Spatial Analysis of Asymmetry in the Development of Tourism Infrastructure in the Borderlands: The Case of the Bystrzyckie and Orlickie Mountains

Marek Furmankiewicz,Iwona Kaczmarek,Michalina Jędruch

doi:10.3390/ijgi9080470

Abstract

This paper discusses the issue of analyzing the development of cross-border tourism infrastructure in the borderlands of countries with diversified administrative divisions and spatial databases, which hinders the use of national statistical units for comparative research. As an example, the ability to use the square grid and kernel density estimation methods for the analysis and spatial visualization of the level of tourism infrastructure development is studied for the Orlickie and Bystrzyckie Mountains, located in the Polish–Czech border area. To synthetically assess and compare the level of diversity, the methodology used in the Human Development Index was adapted using selected component indicators calculated for a square grid clipped to the boundaries of the area under study. This analysis enabled us to quantify the asymmetry in the development of tourism infrastructure in the borderlands via the calculation of the synthetic infrastructure development index. This index is 1.29 times higher in the Czech than in the Polish border area. However, the spatial concentration analysis of infrastructure shows that the diversity in the study area can be assessed as higher than the results using the average density indicators. This paper also discusses the benefits and problems associated with using the square grid method for the representation and analysis of heterogeneous data on tourism infrastructure in two neighboring national states.

Highlights

Comparative studies of the spatial diversity of borderlands development, including land use, infrastructure, and tourism issues, are common [1,2,3]
While examining the adjacent areas located on both sides of the state border operating under different administrative and legal conditions, we encountered limitations related to the lack of homogeneous statistical data for comparative studies, including the problem of the differences in administrative divisions
We chose the border tourist region of the Orlickie Mountains (Orlické hory; Góry Orlickie) and Bystrzyckie Mountains (Góry Bystrzyckie); the physiographic regions that do not overlap with administrative boundaries. This area is located on the Polish–Czech border (Figure 1) in the Sudetes (Sudety Mountains), which is often analyzed in the context of land management or tourism development in its border areas [5,36,61,62,63]

Summary

Introduction

Comparative studies of the spatial diversity of borderlands development, including land use, infrastructure, and tourism issues, are common [1,2,3]. Thanks to the democratic changes in the early 1990s and the inclusion of Poland and the Czech Republic (established in 1993) into the European Union (EU) in 2004 and into the Schengen Area in 2007, the state border is usually only administrative [6] This is conducive to socio-economic development based on tourism [7] and to the cross-border cooperation of local communities [8,9,10]. In the case of large-scale data (i.e., for local areas) or significant differences in the administrative divisions of the neighboring countries covered by the analysis, there are growing research problems that can prevent data collection for methodical comparative studies Another possible difficulty is the irregular shape of the administrative–statistical units, which makes geographical interpretation difficult. Not using typical administrative statistical units creates problems related to the need to obtain data and calculate one’s own indicators for the adopted research fields [15,16]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion