TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF SARAJEVO'S OLYMPIC MOUNTAINS - A TOURISM AREA LIFE CYCLE PERSPECTIVE
Amra Banda
Almir Peštek
Belma Durmišević
Emina Ajanović
Muniba Osmanović
DOI: 10.35666/25662880.2025.11.193
UDC: 338.48-31"324"(497.6 Sarajevo)
Abstract: Sarajevo Olympic mountains, Bjelašnica, Igman, Jahorina, and Trebević represent a valuable physical-geographical and tourism resource of Bosnia and Herzegovina, characterized by winter tourism Their developmental has been shaped by complex historical, political, and social processes, with the 1984 Winter Olympic Games marking the culmination of infrastructural and tourism prosperity, followed by wartime devastation and post-war institutional fragmentation that resulted in prolonged stagnation. This paper applies Butler’s Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model to examine the evolution of tourism function in these mountain areas. Through a combination of historical-geographical approach and qualitative sources, this paper analyzes spatial and functional changes, as well as challenges related to sustainability, management, and institutional coordination. The Sarajevo Olympic mountains do not represent a textbook example of the TALC model, as their development has not followed a linear path; instead, growth phases were often interrupted by external factors such as war, political-administrative structure, and climate change. A particular challenge lies in the inconsistency of statistical data, which complicates precise identification of developmental stages. Although the mountains share similar patterns of exploration, growth, stagnation, and decline, each has followed a specific development path determined by infrastructural, socio political, and economic conditions. The findings indicate that the future tourism development of the Sarajevo mountains should be oriented towards sustainability, rational use of natural resources, and the development of selective tourism products, supported by improved institutional coordination and mor consistent statistical records.
Keywords: tourism development, tourism area life cycle, Olympic mountains
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