Slovensky raj: developing
bicycle tourism
One of the projects sponsored by the PAN Parks’ Small Grants Fund is helping Slovensky raj discover a new approach to tourism management. There has been a 5-month-period of local activity, when park officials, local business owners, local government, and citizens’ associations tried to develop solutions on how to limit the disturbance caused by tourists and at the same time improve the tourist industry in the area. After local people decided to focus on bicycle tourism, they developed a working plan with the target of managing bicycle tourism and marked bicycle trails on the ground by August 2002. “We experienced a remarkable success when we were working on the plan together with the public. Many initiatives came from the local people,” said Dr. Anna Leskovjanská, a leading park official on the bicycle tourism project.
Communication also improved between county developers and the park administration. As Marian Stubna, a representative of the county office for regional development, stated, “The communication between stakeholders was not at this level before. We had wanted to put in more bicycle trails, but had had an antagonistic relationship with the park administration. We experienced a considerable change in this regard. It seems that the administration is trying to find new ways of directing and managing tourism growth, not only in the park but on its way to PAN Parks verification.”
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