Rozwój turystyki narciarskiej w świetle idei zrównoważonego rozwoju – stan badań
The development of ski tourism in the light of idea of sustainable development – state of research

Summary/Abstract: The development and functioning of ski resorts brings many economic an social benefits for the mountain regions. However, this results in many cases, with the significant cost in environment. Reducing disadvantageous changes due to the development for the mass skiing movement in the late 80th and 90th twentieth century resulted in the need to revise the current model of ski tourism development. The aim of this study is to present – on the basis of the current state of research – contemporary problems of ski tourism development in the world in the context of achieving economic and social benefits, while preserving the value of natural environment of mountain areas, according to the principles of sustainable development. Despite of the negative environmental impacts, resulting from the development and functioning of ski resorts and unfavorable predictions of climate and demographic changes, ski tourism should continue to develop in the traditional ski regions. For many communities, this activity is the most important sector of the local economy, supporting other forms of development, as well as inhibit the phenomenon of emigration in search of work. Activities which seek to ” balance ” the development of ski tourism have environmental, economic and social dimensions. Environmental aspects relate to eliminate negative environmental impact of ski infrastructure and ski tourism movement includes: modernization of ski lifts, cableways and snowmaking system, appropriate waste management, improvement of air quality, continues monitoring of natural environment quality, the planned development of ski resorts, participation in voluntary environmental programs and initiatives aimed to raising the ecological awareness of employees, visitors and local communities. Economic aspects financial performance though the development of new tourism products. In order to achieve a competitive advantage, in many ski resorts are conducted market research and marketing actions in order to create a good image of the company, locality and region, and to search for niches of the market. However, very important issue is to implement social activities by the ski resorts consisting primarily on employing local communities, meeting the expectations of tourists referred to their satisfaction with the stay, educating tourists of the safety on ski slopes and adapting some of ski resorts to disabled ski tourists. The concept of sustainable development of ski resorts can be applied in the developed mountain tourist regions, where the economy is dominated by mass ski tourism or in areas, where this form of tourism is still developing. The preservation of development of specialized and addicted to this form of tourism regions requires to conduct active marketing actions, continues monitoring and preventive procedure in the event of a deterioration in economic conditions or reduction in the quality of tourist values. Sustainable tourism development assumes conscious adaptation and adjustment to its objectives both by tourists, leisure organizers, local authorities and representatives of host communities, but this goal in practice may be difficult to achieve.

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