Scholarly record

COMMUNITY APPROACH – A SIGNIFICANT DETERMINANT OF NEW TOURISM DESTINATION

L. Plzakova, S. Tittelbachova

Abstract

Social capital is an important prerequisite for regional development, and it influences economic growth and development of a region. In last decades, public involvement in decision making became the main attribute of regional and community planning, which follows one of the basic social capital characteristics. Social capital is a connector among individual actors, it makes reaching common goals possible in a more efficient manner. It incorporates social organization attributes such as relationships, interactions and contacts, commonly shared values, identity perception of the area, attitudes, rules and procedures, trust and confidence in other inhabitants, institutions and social groups, as well as society as a whole. The article focuses on community approach forming social networks and building a common identity of a place within the community planning process, where a question of the new area direction is presented. The identity, having a key role in this process and being a social cohesion tool, becomes the crucial determinant. The goal of this article is to evaluate importance of a community attitude based on identity of the region during emerging tourism destination process, to characterize community identity in accordance with basic social classification markers. From the methodology point of view, we are working mainly with primary data collected through extensive and comprehensive questionnaire research; the data acquired then undergo a categorical data analysis. The outcomes indicate considerable differences in the identity perception and the researched area further development options, depending on age, gender, education, employment status, length of living in the area, and respondents’ income levels. Although, a conflict arises – a question as to developing the area in a conservative manner or creating a new tourism destination out of it, based on e.g. spa, fish farming traditions and nature. Social capital that influences, and at the same time is being influenced by economic and human capitals, plays a key role in a new tourism destination emergence.

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