the hotel (the owner)
and the municipality (figure 189). This construction site
is clearly visible for tourists, who are recreating on the
beach. Near the beach there is a small boulevard with
catering facilities, who are quite well maintained. On the
contrary, the buildings land more inwards (toilets and
the arcade hall) are totally abandoned (figure 190). The
general quality of the sport facilities (volleyball field) and
the play facilities (slide, table tennis and trampolines) is
low (figures 187 and 188). Another problem of Slanica
Figure 189: abandoned construction site on one of the most Figure 190: this toilet building is one of the abandoned
bay is the lack of parking spaces. In the peak season,
favourable places on the island buildings near the bay.
people park their cars along the road and in the verges,
which contributes to the un-attractive image as well. QUALITIES PROBLEMS
one of the best sandy beaches in the county lack of a sufficient parking system
Despite the low quality of the accommodations and
good accessible from Murter village (foot/ bike abandoned buildings and facilities
facilities, this area has the potential to be an attractive
path) overcrowding during the summer months
sustainable tourist hotspot. The potentials need to be
visual pollution by slides
exploited in a coherent and sustainable way. The designs
neglection of public space by owners (hotel
on the next pages try to fulfil these demands.
Colentum)

154 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

EXISTING SITUATION
WITH PROBLEMS

scale 1: 3000

Figure 191: in terms of natural conditions Slanica is one of the most beautifull bay in Croatia, but tourism destroys this image
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 155
 12.2 DESIGN PHASE ONE
In the first phase the backside of the bay will be
restructured. This part is designed first, because this area
is owned by one owner, which has a good relationship
with the municipality. In that sense it is likely that he will
cooperate sooner in executing the plans. In the design,
a bypass is made for pedestrians from Murter town who
want to visit Slanica bay. In the contemporary situation
pedestrians have to walk the last part on a road, which is
occupied with a lot of, parked or driving, cars. To prevent
an unsafe situation, the bypass offers a direct access form
the village centre of Murter to the beach. The pavement
material for the bypass is made out of local light yellow
flag stones. Near the bypass a new parking lot is created
instead of the messy parking near the roadside. The
parking lot consist of 90 degrees entry/exit parking lots
and will be conducted in asphalt (photo montage 2).
156
On the north side of the new bypass, new play facilities
will be concentrated. The play facilities consist of several
trampolines and two playgrounds: one for small children,
and one for more elderly children. In the playground for
small children a seesaw and a swing are proposed, while
in the playground for elderly children more climbing
opportunities (on huge local rocks) are proposed. The
trampolines are removed from the original location (near
the slide) to the new location (near the playgrounds).
Next to the trampolines a bike rent will be constructed,
where hotel guests can rent a bike and cycle around the
island.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
On the south side of the pedestrian path the sport
facilities are concentrated. A new sport facility is a five
by five side soccer field, which is smaller in size than a
conventional soccer field. The street corner the level
of the soccer field is higher than the rest of the area,
because of topographical reasons. To overcome the
elevation difficulties stairs are proposed to reach the
field. The stairs could also function as stand/tribune for
spectators of the lower volley ball court. The court is
replaced from the original situation (in the middle of the
area) to the new area (more to the east). Furthermore
four table tennis tables are replaced to make space for
the other developments (photo montage 1).
 2

scale 1: 1500

0 10 50 m

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 157

 It is likely that the bay will attract mainly families with children, because of
the availability of all kind of sport and play facilities, the safe bathing and the
absence of a rocky beach. The facilities could be used out of season by local
people as well.

By adding new facilities trees have to be removed. To compensate the loss of

trees, new trees are added: olive trees or incidental a fig or almond tree. As
ground cover grass is proposed. There are no shrubs which gives this area a
park-like and transparent character, which is important when parents want
be beware of their playing kids. The main goal of this phase is to add new
facilities and link them to the improved path network (new path).

Figure 192: existing situation see map on the previous page for the location

removal of abandoned building to play facilities: play ground made new path from Murter town sports facilities: soccer, restructuring of the
create space for a new boulevard out of stones and trampolines to the beach of Slanica volleyball and table tennis vegetation to make it
more transparent
1

158 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

 Figure 193: existing situation

New stand integrated in the Removal of ugly zebra to cross the road and continue new parking lot
slope to watch the soccer commercial kiosk the walk to the beach

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 159

 12.3 DESIGN PHASE TWO
In the second phase the front side of the bay will be
reconstructed. This is more difficult than phase one,
because the facilities are owned by different owners,
which makes the process much more complicated.
The first intervention in this phase is the removal of
the catering buildings and the slide near the beach.
The vacant space of the slide and old catering facilities
will be transformed into a lawn as an additional place
where tourists and residents can relax. The mature,
deciduous trees will be kept intact because they offer
shade in summer and let the sunshine through out of
summer. The lawn increased the capacity of the bay,
because during the busy summer months the beach is
too small to accommodate all the tourists. By increasing
LEGEND
160
the carrying capacity of this bay other natural bays could
be saved from development.
On the back of the lawn a new, ten meter wide boulevard
connects the main entrance of hotel Colentum with
the beach. The boulevard is paved with local yellow
flag stones, which are the same as the pedestrian path
constructed in phase one. Along the new boulevard the
catering facilities will re-build: a small restaurant, a caf,
toilets and two food take-a-ways. The facilities are built
in traditional style, which means that the walls are made
out of local stones, the windows shutters are painted in
dark green and a gable roof of red tiles (see sub chapter
12.5). The terraces of the restaurant and the caf are
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
covered with a pergola of grapes. For the construction
of the boulevard some trees have to be removed.
The outdoor space of hotel Colentum will be updated
as well. In the first phase only the parking spaces are
updated, while in the second phase the terraces and the
swimming pool in front of the hotel are restructured by
adding new pavement and a greener atmosphere with
planters and borders. The borders are filled with all
kind of indigenous plant species. On the lowest terrace
there is a new catering facility with a terrace and some
trees to fill up the abandoned construction site. In this
phase a complete hotel is not proposed, because with
major renovation the hotel can be updated in a new,
 B

A 4

scale 1: 1500

0 10 50 m

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 161

 high quality, and sustainable hotel. Eventually the owners, or a new external
investor can choose for complete reconstruction of the hotel. To solve the
traffic problems near the beach and the hotel a bypass is proposed on the
backside of the hotel. The existing road on the north side of the bay become
car free.

On the south side of the bay new lodges are proposed, which are replacing
the existing, abandoned lodges. These new lodges are built on the slope and
into the existing pine forest, so they are invisible from the bay. To widen the
tourist offer, the lodges have to meet more luxurious standards, to extend
the accommodation offer, which exist nowadays mainly out of three star
apartments. The one story high lodges are constructed in local architecture:
stone walls which could be white plastered (see subchapter 12.5).

By this design the bay gets a new image meeting local standards (architecture,
attractions, materials, and vegetation). Furthermore the capacity is increased
and the space is used more efficient. Situation phase 1

The car do not have access new boulevard connect hotel terraces covered by new catering facilities build
anymore to the bay they have Colentum and the new lodges grape vines according local building standards
to drive on a bypass
3

162 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

 Figure 194: existing situation

empty space in front of Colentum is existing trees are supplemented with catering facilities
filled up by a new restaurant new ones. Shrubs are removed and a replaced to the back
transparent lawn is created
4

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 163

 SECTION A-A
A A

SECTION B-B
B B

164 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

12.4 LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE PRINCIPLES
Create a bypass for direct access Update and create out of season Strengthen the view on the bayby Create organized parking places
from the village centre to the bay attractions and facilities removing shrubs and replacing instead of roadside parking
facilities

Fit in starting point: make connections fit in starting point: facilitate new modes of Fit in starting point: hiding the negative Fit in starting point: transition to green
between tourist accommodations and local tourism aspects and show the quality of a place modes of traffic
facilities

Enlarge the capacity of the beach by Keep as much trees as possible in Keep the (indigious) trees and use
terrace coverings to create attractive Solar panels and water catchment
replacing facilities landinwards new development plans installations on the buildings
microclimate

Fit in starting point: increase the physical fit in starting point: strengthen the Fit in starting point: use the local landscape
and social perceptual carrying capacity landscape identity for the production of renewable resources.

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 165

 12.5 ARCHITECTURAL PRINCIPLES
facility buildings color scheme

195 196 197 198 199

166 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Bungalows
color scheme

200 201 202 203

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 167
 12.6 PUBLIC SPACE PRINCIPLES
Paths Lighting Vegetation

Path to the bay out of local flag stone of decreasing density Solar street lights and spots in the stone walls A transparent planning of the lawn with deciduous trees to
towards the beach offer shade in the summer and sun in the winter. The olive
trees are kept as much as possible.

204 208

205 206 207 209

168 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Seating objects

Counterfeit stone walls as a seating object and to give the

Sunbathing tourists more privacy

210

211 212
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 169
 V CONCLUSIONS

Figure 213: the island of kolji and Luica bay

 13. RESULTS
A lot has been written in literature about tourism
development and which negative consequences Fordist
unsustainable tourism has on the landscape. In many
articles, books, and policy documents the solutions for
diminishing or solving the problems is mainly found in
the concept of sustainable tourism. In implementing
sustainable tourism into practice most solutions are
found in restrictions, regulations and the use of planning
approaches. Other solutions are found by testing
sustainable development impacts of new development
by using impact based methods. However clear spatial
design solutions were missing.
Therefore the main goal of this thesis was to develop
a landscape strategy and general design principles for
sustainable development of coastal tourism landscapes.
The main goal was divided in three aims: the landscape
strategy and general design principles have to contribute
to existing tourism theory (theoretical aim). To reach this
aim, the research focused on a particular case study area:
the island of Murter, Croatia. Therefore this project had
an empirical aim as well: develop a landscape design and
principles to guide tourism developments in sustainable
way on the island of Murter. To fulfil the empirical aim a
specific method has to be developed. This method can
be seen as a landscape approach to sustainable tourism.
In this chapter the main (theoretical, empirical and
methodological) results of this thesis are explained.
172
13.1 THEORETICAL RESULTS
First, the results of the theoretical aim are discussed,
started with the theoretical research question:
Which landscape strategy and general design principles
can contribute to translate sustainable tourism theory into
a spatial design for sustainable tourism developments?
To translate theory about sustainable tourism
development into concrete spatial designs this thesis
provides two major outcomes: a landscape strategy
and a set of general design principles. The proposed
landscape strategy consists of three components:
Scenarios
The scenarios are based on two variables (unsustainability
versus sustainability Local versus external investments).
With these variables four scenarios can be distinguished:
unsustainable tourism, executed by local investors
(tourism sprawl); unsustainable tourism executed by
external investor (mass tourism); sustainable tourism
executed by local investors (tourism network) and
sustainable tourism executed by external investors
(tourism clusters). In the scenarios there is a distinction
between the short terms developments (within 10
years) by small scale, local investments and long term
investments (after ten years) by large scale external
investments.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Designs on representative locations
Part of the landscape strategy is the application
of the sustainable scenarios in designs for several
representative locations. It is important that the locations
are representative, because they are the ambassadors
for other locations which have similar conditions as
well. The representativeness of the locations is based
on differences in landscape types and the most urgent
problems. This was supported by the workshop with
local stakeholders.
A set of spatial principles as preconditions for tourism
development
To make the design on representative locations also
applicable on other locations the design has to be
translated into a set of abstract spatial principles. The
set of spatial principles consists of rules for the design
of landscape, buildings, and public space. The principles
set are preconditions for achieving sustainable tourism
on locations with similar characteristics as well.
The combination of the scenario, designs on
representative locations and the principle set together
make a landscape strategy for sustainable tourism
development for the case study area.

Besides the landscape strategy, the general design
principles contributed in the translation of sustainable
tourism theory into a spatial design for sustainable
tourism development. The fundament for the general
design principles are the starting points. The starting
points are derived from the policy guide for making
tourism more sustainable of the United Nations
Environmental Program in combination with the World
Tourism Organisation. The starting points are in the
three designs translated into principles for the landscape
structure, the architecture and the public space. The
principles of each design are abstract examples of the
spatial interventions of the designs. A combination
of the principles of the three designs is simplified and
generalized into a set of general design principles. For
each starting point is explained which design principles
can contribute to make coastal tourism landscapes
sustainable. The transition from unsustainable to
sustainable tourism landscapes will solve, or at least
diminish, the problems which occurred by unsustainable
forms of tourism. After each starting point and the
accompanied principles is explained which problems are
diminished or solved.
Use the local landscape for the production of renewable
resources
use roofs and hard surfaces use roofs for solar panels
for rain water catchment
The Mediterranean has a lot of hours of sunshine,
especially during the summer season when more energy
is consumed because of the high number of tourists. This
makes solar energy a perfect kind of sustainable energy
for tourism destinations. It depends on the different
scenarios whether this is produced in large solar parks
or on the hip roofs of the buildings. The flat roofs can
be used for collecting rain water which is stored in
underground basins. On a larger scale, large paved
surfaces can also be used for rainwater collection. The
collected water can be used for irrigation of the trees
and plants or for other grey water purposes during the
dry summer months.
Contributes to solving problems concerning: natural
resource usage
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Transition to green modes of transport
move the parking lots away create car free zones on
from the tourist hotspots tourist hot spots
improve the path network,
by connecting, widening and
repaving of the paths
The transition to green transport modes exists out of two
parts: the discourage of car usage and the encourage
of green modes of transport. The first part consists
of creating car free zones on tourist hotspots or the
removal of parking lots from the tourism hotspot. This
decreases the visual pollution of parked cars and reduce
the disturbance of traffic as well. The other side of the
transition to green modes of transport is to encourage
green transport modes by improving the path network
for slow traffic. This includes making connections with
other paths to create routes and improvements of the
existing paths by widening or repaving them.
Contributes to solving problems concerning: natural
resource usage
173
 Protection of the (agri-) cultural and natural landscape Strengthen the landscape identity

The protection of the (agri-) cultural and natural

infillment instead of urban
sprawl
landscape can be strengthened by implementing the
planning principle of infillment instead of enlarging the
urbanized area. New tourism developments can also
be combined with the existing (agri)cultural landscape,
because the money which is gained from development
can be used to renovated the surrounding landscape.
use tourist developments This can only be succeed if the developments meet strict intergrate new urban use existing landscape
for landscape improvement rules (see the other design principles). development in the existing patterns for guiding new
urban lay out developments

Another way to protect the cultural and natural landscape

is by revaluating its function. The most important value
of the landscape is no longer agriculture, but function
as an attraction for tourists. By facilitating and exploiting
the landscape values as tourist attraction, the landscape
can be protected.

make the landscape exploit or create view Contributes to solving problems concerning: Land respect the relief for new make use of existing
accesible points alteration developments landscape elements in new
developments

create landscape based information signs about use local vegetation use local achitecture styles
attractions the landscape (materials, shapes and
colours)

174 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism


The identity of the landscape can be divided into different
scale levels. The highest scale level is the pattern of the
urban or agricultural landscape were new developments
have to fit into the existing patterns. New developments
can also be used to accentuate these characteristics,
which make the identity of the place even stronger.
On a lower scale level the landscape elements can
become part of new tourism developments, for example
the dry stone walls, which can be reused as paths the
access a new tourism cluster. An important characteristic
of the landscape is the topography, which needs to be
respected by designing new developments. In the urban
landscape the use of place identity on the small scale
can be found in the architecture and materialisation
of public space (colours, materials, structure, and so
on). Attention should also be paid to local vegetation,
because this is an important contributor to the local
identity as well.
Contributes to solving problems concerning: Lack of
place identity
Increase the physical/social-perceptual carrying capacity
increase the area to spread
the tourist pressure only
within the tourism cluster
use the space within the
touristic hotspots more
efficient
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
In the design and scenario phase three principles are
used to increase the physical/social-perceptual carrying
capacity: efficient use of the space within the tourism
cluster increases the amount of visitors in area without
the occurrence of overcrowding. This can be done by
extending the area for popular functions within the
cluster, or using abandoned or neglected spaces for
make the tourist places developments.
attractive for locals too
The physical/social-perceptual carrying capacity of
the local population is important as well. To prevent
problems between the host destination and tourists the
demands of the local population should be taken into
account in tourist developments. In the design should
search for a win-win situation for tourists and locals, this
will decrease irritations, increase hospitality towards
tourists, and increase the standards of living of the local
population.
Contributes to solving problems concerning: Conflicts
between the local population and tourists
175
 Make connections between tourist accommodations Facilitate new modes of tourism Hiding the negative aspects and show the quality of the
and local facilities landscape

provide more activities for the active tourists

connect tourist cluster with use the landscape for the size restrictions for the No objects within view lines
existing path network production of agricultural provide more cultural attractions for the cultural tourists buildings sizes from routes on
products to sell to the beautiful places
tourists

By making connections between large scale

accommodations (marinas, hotels, or campsites) and local
facilities, tourists are stimulated to visit local facilities.
Through selling local products to tourists, the profits for
locals increase, which contribute to the diminishment of
leakages of profits to national and international tourist
companies. Therefore the accommodation clusters
should be part of the existing path network so that
tourists are more likely to discover the environment by
foot or bike and spend money at local businesses.
A positive effect of making connections is that the
(agric)cultural landscape become better accessible for
locals and tourists. A side effect of selling products
to the tourists is that agriculture more useable and
profitable, which maintains or even restores the cultural
landscape.
Contributes to solving problems concerning: Conflicts
between the local population and tourists and Leakage of
economic profits
176
provide more natural attractions for the nature tourists
move the buildings and use of colours and
facilities land inwards materials
offer more diverse accomodations
All the designs and sustainable scenarios plans are
facilitating activities, attractions, and accommodations
for the new tourists. New tourist activities are biking,
hiking, all kinds of sports, and visiting attractions. New
attractions are created for tourists who like to experience
something else. Therefore the place identity is very
important in the creation of the attraction. The attractions
positioning of vegetation in
should be landscape based, expressing the cultural or front of ugly objects
natural qualities of the place. The accommodations
should meet the standards of the new tourists as well,
which means that they have to be place specific, offer
a wide range in quality and meet the sustainability
criteria.
Contributes to solving problems concerning: High
seasonality
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

The visual aspect has a significant contribution in
the tourist experience on a destination. The negative
visual aspects should be hidden and the visual qualities
should be strengthened. Hiding objects which have a
low appreciation, can be done by repositioning objects,
positioning elements in front of un-preferred objects,
or renovate the object itself. The other side of story is
strengthening the visibility of the qualities of a place.
To achieve this no (high) objects are allowed near main
tourist routes and appreciated panoramas.
Contributes to solving problems concerning: lack of
aesthetics experience
Use local aesthetics for new developments
One of the main goals in designing is to make a place
beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. However, no
general design principles can be derived from the
use of aesthetics in our designs. Aesthetics is based
on experiences and values of places, which is an
underlying principle in a lot of other principles. It is
hard to distinguish what an aesthetic pleasing place
is, but in general can said that the use of local forms,
materials and vegetation contribute to create positive
experienced places. Beautification in a local way plays
an important role in achieving sustainability in coastal
tourism landscapes.
Contributes to solving problems concerning: Lack of
place identity and uniform (landscape) architecture
Design with micro climate
Use vegetation as wind Make use of deciduous
screens to protect public vegetation to provide shade
spaces in summer and sun out of
summer
add more green surface to use green roofs and
aphalt and concrete public framework with climbers
spaces to absorb heat to isolate the buildings in a
natural way
In the UNEP report the significance of micro climate
is less recognized. However for the design of tourism
landscapes along the Mediterranean coast, we consider
this as an important issue. Especially in the future, when
the climate will change, ways need to be found to make
the climate more pleasant in especially during the hot
summers at tourism destinations. Vegetation could play
an important role in achieving a pleasant micro climate.
It can offer shade, absorb heat, and catch wind. The
first two are extremely important in the decrease of
temperatures on tourist hotspots. Micro climate can also
be used for extending the tourist season, because this
mainly depends on climate. Public places and terraces
should be sunny out of season to be still attractive.
Deciduous trees are perfect to offer shade during
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
hot summers and sun during cold winters. However
evergreens are useful for a better climate out of season
as well, because they can catch cold winds in winter
Contributes to solving problems concerning: Climate
change and High seasonality
Involve local stakeholders in the design process
The last starting point is not spatial; therefore no design
principles can be made. However during the process of
this thesis the involvement of local stakeholders played
an important role. Especially organizing a workshop
is helpful to involve local stakeholders in the design
process. More about the organized workshop can be
found in the empirical results.
Contributes to solving problems concerning: Conflicts
between the local population and tourists
Each of the principles can be used separately, but the
contribution in the process to sustainable coastal
tourism landscape is marginal. However a combination
of multiple principles can have a huge effect in making
coastal tourism landscapes become more sustainable.
The use and selection of principles depends on the
landscape characteristics, because in the landscape
approach the landscape is always leading new
developments. Our hypothesis is that the general design
principles are also applicable on other locations with
comparable characteristics in terms of qualities, tourism
development and problems. To test the principles, more
case studies about other places along the Mediterranean
coast are needed. Eventually by doing more research
on other case-studies the general design principles can
be clarified, changed, or extra design principles can be
added.
177
 13.2 EMPIRICAL RESULTS LOCAL SUSTAINABLE TOURISM NEW SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
To reach the theoretical aim, Murter island is used as NETWORK SCENARIO (PHASE 1) CLUSTERS SCENARIO (PHASE 2)
empirical case study. Therefore the case has empirical
aim as well, translated in empirical research question: new tourism cluster which fits in the landscape Strengthening of the path network (new and
and it design according local principles; improved paths);
What kind of landscape design and principles can guide Use of sustainable water and energy resources Addition of landscape based attractions (watch
tourism developments in sustainable way on the island

LUICA BAY
on a large scale (amphitheatre in combination tower, stairs to the water);
of Murter, Croatia? with rain water catchment and solar panel Replace the parking lot land inwards.
roofs on the main buildings).
The first result is a landscape strategy for the island,
which consist of two parts: scenarios and three designs
on representative locations (see table 8). For the island
four scenarios are made, two unsustainable and two
sustainable. The unsustainable scenarios were only
Strengthening of connections (from Marina Facilitate the tourist pressure new boulevard
used to raise awareness among local people for creating
Hramina up to the village beach); with facilities (catering, parking, attractions
sustainable tourism. For the design on location just the
Restructuring of old buildings (new functions and accommodations);

HRAMINA BAY
two sustainable scenarios were important.
of the sheds); The design of the harbourfront on the east side
The west side of the harbourfront just needs offers a frame work for new, tourism related
In first sustainable scenario, local investors develop
small local investments (bridges, new buildings build by external investors;
sustainable tourism in a small scale by creating a
pavement, land fills, etcetera) to accelerate New, large scale, landscape based attractions
tourism network. This network connects small scale
the private developments; (olive museum/shop, new harbourfront,
local initiatives for sustainable tourism (landscape based
Restructuring of the parking lots out of the Kornati islands information centre).
attraction, improvement of public space, and small scale
centre.
accommodations) together. Connections are made by
a slow traffic path network which connects landscape Restructuring of old fashioned and abandoned A complete new design of the public space
based attractions. In this scenario the landscape becomes sports and play facilities; (lawn, boulevard, terraces and replacement of
an attraction for tourists itself. Therefore there is a need The foot and bike path from Murter is extended the catering buildings) near the bay;
SLANICA BAY

to preserve the qualities of the landscape and the value to the beach; A bypass road on the back of hotel Colentum
makes a car free zone around the bay
of the landscape increased. Because these interventions New parking lot landinwards to improve the
possible;
are small, this scenario can be realised within ten years. traffic circulation and keep the cars away from
Restructuring the old and badly maintained
After ten years the next scenarios starts when external the bay.
buildings and public space of hotel Colentum;
Reconstruction of the abandoned lodges .

Table 8: the designs linked to the scenarios

178 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism

investors come to the island to develop tourism on a
large scale. To keep the landscape as an attraction new
developments have to be clustered and valuable areas
need to be protected. For the tourism clusters there
are rules to make them sustainable (see the design
principles). The time scale of both scenarios is variable,
because it is unclear when and if external investors come
to the island or when local investments are realised.
The scenarios are elaborated by designs for three bays
on the island: Luica bay, Hramina bay and Slanica
bay. Each of the designs is divided into two phases,
each representing a scenario. The first phase fits in
the scenario tourism network and consist of creating a
path network, updating public and creating small scale
landscape based attractions. The second phase of the
designs fits in the tourism cluster scenario in which all
kind of new accommodations, facilities and large scale
landscape attractions are proposed. Table 8 gives an
enumeration of the different interventions in each phase
for each design location.
Out of each design several principles about landscape,
architecture, and public space are distinguished. The
principles can be used for making designs on other
locations on the island with similar characteristics.
In the sustainable scenarios and the designs for three
bays the natural, cultural and aesthetic qualities of the
landscape are used to prevent new threatening problems
(such as the continuation of urban sprawl) and solve or
diminish existing problems (such as neglected public
spaces). By creating a sustainable tourism landscape, the
economic position of Murter is strengthened, because
economic sustainability contributes in attracting new
(wealthy) target groups, extending the tourist season
and increasing the local profits. The combination of the
scenarios, designs, and principles provide an integral
vision for guiding sustainable tourism developments on
the island.
To test our vision for the island we organized a
workshop with local stakeholders. In the workshop the
proposed unsustainable scenarios were used to show
the consequences of unsustainable tourism on the
landscape of Murter and convince locals to re-orientate
tourism and choose for a sustainable development.
Local people had the opportunity to show what their
vision was for the future of tourism on the island by
a picture rating game and by sketching on maps. As
result their preferred pictures fitted in general in the
sustainable scenarios, while their un-preferred pictures
fitted in the unsustainable scenarios. Unconsciously this
game confirmed the need for sustainable tourism. The
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
results of the sketch session had a lot of similarities with
the sustainable scenarios and supported the selection
of the three design locations. According to Luke Jeina,
employee at the sustainability centre Argonauta it is
interesting that locals visions of tourism development of
Island were in line with Luuk and Dions work and tourism
development proposal (see Appendix E).
Besides the thirty people who were present at the
workshop, we also used social media to reach more
people. For example our workshop report received 11
likes on Facebook and the workshop report had around
200 views on the website of Murter island (see the
full workshop report in appendix C). Furthermore an
article about our project was published in the Dalmatian
newspaper Sibenski Tjednik (see appendix E for the
whole article). These facts shows that this thesis has a
significant empirical contribution as well. The director
of the tourism board of Murter-Kornati, ime Jeina,
recognized this by stating that our curiosity and honest
approach made a significant contribution to sustainable
development for tourism on Murter island. The deputy
mayor of Murter-Kornati, Dragica Bai confirmed that
with this project, the vision of sustainable tourism
development has gained new momentum.
179
 13.3 METHODOLOGICAL RESULTS
The last result of this thesis project is the method which
is created. This is about How to develop a landscape
strategy and design principles for sustainable tourism
developments?
The process for developing a landscape strategy and
principles consists of several steps. To find a fundament
for creating a landscape strategy the landscape
approach is applied on the field of sustainable tourism.
In the landscape approach the landscape itself is
central, instead of a place or the environment. It is an
integrative, dynamic, and evolutionary approach to seek
for understandings and experiences of landscapes and
make designs out of them. This landscape approach
uses place specific local characteristics and resources for
new developments to create identity and coherence in
tourism landscapes.
The landscape approach to sustainable tourism starts
with an extensive analysis of the tourist landscape. To
examine the identity of a place, local qualities have to
be investigated first. The qualities, such as an attractive
climate, natural beauty and cultural expressions are
considered as the main reasons for tourists to visit a
place. Besides the defining of destination qualities, the
tourism related problems of the destination area have to
be investigated too. The problems have to be solved or
at least diminished by sustainable designs.
180
The last part of the analysis is the investigation of trends
at the destination. Most of the trends are abstract and
the spatial consequences of the trends are unclear,
the scenario method is used in this thesis. The trends,
combined with problem and quality analysis are the
input for the scenarios. Defining scenarios is the core of
the landscape strategy, because in creating a strategy you
have to predict how coastal tourism landscapes of the
future will look like. For this case, four scenarios are made
each consisting two of the four variables: unsustainable
versus sustainable tourism development and small scale
local investments versus major external investments.
The spatial impacts of scenarios are elaborated in maps
and reference images.
The organization of a workshop is an important part in the
process, because during a workshop local stakeholders
can give new input to the scenarios but also to the
designs. Local stakeholders have a lot of knowledge
about the landscape. Probably they even know if certain
design proposals will work or not. Besides the workshop
is helpful to convince locals to choose for a sustainable
direction instead of an unsustainable one.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
After the workshop several designs are made for
representative locations in the area. The starting points
derived from the guide for policy makers of the UNEP
and the WTO are the main input for the designs. The
starting points are translated spatially, adapted to the
location and combined into designs. In this step several
principles are used to translate the starting points. In
that sense the location specific principles are the basis
and the result of the design. The creating of the design
principles is an iterative process, because the design
principles itself cause adaptions to the design as well
In the last step the place specific design principles are
compared and transformed into several general design
principles. The general design principles are translating
theory into clear, practical and implementable design
solutions which, hypothetically, can be implemented on
other coastal tourism landscape as well.
The combination of all the different steps can be
considered as a method to develop sustainable tourism
landscapes. To summarize the theoretical, empirical,
and methodological results are together a landscape
approach to sustainable coastal tourism.
 Luuk van den Berg
Changed date: Wednesday 9th of March Dion Koens
Wageningen University
The Netherlands

WORKSHOP

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ON MURTER ISLAND

A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PRESPECTIVE

Two Dutch landscape architecture students are organizing

a workshop for everyone who is interested in tourism and
their environment. In this workshop we will present our
preliminary research results about tourism on Murter island.
After this presentation we will ask you for your ideas and
opinions about how the future of tourism on Murter island
should look like. Together we hope to make a vision for
new sustainable tourism developments in which the social
and natural qualities of this beautiful island are taken into
account.

DATE Wednesday 9th of March

TIME 14.00 -17.00
LOCATION The Municipality building of
Murter-Kornati
Figure 214: anouncement poster of the workshop

Figure 215: Facebook page of Murter Kornati where 11 people liked the workshop Figure 216: Article about our project in the Dalmatian newspaper Novi Tjednik

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 181

 14. EVALUATION
In the evaluation chapter the value of this thesis is
examined for the larger context (the Mediterranean
landscape) about and what the results can contribute
to policy plans on higher scale levels (regional, national
and international). Furthermore the value of landscape
architecture for the field of sustainable tourism and the
value of the field of (sustainable) tourism for the field of
landscape architecture is described.
14.1 VALUE TO THE LARGER CONTEXT
The outcomes of this research for sustainable tourism
development on the island of Murter can also contribute
to a larger context: the ibenik-Knin county, the country
of Croatia and even international. The outcomes can be
used on other locations in the county which deal with
the same issues as our case study area. If neighbouring
tourism areas encourage sustainable tourism as well,
the areas can strengthen each other and the region
can promote itself as a sustainable tourism destination.
The proposed landscape strategy and general design
principles can also contribute to national tourism policy
of Croatia. The Croatian tourism board for examples
addresses the significance of sustainable tourism already
in 2003. In this year the last version of the national
tourism strategy was published. This strategy mentioned
five principles for sustainable tourism:
Tourism should be built on the authentic or
uniqueness of Croatia;
Tourism should promote sustainability of nature,
culture and cultural heritage and retain socioeconomic
balance and living communities;
182
Tourism will be treated as an aspect of the economy
and life, rather than as an industry sector;
Tourism services have to offer rich, authentic, unique
experiences for a reasonable price;
Voluntary participation: every stakeholder has the
right to seek satisfaction of his legitimate business.
The results of our research fit in the five principles of
the national tourism board, because it promotes the
uniqueness of the destination, the sustainable of nature
and culture, and it contributes to the local community
life as well. In that sense this thesis results have value for
the national tourism policies, especially because they are
also applicable on other areas along the Adriatic coast.
The landscape strategy and the principles can even
contribute to the sustainable policies on international
scale. In particular, because our results are spatial
translations of the (simplified) policy aims of the guide for
policy makers for making tourism more sustainable from
the UNEP and the WTO. Our strategy and principles can
fit in the abstract policy documents such as Plan Bleu.
The goal of Plan Bleu is to find strategies and solutions
for the Mediterranean region to increase the added
value gained from its landscapes, cultures and traditions.
In particular Plan Bleu mentioned the potential value
of sustainable tourism to enhance the ecological and
economic value of landscapes, the traditional knowledge
and skills, and the cultural heritage (Plan Bleu 2009).
The thesis outcomes (landscape strategy and principles)
are used to enhance and strengthened the ecological,
economic and socio-cultural value of the landscape.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
14.2 VALUE OF LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTURE TO THE FIELD OF
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
This thesis showed that landscape architecture can
contribute in translating sustainable tourism theories
into practical design solutions, but the field of landscape
architecture has more benefits for sustainable tourism:
Visualisation of the future
Besides the lack of clear spatial implemented tools
or instruments, no clues were given how sustainable
tourism landscapes will look like. Landscape architects
have the ability to visualize ideas for coastal tourism
landscapes with the help of maps, cross sections
and photo collages. Especially in communication
with stakeholders visualizations about how tourism
landscapes can look like are significant, because they
help to create awareness for a sustainable future for
tourism. In this thesis the visualization tools are used
explicitly in for example the workshop. In the workshop
people could rate different images about sustainable
and unsustainable tourism, which make them aware
too. This made them aware that Murter is on a turning
point: switch to sustainable tourism or continue with
unsustainable tourism practice. Besides awareness,
maps and photo collages can even help to convince local
stakeholders to switch from unsustainable to sustainable
tourism.
Strengthen the qualities of a place
Important in making coastal tourism landscapes
sustainable is the knowledge about the character of a
place: the genius loci. Landscape architects are able to
unveil the character of the place by examine the different
layers of the landscape (in this case the natural, cultural,
and aesthetic layers). The qualities of each layer are used
as an inspiration or design tool for sustainable landscape
interventions on destination areas.
Designing beautiful places (aesthetics)
Besides the use of existing qualities, landscape
architecture is also about designing something new.
These new places have to be functional but also
aesthetically pleasing. This means that people have
to enjoy the place and experience it as beautiful. But
aesthetics is more than creating attractive places, it is
also about shape and composition. Finding the perfect
shape is something which cannot be supported by rules,
but is based on a matter of taste or feeling. Landscape
architects are trained to find the best composition
by sketching. This search for a good composition is an
iterative process of trying different options and compare
them with each other, until the best composition for this
location is found. An example in this thesis is the search
for a composition of the resort buildings at Luica bay by
making a 3D model and several sketches (see appendix
D). In tourism landscapes aesthetic pleasant places are
important, because when people consider a place as
beautiful, they appreciate the holiday destination more.
Holistic approach
A fourth contribution of landscape architecture for the
field of sustainable tourism is the holistic approach.
The core of the holistic approach is the integral use of
all aspects of the landscape such as history, flora and
fauna, topography and geomorphology. These aspects
are part of the layer approach which is an example
of the vertical holistic approach. In this thesis the
scenario maps are an example of holistic approach of
the landscape of the whole island of Murter. Creating
linkages between the different aspects is important in
the holistic approach and landscape architecture are
specialists in making linkages. In sustainable tourism
landscapes the linkages between different aspects of the
landscape are important in creating a robust sustainable
tourism landscape. The horizontal holistic approach is
shown by the implementation of the vision on the three
representative locations in designs. The designs are
made out of principles which can be applied on other
locations as well. Besides the vertical and horizontal
relations the time aspect is used by landscape architect
makes the landscape plan more holistic. Knowledge
of the history of a place is necessary to make designs
for tourism landscapes sustainable in the future. So
landscape architects are able to work through different
vertical, horizontal, and time scales in order to get a
holistic and sustainable vision for the destination.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 183
 14.3 VALUE OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
TO THE FIELD OF LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTURE
The field of sustainable tourism has value for the field
of landscape as well. The main contribution of this
thesis the adding of a new kind of landscape approach:
the landscape approach to sustainable tourism. This is
a relatively new domain in landscape architecture. The
domain of tourism landscape compared with other
kind of landscapes has different characteristics. The
most important distinctive characteristics of tourism
landscapes are the experiences and expectations of
tourists, the relations between tourist and locals and the
variation in use and time.
Different experiences and expectations of tourists
In both, tourism and landscape architecture, experiences
of users are important. Tourists have during holidays
different experiences than at home, in terms of culture,
nature, and landscape. An explanation for the difference
in experience has to do with the expectations of tourists.
In general they have higher expectations of a tourist
destination compared with their home environment.
For example people expect that the landscape is
unspoiled, clean and attractive, as they saw in the tourist
brochures. Fordist tourism landscapes does not meet
the expectations of todays post-Fordist tourist anymore,
because the new tourists want to experience authentic
landscapes with possibilities for nature, culture and
active holidays. Landscape architects have to take this
into account, during the design tourism landscapes.
184
Locals versus tourist (different values)
In tourism landscapes differences occur between the
values of tourists, locals and the intermediars (for
example travel companies). The external investors in
the tourism business the landscape has only value
in economic terms. For tourists the perceptions and
narratives of a place are, besides the use value, very
important during a visit. Roughly, we can distinct two
groups of tourists: the Fordist tourists who are mainly
interested in the perception value and the post Fordist or
new tourists who are interested in the narrative value
of the landscape as well. Because tourists are just for a
short time active in the landscape of a tourist destination
and most of them are not mentally attached to the
landscape. The local host population are more attached
to the landscape, which has more value than use,
perceptions and narratives (appropriation value). The
different kinds of landscape values for each stakeholder
group could create conflicts between them. Landscape
architects have to be aware of the difference in values
of the actor groups. In designing sustainable tourism
landscapes respect should paid to all the different values,
so that the demands of all actor groups are fulfilled.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Differences in use and time
Another contribution of (sustainable) tourism for the
field of landscape architecture is the way tourism
landscapes cope with a large quantity of people
(especially tourists) in a relatively short period of time
(peak season). During the tourist season the landscape
is completely functioning as a tourism landscape, full of
tourists and attractions. Out of season the number of
users is low and the landscape is mainly used by local
residents. Locals are using landscapes and public spaces
in another way than tourists. Tourists use the landscape
primarily for consumption, while locals use the landscape
for production as well (for example agriculture). Tourism
landscape has to be attractive during the crowded
summer months, but also out of season for locals and
tourists. The field of landscape architecture has to
realize the significant differences in tourism landscape
between use and time. This landscape approach uses
place identity as a main tool to satisfy both. Place
identity design is experienced as otherness by the new
tourists, while locals experience it as a part of their daily
environment and there local pride.
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 185
 16. RECOMMENDATIONS
This thesis can be seen as a precursor for researching
the relationship between landscapes architecture
and sustainable tourism. This chapter provides some
recommendations for further research on the empirical
case of Murter island, but also on sustainable tourism
landscape development in general.
Firstly, this research is based on literature studies,
conversations with local stakeholders, and our own
interpretative analysis. What is missing in our research is
support of quantitative data and analyses, to make the
research more grounded. For example, one of the tools
derived from the literature study was the calculation
of the tourism carrying capacity. Our initial plan was to
calculate the carrying capacity of the island of Murter,
which gives a quantitative impression of the tourism
limits for the island. Unfortunately there were no reliable
statistics or GIS datasets of the island available to do this.
Quantitative analyses are useful to prove tourism related
problems and for measuring the effectiveness of the
proposed landscape design interventions. Quantitative
analysis has the potential to support the landscape
design strategy and the design principles and can be
helpful in convincing local stakeholders to switch from
unsustainable tourism to sustainable tourism. Therefore
we recommend that further research has to be done on
a case where quantitative data is available.
We did not use interviews to gain more knowledge about
the opinions and ideas of local people and tourists. We
realise that several interviews or questionnaires could
186
improve the analysis and the knowledge about the local
demands. However time limits forced us to choose a
more efficient method: a workshop. A workshop is
less time consuming and it has interactive advantages
(discussions between stakeholders). Unfortunately we
were not able to follow the discussions, because were not
able to speak the indigenous language. The advantage of
a workshop was that the results were direct visible on
images and sketches.
As mentioned, we only investigated the opinions of
local stakeholders, but it will be interesting to know
more about the tourist opinions as well. Because the
field research on Murter was done out of season, in
October and March, this is lacking in the analysis. To
have a impression about the tourist satisfaction we
used a research of the institute for tourism about the
satisfaction of tourists on different kinds of parameters,
such as landscape (see chapter 7). Field research during
the peak season (June till August) could collect more in
depth and specific information about the opinions of the
tourists, so this is recommendable for further research.
What also will be interesting is are the demands
according the landscape of the new tourists. This group
is hardly present on the island, so other locations need
to be visited. Furthermore field research during the
summer season is necessary to experience and observe
the problems (such as congestion and crowding), which
occurred by high tourist numbers. At last, during the
peak season can be experienced if there is friction
between the locals and tourists as well. In this research
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
assumptions on this are made by stories of stakeholders,
investigation of accommodations and facilities, and
pictures. To conclude we recommend that further field
research should be done during the peak season.
The locals who participate in the workshop were
enthusiastic about our design approach for sustainable
tourism. We experienced that they have valuable
ideas to improve tourism on the island, but that their
ideas are unknown to the plan and decision makers.
We recommend that the municipality and population
of Murter should work together in developing ideas
for the future of tourism. This has some advantages:
people are more prepared to change their opinions and
cooperate sooner in the realisation of the designs for
sustainable tourism developments. For example when
the local municipality work together with local people,
the redevelopment of the harbour front can be realised
sooner. You have to be careful that not one particular
group of stakeholders is involved. In the participatory
process a wide variety of stakeholders is necessary to get
a complete image of the social demands (as happened in
our workshop).
Our hypothesis for further research is that the general
design principles are also applicable on other locations
with comparable characteristics in terms of problems,
landscape and tourism development. To test the
principles more case studies within Croatia, or even in
other Mediterranean countries are necessary. More
cases studies will prove if the landscape strategy and the
general design principles really applicable. Eventually
by doing more research on other case-studies the
landscape strategy general design principles can be fine-
tuned, changed, or extra design principles can be added.
Also the methodology can be tested by researching other
cases. This methodology is just an attempt to achieve
sustainable coastal tourism landscapes, but it can be
improved by other cases.

As final remark: this thesis proves that landscape

architects can play a significant role implementing
sustainability in tourism developments. We hope that
the disciplines of landscape architecture and tourism
will meet each other in the future more often, because
together they can develop tourism landscapes in a
sustainable way.

A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 187

 REFERENCES AND APPENDIX

Figure 217: panoramic view on the island of Murter from Rastovac hill
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 FIGURE REFERENCES
All figures which are made by ourselves are not mentioned in the list of figure references
FIGURE NUMBER REFERENCE
2 Google Earth
5 http://www.hotelsbenidorm.us/gallery
6 Google Earth
7 http://www.solarishotelsresort.com/photo-galery
8 http://www.flickr.com/photos/strasnonesto
15 http://architypesource.com/projects
18 http://www.west8.nl/projects/all/playa_de_palma
23-26 Argonauta, Murter
55 http://www.flickr.com/photos/tisnofromthepast
65 Tourism brochure Opine Murter-Kornati
68 Louis Berger S.A. (2005 II). Tourism Master- & Marketing plan for the
County ibenik-Knin
69 http://www.flickr.com/photos/strasnonesto
81 Butler, R. (2006). The tourism area life cycle: Applications and
modifications, Channel View Books.
82,83 Plan Bleu (2009). Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development 161 http://www.patcrittenden.com/include/images/jpgs/travels/
UNEP/MAPs Regional Activity Centre.
86 http://www.flickr.com/photos/makowiecki
92 http://images.hotels-world.com
96 http://www.flickr.com/photos/therefore
100 http://www.izismile.com/img/img4
102 http://www.adventurecenter.com/cycling/images
106 http://cdn.media.kiwicollection.com/media
108 http://www.naabis.com/wp-content/uploads
109 http://solarimagery.files.wordpress.com
134 http://architypesource.com/projects
135 http://www.archdaily.com/139599/fuleky-winery-epitesz-studio
137 http://1.bp.blogspot.com
138 http://www.viahouse.com/2011/01
139 http://www.archdaily.com/21847/consolacion-hotel-camprubi-i- 215 Facebook Murter-Kornati
santacana
194 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism
140 http://www.archdaily.com/2601/arrebol-patagonia-hotel-harald-opitz
142 http://www.viahouse.com/2011/01
143 http://news.architecture.sk/2010/05/stone-lodge-on-the-hill-new-
zealand.php
145 http://www.archdaily.com/63334/leti-360-studio-mumbai/leiti_goat/
146 http://www.viahouse.com/2011/01/beautiful-roof-garden-in-a-studio-
house/
149 http://www.onlinenatuursteenshop.nl/images/Schanskorf.jpg
151 http://www.plmgroup.co.uk/solar.asp?u=t
152 http://www.bombayharbor.com/Product/11326/Solar_Street_Light.
html
157 http://www.doelbeelden.nl/index.asp?c=22&ct=trappen
158 http://image.absoluteastronomy.com/images/encyclopediaimages
159 http://www.flickr.com/photos/cezaryborysiuk/3489200564
160 http://images.travelpod.com/users/billnpat
195 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ventricle/4718024480/
196 http://www.flickr.com/photos/robcheatley/4891378416
199 http://www.whartl.com/page_1241890964758.html
200 http://img-cdn1.iha.ie/4603900002063
201 http://www.archdaily.com/63334/leti-360-studio-mumbai/leiti_goat/
204 http://www.doelbeelden.nl
205 Fieldwork Landscape Architecture Europe
206 http://www.plmgroup.co.uk/solar.asp?u=t
207 http://www.bombayharbor.com/Product/11326/Solar_Street_Light.
html
210 http://www.bpmlegal.com/ireland/gif/2650-reask.jpg
211 http://www.doelbeelden.nl
212 http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5211/5435756377_e7c386e4c9.jpg
A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism 195
 APPENDIX
On the CD-ROM in the back of this report you will find, next to the digital versions of this
report and the posters, four appendices:

Appendix A: analyses of Murter island

1. Murter in the North Dalmatian context

2. The layers of the landscape
3. Tourism development on Murter island
4. Bays on Murter islands
5. Typical Murter

Appendix B: Scenario interventions

For each landscape unity we made a principle of the current situation and for each
sustainable scenario (tourism network and tourism cluster). Despite the enormous amount
of work they unfortunately did not fit in our thesis story.

Appendix C: Workshop report

The workshop report consist of a detailed description of the structure of the workshop
and the outcomes (picture rating and the Sketches)

Appendix D: Design process

1. Field research
2. Sketches on the scale of Murter island
3. Sketches of Hramina bay
4. Sketches of Luica bay
5. Sketches of Slanica bay
6. Model of Luica bay

Appendix E: letters of stakeholders and the newspaper article

196 A Landscape Approach to Sustainable Coastal Tourism