76 PERSPECTIVES ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS | VOL 44 | 2026 The pipeline from the Homeland War to this displacement crisis is direct. After the war, Croatia’s efforts went entirely toward attracting tourists, not managing them and their repercussions. In a 2014 assessment of Dubrovnik, UNESCO found that the city lacked plans for managing the volume of visitors within the World Heritage Site (UNESCO, 2014). As tourism skyrocketed, there was a greater need for tourist accommodations, stores, and entertainment but no plan for managing it. Without that planning, success became its own problem. Housing costs increased, and inhabitants were displaced and discouraged from living within not just the Old City but also greater Dubrovnik. The Old City’s cultural life contracted. Ultimately, this inability to live among one another, coupled with a dearth of cultural organizations for Croatians, threatens the endurance of cultural heritage. Displacement through increased costs weakens community, which then weakens cultural heritage and connection to place. This threat is magnified by lack of foreign understanding of the war’s historical and lasting significance, specifically by tourists who do not encounter adequate commemorations within historic Dubrovnik, fueling problems such as physical damage through heavy foot traffic and disrespect that, when combined with overcrowding and increased prices of goods and services, lower the quality of both the tourist experience and life for locals (Abbasian et al., 2020). Accordingly, a dilution of cultural heritage is evident: Physical destruction of historic areas and the surrounding natural cliffs and shoreline detract from their cultural significance. Dubrovnik’s popularity as a filming location for Game of Thrones further disconnected tourists from the city’s actual cultural history and accelerated the replacement of cultural authenticity with tourist-oriented experiences. Dubrovnik can be likened to a museum or amusement park rather than a lived cultural environment. The physical heritage still stands but the community, memory, and daily life that once gave it meaning are disappearing. Current efforts and recommendations Dubrovnik has sought to combat overtourism, but current initiatives are not enough. Respect the City, a plan enacted in 2017 by Mayor Mato Franković, aims to promote sustainable, moderated tourism. The initiative has smaller actions (keeping dogs on leashes, wearing appropriate clothing, not “misbehaving” around cultural monuments, and not discarding cigarettes in public spaces) (City of Dubrovnik, 2017) as well as larger plans to moderate traffic patterns during the summer tourist season, limit the spaces in which stores can extend their goods into the streets, and limit cruise ship docking. This overcrowding is a direct result of the poorly managed tourism growth that followed the war. Although the initiative takes productive steps toward addressing overtourism and subsequent diluted shared identity, it inadvertently polishes Croatia’s public image more than it protects its heritage. It helps limit tourism to preserve the Old City, yes. But what good for improving cultural heritage is making the city more appealing to tourists if Dubrovnik’s own inhabitants can no longer afford to live within the historic city walls? Accordingly, even with these efforts, more needs to be done to address overtourism. That Dubrovnik’s initiatives are not enough can be seen in the ever-declining population of the Old City. Houses continue to be turned into short-term rentals as the population ages and is displaced. Furthermore, cruise ship limitations have dampened sudden spikes in the arrival of tourists, but they have not greatly decreased the total number of visitors (Abbasian, 2020). Thus, it is evident that Dubrovnik’s current actions have not fixed overtourism but have simply managed short-term overcrowding. Instead, Dubrovnik needs a model of tourism that would help Croatians and tourists coexist. This priority is limiting short-term visitors, which can be accomplished by placing strict caps on entry numbers and enforcing minimum stay requirements in hotels and other accommodations. The caps should be calibrated to sustain tourism revenue without overwhelming the city. Respect the City’s cruise ship regulations are a start, but more can be done. Freeing up housing inside the walled district for Croatian residents is essential to maintaining the community that overtourism has eroded. Tourist lodgings should shift out of the Old City into greater Dubrovnik and beyond, though gradually and in moderation, to avoid displacing the problem to surrounding neighborhood populations. As space opens, incentives should be created for residents to move within the historic city walls. Acknowledging heritage requires more than the physical rebuilding of architecture but in addition a collective, cultural healing of past trauma. It requires more museums that focus on wartime conflict and recovery, oral accounts of survivors who can pass along personal history, and a stronger sense of community within the historic walls. Dubrovnik would also benefit from an organization within the Old City dedicated to preserving its history and recognizing the Homeland War’s connection to today’s citizens, especially those who
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