The Rural Areas – the Unutilized Potential in Light of Tourism
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The rural areas – the unutilized potential in light of tourism Vidiek – nevyužitý potenciál z hľadiska cestovného ruchu Jana JARÁBKOVÁ Department of Regional Development, Faculty of European Study and Regional Development, Nitra, Slovak Republic Abstract: The rural areas represent an extensive territorial or natural, human and economic potential which is utilized unevenly and imperfectly. One of the alternatives of using this potential is to develop tourism in those municipalities, which have appropriate conditions for the development of activities connected to tourism at their disposal. The aim of this paper is to identify the development potential of rural municipalities in the light of tourism (in the area of the Nitra Self-governing Region), to evaluate this potential using the valorisation method and to define the individual categories of rural municipalities. The results of the typology provide important information about the potential of the rural areas for the development of tourism and about the current utilization of this potential. They are also used to create the concept of the development of rural tourism in the Nitra Self-governing Region and to represent a tool for effectively allocated public resources for municipalities and for entrepreneurial subjects in the municipalities. Key words: rural areas, potential, tourism, typology of rural municipalities Abstrakt: Vidiek predstavuje rozsiahly územný resp. prírodný, ľudský a ekonomický potenciál, ktorý je nerovnomerne a nedostatočne využitý. Jednou z alternatív, ako potenciál obcí využiť, je rozvíjať cestovný ruch v tých obciach, ktoré dis- ponujú vhodnými podmienkami pre rozvoj aktivít viazaných na cestovný ruch. Rozvoj cestovného ruchu prináša so sebou efekty, ktoré sa prejavujú vo všetkých sférach rozvoja vidieckej obce, t.j. v ekonomickej, sociálnej, kultúrnej a environmen- tálnej dimenzii. Cieľom príspevku je identifikovať rozvojový potenciál vidieckych obcí z hľadiska cestovného ruchu (na území Nitrianskeho samosprávneho kraja), zhodnotiť tento potenciál pomocou valorizačnej metódy a definovať jednotlivé kategórie vidieckych obcí. Výsledky typológie poskytujú dôležitú informáciu o potenciáli vidieka pre rozvoj cestovného ruchu a jeho súčasnom využití. Sú podporným nástrojom pre tvorbu koncepcie rozvoja vidieckeho cestovného ruchu v Nitrianskom samosprávnom kraji a nástrojom efektívnej alokácie verejných zdrojov obciam a podnikateľským subjektom v obciach. Kľúčové slová: vidiek, potenciál, cestovný ruch, typológia obcí In the ‘90s , rural areas became an object of inves- basis for the creation of concepts and development tigation of many authors and research institutions strategies for rural areas. because politicians, economists and sociologists The results of many analyses of the factors of devel- started to realise that the rural areas represent an opment of rural areas and municipalities in Slovakia extensive territorial or natural, human and economical indicate that they have to react to a whole scale of potential which is utilized unevenly and imperfectly. negative tendencies such as the high rates of unem- Various approaches to defining rural areas, rural re- ployment, low average incomes, weak entrepreneurial gion and municipality reflect the different perception activity, the missing quality human potential (Buchta of the used terms in the professional literature and and Blaas 2006: 286), the disadvantageous structure also the particularity of rural areas. The use of dif- of settlements with a high representation of mu- ferent qualitative and quantitative definitions results nicipalities up to 300 inhabitants, the insufficiently in classifications of rural areas. These become the developed technical and social infrastructure and the 532 AGRIC. ECON. – CZECH, 56, 2010 (11): 532–539 slow restructuring of the rural economy (Belajová (a) creates incomes flowing into the local economy 2006: 280). (accommodation tax, real estate tax and other lo- Many causes of the problems and conflicts in ru- cal taxes) but also into the governmental budget ral regions and municipalities can be found in the (income tax, value added tax and others), transformation of the socio-economic system and (b) creates new working positions directly in the tour- the previous development in rural areas (Fáziková ism enterprises and indirectly in the related and 2006). Belajová (2006: 277) introduces two particu- supplying activities provided by other enterprises larly significant causes for the continuing problems in the municipality, of rural areas: (c) supports investments in the infrastructure of the (a) the deepening areal imbalance in the development municipality, of the regions caused by concentrating tendencies (d) contributes to the development of the local econ- of capital in the urbanized regions which thus omy (entrepreneurs’ incomes from the enterprise acquire the agglomeration effect (savings), in tourism and their multiplying effect). (b) the insufficient use of the available natural and human resources allocated in rural areas, where In the socio-cultural dimension, the development they are able to contribute more to the economic of tourism brings: development of the country. (a) the increased attention to the protection and A possible solution to the given problems of rural preservation of the cultural heritage, regions appears to be the concept of endogenous devel- (b) the growing interest in the preservation of tra- opment which is based on the utilization of the inner ditional languages, resources of rural municipalities, on the development (c) the establishment of new markets for the tradi- of small and medium enterprises and establishing tional crafts and forms of art, the revival of the partnerships of private and public sector. traditional forms of art, In connection with the insufficiently utilized po- (d) the reception of the positive aspects of values and tential of rural areas, still more discussions about the behaviour of visitors, development of tourism take place in the professional (e) slowing or stopping the process of expatriation, and political circles. The use of the material and im- the growth of the immigration into the munici- material cultural values can radically influence the pality. existing approaches to solving the future of rural In connection with the effects of the development areas and offer new possibilities which could lead of tourism on the environment of the municipality, to new entrepreneurial activities and to the revival Lordkipanidze (2002: 55) writes primarily about the of their life and life conditions of their inhabitants negative effects related to building of the tourism (Kadeřábková and Trhlínová 2006: 371). infrastructure and the activities of undisciplined The effects of the development of tourism are visitors. In spite of that, she considers tourism to be reflected in all spheres of development of a rural able to contribute to the protection and preservation municipality, which means in the economic, social, of the environment, particularly by increasing the cultural and environmental dimension. awareness of environmental values, and also to serve According to Svobodová (2009: 244), the develop- as a means of financing the protection of nature in the ment of rural tourism produces additional incomes for mistreated environment and as a means of growth of the inhabitants of the municipality, it contributes to its economic influence. The positive environmental the preservation of the culture and traditions of rural effects resulting from the development of tourism areas and it enables people to present them externally. in a municipality are: For farmers, it means a possibility of additional in- (a) the intensified attention to the exterior of the comes from agro-tourism, it increases the demand for municipality, the services and performance of the infrastructure, it (b) the renewal of the existing infrastructure in the intensifies the pressure on preserving the countryside municipality, and its protection and it also intensifies the pressure (c) the reconstruction of the unused buildings, the on the management of the municipality to coordinate protection of historical objects, the renewal and and support the activities of tourism. modernization of the unused housing stock. Positive effects of tourism on the local level were Tourism can bring the above mentioned positive summarized by Lordkipanidze (2002: 53). She divided effects only to those municipalities, which have ap- them into three groups – economic, socio-cultural propriate conditions for the development of activities and environmental. From the economic point of view, connected to tourism at their disposal (Petrášová an enterprise in tourism in the rural areas: 2009). AGRIC. ECON. – CZECH, 56, 2010 (11): 532–539 533 METHODS OF EVALUATING THE SUPPLY the region and the time necessary to overcome the IN TOURISM distance from a town. Michálková’s valorisation of the region in the light of tourism results in the typology Many authors have tried to evaluate the potential of rural municipalities (municipalities of I., II. and of rural municipalities and then to create a typol- III. category). ogy based on different points of view (Mariot 1983; Bína (2002) tried to evaluate the potential of tour- Michálek 1996; Otrubová 1996; Spišiak et al. 2000; ism in the Czech Republic municipalities compre- Bína 2002). hensively. In evaluation, he distinguishes two basic The mentioned typologies are established on the subsystems of the potential, natural and cultural. basic principles