One of the highest European levels of cultural tourism is reached in Dubrovnik. Tourists that travel to Dubrovnik for cultural motives are far more numerous (26%) than the national average (10%) (Institute for Tourism, 2007). This small medieval town is best known for the exquisiteness of world cultural heritage that is showcased within the ancient city walls and which is still a living place. Saying that, Dubrovnik as a city is far less lively than it was a thirty years or just a decade ago, as it is slowly but surely being sold off to holiday home real-estate agents which inevitably leads to increased seasonality; it is overcrowded during the season and desolate during the winter months. Statistics show that the peak season (starting from April through September) results in four times more visitors to cultural attractions than the rest of the year. Generally, 80% of tourists who visit Dubrovnik make their visit in the peak season (some 500,000 visitors) while 20% (125,000 visitors) visit the city during the off-season period.
The overall aims of local planning and development in Dubrovnik are targeted towards expanding facilities for the tourist industry. Turmoil in the tourist industry is widespread with most cultural and arts organizations having to consider themselves as a tourist consumer product (Žuvela, 2007). This over-prioritizing of the tourism industry has been known to have a negative impact on local development as privileging tourist attractions can disadvantage people who live, work, pay taxes and remain in an area; ‘paradise ceases to be paradise when flooded with vulgar tourists’ (McGuigan, 2004:105). Overwhelming commercial imperatives that have shifted the focus from the host to the guest have resulted in increased congestion and pollution of the historic city center during the season and complete desolation during the off-season periods. As a result, Dubrovnik has been transforming from the city, a living urban organism, into a destination. In these circumstances, it is hard to differentiate between mass or cultural or creative tourism as it is becoming harder to detect traces of the authentic, local culture. As with many of the complex issues surrounding tourism, the problem of the staged authenticity and resisting the corruption of the genuine cultural practices is not a novelty as Nicholson-Lord states: