ANALYSIS OF THE ISTRIAN TOURISM COMPETITIVENESS – THE GUESTS’ PERSPECTIVE

radical change in tastes of tourists, changes in how attractions and destinations are being offered to tourists and changes in suppliers and intermediaries attitudes. Competitiveness is a key factor for the positioning of the Istrian tourism market on the international market. Data on competitiveness was obtained through a survey conducted from July through September 2009 on a sample of tourists staying in five seaside resorts in the Istria County. The guests were asked to: evaluate the price level for different segments of tourism offer and express the opinion about the price paid for every used service in relation to received quality and compare general level of prices with the once in other European/Mediterranean countries. Most of the tourists stated that the prices were appropriate and corresponded to the received quality. In Istria County they were lower than the once in Italy, France, Spain and Austria, the same as in Greece and Slovenia, but higher than those in Turkey and Hungary