Internal conditions of mountain rural areas in Poland development through tourism

Abstract

Mountain areas in Poland constitute a special territory with respect to physico-geographical, economic and social aspects. There are specific environmental, economic and cultural conditions, which on one hand restrain and on the other provide chances of these areas development. Environmental conditions involve higher economic costs mainly in agriculture but also in other fields, such as construction or transportation. Other characteristics of these areas include landscape values which just through development of tourism can at least partially recompense the local communities the limited opportunities of gaining incomes. Thus increasing the competitiveness of the tourism product of mountain areas in line with principles of sustainable development remains among the basic topics concerned by local, regional and national authorities, when dealing with socio-economic development of those areas.In order that an individual commune may use tourism as a driving force for local socio-economic development, in the first place there must be conditions favourable for practising various forms of tourism (bases for starting and then intensifying the tourist movement are necessary prerequisites), secondly opportunities must be opened up for creating various enterprises connected with tourism and providing services for tourists, and capable of meeting increased needs of local communities. Conditions (factors) determining mountain communes predisposition for undertaking and realisation of development through tourism may be either of external or internal character.A detailed analysis was conducted in the paper only on the internal conditions. These conditions were analysed considering their diversified character, which was presented as identification of partial conditions, i.e. infrastructural, economic, environmental (natural and anthropogenic) and social conditions characterised by individual diagnostic features.