As a tourist country, Croatia seeks to improve and develop its tourist offer, not only along the coast but also in its inner territory. Baranja as an area of continental and rural Croatia bases its economic development on agriculture, but also on the development of rural tourism, which is recording a growing trend. The capacities of the area in terms of natural and cultural heritage, gastronomy, winemaking, farms and other specific characteristics, have great potential for development of rural tourism, which is currently underutilized. The primary goal of this paper was to present the companies that have created a blue ocean in the tourist offer of rural tourism in Baranja and to give implications and recommendations based on critical analysis. The theoretical part of the paper presents the blue ocean strategy as a new business strategy, shows the trends that have contributed to the development of rural tourism in the world, but also in Croatia, and the ways in which its development is encouraged. In the empirical part of the paper, through the presentation of the tourist offer of Baranja, the red and blue oceans of Baranja were presented using the analytical model of the canvas strategy. Statistical analysis and processing of data obtained from the conducted survey questionnaire which examined the perception of respondents about the tourist offer of Baranja and development opportunities. The obtained results, which showed the mediocre quality of the tourist offer, the shortcomings of the area and possible directions of development, served to shape the implications and recommendations according to which rural tourism in Baranja can be developed.