Attitudes of local communities towards a national park and tourism development: The example of localities surrounding the Babia Góra massif

The paper presents the local residents’ attitudes towards the Babia Góra National Park (BGNP), their views on the Park’s impact on the local development and their opinions on the development of tourism in the Babia Góra area. The results of a survey conducted among the residents of areas surrounding the BGNP (n=397) show a relatively positive image of the Park in the local community. The residents are mostly approving of the National Park’s operation and usually declare having positive relations with the BGNP management. They perceive a positive impact of the BGNP on the natural environment and on the local communities’ environmental awareness but also on the spatial order and the quality of life in the villages. The impact on economic development is usually assessed as neutral. The economic aspect in which the BGNP’s influence is perceived as the most beneficial is tourism development. Those benefits are most evident in Zawoja, the village concentrating the majority of incoming traffic of Babia Góra visitors. The neutral attitudes of many residents towards the BGNP and a lack of clear views on many aspects of the Park’s functioning show that the residents’ interactions with the Park are not close or frequent. This is mostly because the BGNP is relatively small and the percentage of private land within its boundaries is low. Consequently, there are few direct economic links between the local communities and the Park. In order to win more support from the local residents, there should be more focus on presenting indirect economic benefits and intangible advantages from the Park’s operation. Coinciding interests should also be sought, as should be patterns of social and economic activity which could foster the residents’ cooperation with the Park management.

Film tourism in Sandomierz

Film tourism (movie tourism) covers all tourist trips in the footsteps of movie stars (actors and directors) and their artworks, creating an opportunity for deeper reflection and personal live tracks. It is also visiting places known from the screen, searching for the atmosphere, climate, touring of the facilities immortalized in a film or a television series – the so-called set-jetting (Stasiak 2009). Examples from different places in the world and Poland show that film can perfectly promote any place and affect the turnout of tourists. The scale of this phenomenon depends on the rank of a given film production. Undertaking appropriate promotional activities may bring benefits from film tourism even many years after the film’s release. One of the most important cities on the map of film tourism in Poland is Sandomierz, where the action of a popular television series Ojciec Mateusz takes place. The aim of the article is to show the importance of film for the promotion and development of tourism, on the example of this city. The example of Sandomierz shows that a television series can become a very effective form of promotion and generate a significant increase in tourist traffic, which, in turn, has an influence on the financial benefits and quality of life of the residents of Sandomierz. Based on the presented research it can be said that, since the start of airing of the television series Ojciec Mateusz in 2008, a significant increase in tourist traffic has been observed in Sandomierz. This is confirmed both by official statistics and the opinions of people working in the service of tourist traffic. In addition, watching the TV series Ojciec Mateusz affects decisions about coming to Sandomierz.

Evaluation of the size of tourist traffic in the Kotelnica Białczańska Ski Resort in the winter season 2014/2015

From the point of view of sustainable development of tourist localities, an important issue is the continuous monitoring of tourist traffic and the timely response to fluctuations in its size. Determination of the number of persons participating in tourist traffic is an extremely difficult undertaking. Research into tourist traffic is carried out in Poland but a vast majority of it is periodic and incomplete. Furthermore, the methods used to determine tourist traffic are burdened with many defects, so they do not give grounds to determine the number of people resting in tourist facilities and localities. The aim of this article is to estimate the number of single persons that use the services of the Kotelnica Białczańska Ski Resort in Białka Tatrzańska in the winter season 2014/2015 and to identify the source areas of tourist traffic. In contrast to the most of publications taking up the issue of the size of tourist traffic, in this work a person who came to the studied ski resort several times in a  season was not counted as a few people but as one person. The assumptions and calculations contained in the article allow to conclude that about 318 000–342 000 people visited the Kotelnica Białczańska Ski Resort in the winter season 2014/2015, of which about 291 000–312 000 were tourists from Poland and about 27 000–30 000 from abroad. Those from Poland accounted for 91.3% visitors and they came from all voivodships of the country. About ⅓ of them arrived from the agglomerations of Warsaw and Cracow. Foreign tourists accounted for 8.7% of all people relaxing in the studied ski resort. They came from 34 countries of the world,  excluding Poland. The research method presented in this article allows to estimate the number of single persons resting in a given area and in a specified time as well as it allows for a precise indication of the source areas of tourist traffic. However, an unquestionable disadvantage of the method is its time- and labor-consuming character.

The Great Moravian and Cyrillo-Methodian tradition and the contemporary cultural landscape of Velehrad

The Czech Republic and Slovakia celebrated in 2013 the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius to the area of Great Moravia. This mission marked the formal beginning of Christianity in this part of Europe. Veligrad, known since the Middle Ages, was widely considered as a centre of missionary activity. The contemporary city of Velehrad is the heir of this rich past and related heritage. In the contemporary cultural landscape of Velehrad we can indicate different overlapping historical layers forming the unique character of the place: the times of the Great Moravian state, the location of the Cistercian monastery in the 13th century, the secularization of the property during the reign of Emperor Joseph I, the arrival of the Jesuits and their educational activity, the formation of national awareness and aspirations for self-determination in the mid-nineteenth century, connected with the birth of the pilgrimage tradition to Velehrad, the times of the communist regime and closure of the monastery, political changes after 1989 related with the return of the Jesuits, the visit of Pope John Paul II and the celebration of the year of Cyril and Methodius in 2013. All these events have left a material trace, as well as enriched the particular genius loci of this place. The 2013 celebration contributed towards turning Velehrad into a centre of dialogue between East and West. Modern exhibition spaces were created from renovated historic buildings. A key element was the creation of the European Cultural Route of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the connecting Velehrad with the network of pilgrimage routes to important spiritual centres of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and neighbouring countries (including Poland). The aim of these projects was to turn Velehrad into a place where both pilgrims and ordinary tourists will be able to enrich their experience and their knowledge, and thus be able to satisfy the need for self-realization.