La minería peruana y los conflictos sociales del entorno

(with Italo-Yugoslav agreement, Treaty of Rapallo in 1921) and from tourist perspective this was the period of stagnation of tourism in Istria. In this after war period, later joined with the world economic crisis (1929-1933), investments were scarce and Portorož and Opatija became less important resorts in Italy, as well as gradually repositioned from health to “sun and sea” destinations and from elite destinations to destinations for wider public. This is evident from the promotion material from that period aimed at wider public, highlighting the pleasant climate, sports and cultural activities.

With regard to the tourism planning and organisation, in 1919 Italy established a state tourism authority based in Rome (ENIT) - Ente Nazionale Industrie Turistiche with the aim to promote Italy for tourism. Its main tasks were to collect and process statistical data, information and news on tourism in Italy, its colonies and abroad, to promote tourism industry by financing hotel industry and creating hoteliers schools; to promote tourism culture and activities in Italy and abroad, to open information and ticket offices abroad (Gazzetta Ufficiale 22 Novembre 1919 n. 276, 1919). It was the main authority that influenced the organisation and planning of tourism in the region of Istria and Kvarner. Later, in 1936 also on a regional level, a number of such authorities were established and in 1936 such authority was established also in Istria - Ente provinciale per il turismo per la Provincia dell` Istria (Blažević, 1987: 191, 249) that had important influence on the region of Istria. Also influencial for tourism in the region was the regional authority in Trieste Ente provinciale per il Turismo Trieste which along with many other private offices was responsible for tourist information and similarly was Ente Proviciale per il Turismo Pola.

ENIT was responsible also for tourist promotion; therefore national or regional offices published a number of publications (tour guides, brochures, leaflets etc.) in various languages

example the brochures Italian State Railways. The health-giving waters of Italy. (1921) Spas and sea bathing resorts Benvenuto/Willkomen/Bienveu/Welcome/! (1937) or Julijska krajina Trst Opatija, Brioni, Grado, Portorose, Postojnske Špilje, Gorica-Ratišta, Mali Lošinj, Sistiana Upute za turiste (1937) describing towns of Istria and Kvarner and giving information on accommodation, information offices, discounts, sports activities, events etc.

Also characteristic for the period between the wars is the strong influence of politics on tourism planning and activities reflected in politically coloured newspapers, such as Istria Redenta in which tourism activities are presented in an ideological manner. (L´Istria redenta.

25. November 1922, L´Istria redenta 09. December 1922)

Touring club Italiano was another important actor in development and promotion of tourism activities in Italy. Established in 1894 by a small group of cyclists with intention to promote values of practical cycling and grew to 477.000 members in 1937. They installed first tourism road signs and published several tourist and gastronomical guides. Between 1933 and 1937 it published Guida pratica al luoghi di soggiorno e di cura di Italia (practical guides to resorts and spas in Italy). The guide includes also descriptions of Istrian towns, with the information on seasons, accommodation, sport activities and transport (Touring club Italiano, 2015;

Touring club Italiano, 1933).

By becoming a part of Italy, coastal towns of Istria and Kvarner lost the central position they had within Austro-Hungarian monarchy and had to compete with many Italian coastal resorts.

It is therefore not surprising that in between war period Istrian towns of Opatija, Lovran, Portorož, Brioni, Mali Lošinj did not achieve the maximum number of guests from the period of Austro-Hungarian rule (Blažević, 1987: 305). Generally, Italian government in Istria and Kvarner did not invest in their economic development (Darovec, 2008), therefore the whole area was economically stagnating.

Still, there were some initiatives to improve the competitiveness of the region. For example Il Consiglio della Sezione Alberghi e Turismo della Federazione Fascista dei Comercianti (The Council of the Hotel and Tourism Section of the Fascist Federation of merchants) tried to keep up with the competition of neighbouring Yugoslavia therefore in 1930 decided to establish La zona franca del Carnaro (free Kvarner zone ) that included also Opatija (besides Rijeka, Volosko, Lovran, Mošenička Draga) the prices of tourism services could be significantly lower than outside this zone (by 10 % to 20 %). This, however, did not significantly help tourism, since for Opatian Riviera these was the period of deep crisis (Blažević, 1987: 218) Similarly, not even prosperous Cosulich family that tried to revive tourism in difficult post war years in Portorož was successful in this aim. They did, however, take over the management of Hotel Palace and took advantage of the vicinity of Trieste and attracted some guests also between the wars (Brglez et. al., 2005). In 1922 they established airline company S.I.S.A. (Societa Italiana Servizi Aeronautici) that started operating in 1926 and established a regular airline with Trieste, Grado, Venice, Pavia, Torino and other cities (Gombač and Brezovec, 2007; Blažević, 1987: 205).

Compared to the pre-war time the structure of guests changed significantly in favour of Italian guests that represented a significant number in Istria as a whole (Provinica di Pola); in 1923 for example out of 33715 tourists, 16715 were Italians which represents almost half of all tourists (Blažević, 1987: 193, 195). Good transport connections with Trieste enabled also development of daily or short- term tourist excursions between Trieste and coastal towns of Istria and Kvarner. The leaflet of the steamboat company “Istria-Trieste”, for example promotes gite di piacere (pleasure trips) from Grado to Portorož – Sunday half - day trips,

Tourism Planning in the Region of Istria and Kvarner: Historical Overview and Future Prospects

offering round tickets for 8 liras. (Istria-Trieste S.A. di Navigazione). The multilingual booklet Benvenuto/Willkomen/Bienveu/Welcome/! (1937), as many others from that period, gives information about daily connections of Trieste with Portorož by steamboat, railway and hydroplanes as well as highlights short and picturesque drive by car. At that time the main forms of tourist transport in Istria were trains or steamboats, however also transport by car and later also bus became more interesting. In 1933 in Istria there were 659 cars and 44 buses, while Trieste had 3065 cars and 71 buses (Blažević, 197: 235).

In relation to tourism transport there were numerous actions, particularly in the period of recession, aiming to improve the unfavorable situation in tourism, many of which promoted by ENIT. Below are some examples:

• From 1926 onwards Italian railways offered 50 % of discounts for return tickets for foreign tourists for those wanting to visit Istrian and Kvarner towns of Opatija, Pula (Brioni), Poreč, Portorož and Piran or some other northern Adriatic towns (Blažević, 1987: 205)

• Foreigners and Italian citizens living abroad and staying in Italy at least 6 days had the following discounts: 50% for individual railway travels, 70% for group railway travels and for those who owned at least 12 hotel vouchers (that could be bought in ENIT) had 60 % of discount for travel in the 1st class and 55 % for travel in the second class („Benvenuto/Willkomen/Bienveu/Welcome!“)

• In 1929 Italian ministries have adopted the regulation according to which foreign bathing tourists were exempt from paying tourist tax (Blažević, 1987: 216)

• In 1933 the steamboat society Istria-Trieste offered 30% of discount for the members of the Touring Club Italiano if a group was consisted of at least 20 members. The discount was offered on the following lines: Trieste-Piran-Umag-Poreč-Rovinj-Pula;

Trieste-Zadar; Trieste-Treviso and some others (Blažević, 1987: 231)

While tourism in Istria and Kvarner never reached the numbers as before the war, the numbers of tourists that were really low in the first post war years (1919-1923), in the later years significantly increased (Table 1).

Table 1. The number of tourists between the two wars in Opatija (since 1919) and Portorož (since 1931) Year The number of tourists Year The number of tourists

Opatija Opatija Portorož

1919 728 1930 40013 /

1920 1765 1931 32493 6194

1921 3806 1932 24404 /

1922 7502 1933 25000 /

1923 18351 1934 28795 3698 1924 32159 1935 30022 1390 1925 42723 1936 35238 4270 1926 37287 1937 41610 5354 1927 28722 1938 37308 4997 1928 31514 1939 24239 3409 1929 36487 1940 13324 1603 Source: Blažević, 1987 (286, 289-290)

Gradual recovery of hospitality and tourism that in 1941 for example represented the second largest industry in the Slovenian part of Istria (Rogoznica, 2005: 396) was stopped by the WW2.