Abstract | U današnjim suvremenim gospodarskim uvjetima gdje konkurencija odigrava veliku ulogu, upravo klijenti i njihovo zadržavanje predstavljaju ključ uspješnog poslovanja svakog poduzeća. Klijenti su stavljeni u središte, a pažnja je usmjerena na zadovoljavanje njihovih potreba. Ipak, pokazalo se kako samo zadovoljavanje potreba nije dovoljno, klijente je često potrebno i oduševiti kako bi isti postali lojalni poduzeću. U tome je od iznimne važnosti kvaliteta proizvoda ili usluge koju poduzeće plasira klijentima. S obzirom na sve veću ulogu uslužnog sektora u gospodarstvu, a tako i turizma kao njegove sastavnice, raste i potreba za sve većom kvalitetom samih usluga. Naime, brojni su dokazi međusobnog pozitivnog utjecaja kvalitete na zadovoljstvo klijenata, a posljedično i na njihovu lojalnost. U kontekstu usluga, pa tako i turizma, taj je proces još složeniji s obzirom da klijent procjenjuje kvalitetu usluge tijekom cijelog procesa pružanja usluge. Međutim, bez obzira na važnost ovih koncepata, u kontekstu ruralnog turizma još je puno nedoumica i neistraženosti, posebice na području Republike Hrvatske. Brojni su izazovi pred poduzetnicima koji se bave ovim oblikom turizma, među kojima se ističu nepostojanje odgovarajuće zakonodavne regulative, nedovoljno obrazovanje osoba koje se bave ruralnim turizmom, posebice u kontekstu znanja vezanih uz marketinške aktivnosti te neprepoznavanje važnosti ovog segmenta na državnoj, regionalnoj i lokalnoj razini. Rezultati istraživanja provedenog u svrhu izrade ovog rada u velikoj su mjeri pokazali poklapanja s prethodno provedenim istraživanjima ove problematike, a ukazuju upravo na prethodno navedene probleme/izazove. Stoga je za rješenje tih problema i poticanje poduzetničke aktivnosti u kontekstu ruralnog turizma važno temeljito krenuti graditi strategiju od samog početka, od zakonodavnog okvira koji bi riješio brojne nedoumice, preko poticanja marketinških aktivnosti i promocije ovog oblika turizma, do odgovarajućeg obrazovanja svih ljudi uključenih u procese pružanja turističke usluge u ruralnim krajevima. Na taj bi se način sveobuhvatno kreirala kvalitetna strategija koja bi dovela do unaprjeđenja usluge, stvaranja i povećanja zadovoljstva kod sve zahtjevnijih i informiranijih klijenata, a samim tim i povećanja njihove lojalnosti. |
Abstract (english) | In today's modern economic conditions where competition plays a big role, it is the customers and their retention that are the key to the successful operation of any company. Clients are placed at the center, and attention is focused on meeting their needs. However, it turned out that just meeting the needs is not enough, customers often need to be thrilled to become loyal to the company. To achieve that, the quality of the product or service that the company sells to customers is extremely important. Given the growing role of the service sector in the economy, and thus tourism as its component, there is a growing need for an increasing quality of services themselves. Namely, there is ample evidence of the mutual positive impact of quality on customer satisfaction, and consequently on their loyalty. In the context of services, including tourism, this process is even more complex given that the client assesses the quality of service throughout the service delivery process. However, regardless of the importance of these concepts, in the context of rural tourism there are still many doubts, especially in the Republic of Croatia. There are many challenges for entrepreneurs engaged in this form of tourism, including the lack of adequate legislation, insufficient education of people involved in rural tourism, especially in the context of knowledge related to marketing activities and failure to recognize the importance of this segment at national, regional and local levels. The results of the research conducted for the purpose of preparing this paper have largely shown the coincidence with previously conducted research on this issue, and indicate precisely the aforementioned problems / challenges. Therefore, in order to solve these problems and encourage entrepreneurial activity in the context of rural tourism, it is important to thoroughly build a strategy from the beginning, from a legislative framework that would solve many doubts, through encouraging marketing activities and promotion of this form of tourism, to adequate education of all people involved in providing tourist services in rural areas. In this way, a quality strategy would be comprehensively created that would lead to the improvement of the service, creation and increase of satisfaction with more and more demanding and informed clients, and thus increase of their loyalty. |