Cultural tourism in Croatia is finally beginning to be more scientifically researched and its importance is raising. The optimal ways to valorize it maximize the benefits that come with it. People are still learning how to protect and develop it, which is where most of the problems they face with lie, due to insufficient information and ignorance. When it comes to marketing tourist products based on cultural tourism, the Croatian market is focused on the domestic market and most oftenly insufficiently recognizable products are offered. It is necessary to understand that tourism is of great economic importance and represents a force that can be used extremely well. The town of Vinkovci is recognizable for its rich historical and cultural heritage which, despite various changes, has managed to be preserved. The Tourist Board of the city of Vinkovci introduces novelties in the annual programs and includes various activities for all ages and actively begins to involve the local population. Also, Vinkovci is known as the oldest city in Europe due to its continuous population of 8000 years. It was a place where cultures were inherited from the Neolithic to the present day, and the heritage and cultural goods of ancestors are extremely cherished. Assessing the city's attractions and surveying the local population will provide an insight into the role of the local population and how it contributes to the general development of cultural tourism in the city. By gradually abandoning mass tourism, the interest of tourists turns to other forms of tourism, which primarily includes authentic and pure experience, i.e. experiences that the tourist acquires during his stay in the destination. Developed countries are increasingly turning to tourism as one of the main sources of income and competition among countries is greater. Efforts that Croatia must invest in the development of cultural tourism, especially Eastern Slavonia, must be much more intense and aggressive in order to start attracting tourists. The way of life and the changes that have taken place have created a completely new profile of tourists who want to "escape" from everyday life, which changes the market interest in which localities such as the city of Vinkovci, which has never been a center of mass tourism but a haven of peace, gain in effect.