Tourism Geographies, Vol.1, No.4, pp. 425-442 (return to Table of Contents for Vol.1)

Tourism patterns and problems in East Central Europe

Russel L. Ivy
and
Charles B. Copp
Department of Geography and Geology, Flordia Atlantic University, USA

Abstract

Tourism development in post-communist East Central Europe is characterized by growing numbers of international visitors. The region, however, has inherited infrastructural and policy limitations that perpetuate two distinct tourism spaces within most nations. International tourists remain very concentrated in the capital cities and a few resort locations, while domestic tourists display a much more diffused pattern of travel. The infrastructure that international tourists demand, and the information they require in making holiday decisions is still quite geographically limited in East Central Europe.

Keywords: tourism development, centrally-planned economies, market transition, Eastern Europe, Slovakia