Recreational countryside and the riverscape aesthetic. Northwest Croatia hydrography as a sustainable tourism destination

The case study here considered is a specific area in mountainous west Croatia, corresponding to a relevant section of the Sava river catchment), which overlaps with two Croatian agricultural regions, previously defined, on the basis of a research on regionalization of Croatian agriculture, as the “sub-mountain sub-region” and the “mountain sub-region” whose geographic location rises gradually from the Pannonian plane towards the massif of the Dinara mountain range. Its peculiar environmental assets could stimulate the definition of adequate strategies concerning the social and economic recovery of local communities, most of them still involved in agricultural activities. In a wider overview, Croatian rural tourism has been increasing in the last decade, especially when referring to the rural territories surrounding most of national parks like Plitvice lakes, Krka river waterfalls, Risnjak and Velebit mountains The last two are located right in the case study area, within the Gorski Kotar and Karlovac regions in western Croatia, with its peculiar condition of pretty low population density and with a relevant trend in young people migration toward both main national urban destinations and abroad.