Sustainable tourism development efforts by local governments in Poland

Abstract

Sustainable development is increasingly becoming a priority issue in tourism development in the modern world. The basic goal is to educate local communities in the principles of this new approach. The purpose of the study was to diagnose programs produced by local governments in the area of sustainable tourism development, identify problem areas, and propose solutions. The study was based on surveys in paper form. Most local governments in Poland (62%) state that sustainable development is considered in their planning and implementation of tourism-related programs. More than three out of four local government officials state that the opinions of local residents are also considered in the process. At the same time, more than 60% of survey participants state that their local municipality does not facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences in the area of sustainable development via the organization of relevant conferences, meetings, and workshops. In addition, local government officials note the existence of conflicts associated with collaboration in the tourism sector, mostly manifested by differences of opinion in terms of environmental protection versus tourism development. However, research has shown that the number of conflicts is smaller when the quality (i.e. higher mark) of the collaboration is higher.