STARTING POINT FOR BRANDING SLAVONIA AS A TOURIST DESTINATION

Branding in tourism is a process that selects a particular destination by its characteristics, thus creating destination identity. The greatest success in this process is achieved by emphasizing authenticity, where Slavonia has great potential. By creating international recognisability of the region, a brand attracts investments and a skilled labour force, thus indirectly having a positive effect on export growth. Values that should draw the attention of both domestic and foreign tourists, i.e. values that are sufficiently attractive to bring tourists, are embedded in the brand. These values should be realistically based. Although Slavonia is an underdeveloped region in terms of tourism, it has a realistic perspective to become a desirable tourist destination. The paper provides analysis of the results of the conducted primary research about the perception that tourists have about Slavonia as a tourist destination. One of the goals was to determine the key components and areas that would be used in the future as a foundation for the definition of a unique brand identity of Slavonia and creation of a desirable tourist environment in this area. Based on the conducted research, clear indicators reflect the opinion of tourists which makes Slavonia unique and attractive, being at the same time elements of its unique brand identity. The results showed that the possible strong driving force of tourism development in Slavonia may include products such as rural tourism, thematic events, special interests (cycling, hiking, fishing and hunting, religious tourism), health and nautical tourism. Another conclusion that was made during the research is that Slavonia should aim at the target population. Thus, segmentation results in several target groups such as tourists with special interests, tourists preferring cultural heritage and other traditional values, nature lovers, recreational athletes and athletes. The aim was to gather data that could be used in the future as a starting point in the definition and development of the branding project of Slavonia as a tourist destination