Nives Vidak

Profiles of the domestic Visitors of Dubrovnik beaches in the context of Altman's theory of territoriality.

The experience of the beach as a territory in the context of Altman’s theory of territoriality, to our knowledge, has rarely been explored. The main research objective is cluster analysis of the participants (visitors of beaches in Dubrovnik) with respect to the intensity of the experience of the beaches as certain types of territory according to Altman’s concept of territoriality, taking into consideration the age and work experience in relation to gender, place of residence, type of beach and profession. The second objective was to determine the differences in the average scores according to preferences of the beach as a primary, secondary or public territory. The research was carried out on a sample of 81 participants (40 men and 41 women) from Dubrovnik (hometown), using the questionnaire Territorialism on the beaches. In a preliminary survey the questionnaire was successfully construed and showed good psychometric properties. The results showed that participants largely experience beach as a primary territory and rarely as a public one. The participants are grouped into three profiles, with specific characteristics, while within each profile the participants are grouped according to the dominant experience of the beach as a specific type of territory.