1. Introduction

Cultural tourism is one of the oldest forms of travel and one of the most significant and fastest growing components of the tourist phenomena. According to UNESCO, cultural tourism is the area with the most rapid international growth of industrial tourism. In this chapter, authors try to answer to some of the contemporary issues and challenges that appear in the field of cultural tourism, both in theoretical discussions and in practical performance. The authors offer a critical analysis of the complex phenomenon of event tourism as a segment of cultural

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and eproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

tourism, specifically music events and their role in an integrated tourism product of tourism destinations. The authors aim to contribute to an easier and more efficient understanding of the concept of cultural tourism, specifically event tourism. As the geographical area of observation, Croatia is taken as a tourist destination on the rise and examples of tourist events are taken from Istria, which generates a third of Croatian tourist traffic as a tourist region. We should not ignore the concept of cultural geography [1]. The authors, namely, consider that the tourist event is tightly bound by the only "tissue" of tourist destination.

This chapter contains a critical analysis of the concepts of cultural tourism, events tourism, and music events. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the authors provide a brief overview of the key concepts, classifications, and conceptual frameworks of event tourism, taking for example music events. The second part of the chapter deals with a "practical," managerial aspect and focuses on events tourism. Events, as analyzed by the authors, should be treated as a specific tourist product, which needs to be systematically and strategically planned and managed. In the third part of the chapter, the author presents the key challenges for further research in the field of cultural tourism, specifically events tourism, using the example of tourist destinations. The authors attempt to provide a scientific and professional contribution to the most important issues and challenges present in the field of event tourism.

For the purpose of this analysis, the following methods were used: heuristics, the analysis of relevant scientific literature, the analysis of available strategic documents, primary research through cultural tourism workshops, and direct and participatory observation based on the experience of both authors in managing cultural tourism in coastal tourism destinations.

Croatia is presented as a case study in the chapter. Croatia is a country abounding with the protected material and nonmaterial cultural heritage of UNESCO (see more on: http://www. croatia.hr/en-GB/experiences/culture-and-heritage). A special motive for the research that authors express for writing this chapter is, what they believe is also a challenge for many other authors who are dealing with this issue, that cultural tourism, in a significant way, preserves and valorizes the material and immaterial cultural heritage and regional and national identity of the tourist destination.
