Importance of sport tourism

Turizam je danas jedan od najmasovnijih društveno-ekonomski pojava, koja svake godine sve više raste. Takav primjer imamo i u Republici Hrvatskoj, gdje broj dolazaka i noćenja turista svake godine bilježi značajan porast. Kada bi se turiste koji posjećuju Republiku Hrvatsku klasificiralo po tipovima turizma, tada bi se uvidjela velika razlika između ostalih tipova turizma (zdravstveni, kulturni, ruralni itd.) i sportskog turizma. Turističke zajednice zajedno sa Ministarstvom pokušavaju organizirati veći broj sportskih manifestacija baš iz razloga da bi privukli mlađu populaciju turista. Hrvatska ima niz velikih sportskih manifestacija, kojima promovira Hrvatsku ne samo kao zemlju prirodnog bogatstva, već zemlju koja ima bogatu sportsku povijest. Cilj ovog rada je predstaviti razvitak sportskog turizma u Hrvatskoj, te predstaviti neke od njegovih važnih događanja, te probleme i plan razvoja sportskog turizma.Tourism is today one of the most massive socio-economic phenomena, which is growing every year. We have such an example in the Republic of Croatia, where the number of arrivals and overnight stays of tourists is increasing significantly every year. If tourists visiting the Republic of Croatia were classified by type of tourism, then there would be a big difference between other types of tourism (health, cultural, rural, etc.) and sport tourism. Tourist boards, along with the Ministry, are trying to organize a large number of sporting events just for the sake of attracting the younger population of tourists. Croatia has a few sports events which promoting Croatia, but not only as a land of natural wealth, but a country which has a rich sport history.. The aim of this paper is to present the development of sports tourism in Croatia and to present some of its important events, as well as the problems and the development plan for sport tourism