Researchers from the Institute for Tourism, Mira Zovko, PhD, Ivan Kožić, PhD, and Vedran Milojica, PhD, participated in the international ICES 2026 conference, held on 15 and 16 October 2026 in Sarajevo, as part of the session entitled “Sustainable Tourism and Tourism Destination Resilience”.
The paper “Assessing Nature-based Solutions in Ramsar Wetlands: A Comparative IUCN Global Standard Evaluation of Kopački Rit and Hutovo Blato” was presented. It was co-authored by Mira Zovko, PhD, Ivo Beroš, PhD, Izidora Marković Vukadin, PhD, and Leon Matotek. The paper presents the results of research activities carried out within the framework of the PACT-VIRA project (Croatian Science Foundation, IP-2024-05-9190), the Commitment project (National Recovery and Resilience Plan, EU NextGenerationEU) and the NaTour4Climate Change project (Interreg Euro-MED). It provides a comparative assessment of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in Kopački Rit Nature Park in Croatia and Hutovo Blato Nature Park in Bosnia and Herzegovina, applying the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Standard.
Ivan Kožić, PhD, presented his work entitled “Tourism Sustainability Assessment: A Macroeconomic Approach”, introducing macro-environmental indicators of tourism sustainability derived from the Tourism Sustainability Satellite Account. In many respects, the presented approach to measuring the environmental impacts of tourism can be considered superior to the widespread practice of relying on simple indicators adopted from tourism sustainability measurement frameworks developed by UN Tourism and the European Commission.
Vedran Milojica, PhD, chaired the session “Sustainable Tourism and Tourism Destination Resilience” and presented the paper entitled “Influence of Destination Attractiveness, Accommodation and Safety Perception on Tourist's Satisfaction and Revisit Intention to Dubrovnik”. The paper was co-authored with Romina Alkier Tomić, PhD, Full Professor, and Daniela Gračan, PhD, Full Professor with Tenure, from the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka.
The study examines the extent to which perceptions of destination image dimensions, namely destination attractiveness, accommodation and safety, influence the satisfaction of tourists who visited Dubrovnik for leisure and their intention to revisit the destination. The paper presents the results of research conducted as part of the scientific research project initiative of the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka (ZIP-FMTU), entitled “Women's Safety in Tourism: Risk Perception and Its Impact on Tourist Behaviour” (project code: ZIP-FMTU-1-05-2026). The project is funded by the University of Rijeka.