SUSTAINABLE RURAL TOURISM IN CROATIA AND THE ROLE OF CULTURAL RESOURCES Romina Alkier Radnić 1 , Vedran Milojica 1 , Danijel Drpić 2 1 University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija, 51410 Opatija, Croatia 2 Privredna banka Zagreb, Island of Krk, 51511 Malinska, Croatia E-mail: rominaa@fthm.hr Abstract In the past few years, rural tourism in Croatian areas has been developing significantly, and greater significance to this form of tourism has been given through various research and development strategies. These ares used to be very lively, and therefore possess valuable cultural (material and non-material) heritage and preserved natural resources. Cultural-historical heritage represents a valuable factor of development of a quality tourist offer, which enables development of other selective forms of tourism, among which also rural tourism. Creation of rural-cultural tourist offer will be achieved through the project called“Integration of Culture and Rural Tourism“. Through this project, culture will become a significant factor of rural tourism development, and enable preservation of rich, unfortunately neglected cultural-historical heritage of the Republic of Croatia. For these purposes, it will be possible to use the EU pre-accesionand cohesion funds. Keywords: cultural tourism, rural tourism, rural areas, sustainable development 1. INTRODUCTION In order to achieve balanced development of the Croatian territory, it is necessary to devote special attention to development of rural areas, for they are mostly underdeveloped, although rich in natural resources and cultural-historical heritage. Rural and cultural tourism development provides possibilities for successful development of rural Croatia, as well as preservation of rich, so far neglected and insufficiently valorised material and non-material cultural-historical heritage. In order to achieve this objective, it is necessary to analyse the structure of the visitors in rural tourist destinations, as well as their wishes, needs and habits, and propose possible development guidelines for the Republic of Croatia as a destination of rural-cultural tourism. 2. CHARACTERISTICS AND SPECIFIC FEATURES OF RURAL AND CULTURAL TOURISM IN THE CONTEMPORARY TOURIST OFFER Basically, rural tourism represents all the activities in a rural area which may satisfy tourists' needs for peacefulness, recreation and active open-air vacation. Rural tourism provides visitors with the possibility to feel the tradition and the way of life of the local community. Rural tourism includes staying on tourist family country farms and the surrounding area, with active participation in the daily activities of the country farm and the local community. Investments in rural areas may result in preservation of historical buildings and traditional customs characteristic for a certain country. Accommodation facilities have to be modernised in accordance with contemporary tourists' needs, provided that original experience is preserved, and rural area should be used for organisation of various activities, sports recreation, organisation of events, etc. The objective of tourism development in a rural area is to enable visitors to come into contact with nature and to fully experience the atmosphere of a rural tourist destination. According to Ružić, rural tourism is a collective name for various activities and tourism forms which emerge outside of the urban and mass tourism areas. The importance of rural tourism is reflected in