Subcultural event tourism: The case study of Monte Paradiso hardcore punk festival in Pula, Croatia

What is it about?

This article analyses the Monte Paradiso hardcore punk festival in the city of Pula as an important subcultural event for the punk scene and its impact on tourism. The research aims to determine the importance of the festival in relation to tourism supply and the specific spatial features of this event. Pula was a military and industrial city, but it later became famous as a festival destination. In the summer of 1992, a group of punk enthusiasts organized the first Monte Paradiso festival. The event took place in an abandoned Austro-Hungarian fortress. That venue hosted the festival every summer from 1992 to 2000. The festival programme attracted numerous punk fans, but its impact on tourism was irrelevant. Since 2001, the festival has been organized in the Karlo Rojc Community Centre, housed in a former Yugoslav army building in the Monte Zaro urban district. The findings indicate that the festival has become a part of the city’s tourist promotion and the rebranding of Pula.

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Why is it important?

This research is a pioneering work on subcultural tourism in the former old industrial city and abandoned Cold War military base. The main contribution of this paper is a scientific explanation of subcultural festival growth from local event to the significant one from the urban tourism perspective.