Changes in the network of tourist trails in the border zones of the Czech Republic after entering the Schengen area

Abstract

Among the factors influencing tourist trail network development are political issues, including the presence of state borders, the possibility of crossing them and the accessibility of border zones. In the article, it was decided to look at changes in the offer of tourist trails (hiking and cycling) along the entire border of the Czech Republic after the extension of the Schengen area (within this area, crossing the border is possible anywhere, and not only at official border crossings). It should be emphasized here that the borders of the Czech Republic over most of their length run through mountainous areas and, apart from political factors, natural features should have a major impact on the development of tourist routes. In order to determine the coherence of the current network of trails on both sides of the Czech Republic state border, modern tourist maps have been analyzed, determining the number of places where it is possible to cross the state border with the help of a marked tourist trail. Based on that, two indicators were introduced to determine the degree of openness with all neighboring countries as regards the opportunity to cross on a tourist trail. Changes in the historical situation, a comparison of the accessibility of the border area before entering the Schengen area and 2019, were analyzed for two study areas using archival maps. Over a decade after the extension of the Schengen area, the number of places where tourist trails of neighboring countries approach the border has clearly increased. Crossing is more often made possible using hiking trails than cycling routes (trails of the first type cross the border every 7.91 km, while the latter every 13.3 km), but considering the speed of movement, it can be assessed that the openness for cyclists is higher than for hikers. Moreover, in many places there is still significant potential for further integration of tourist trail networks as trails created in one country often do not have a continuation on the other side of the border.

Spatial Analysis of Asymmetry in the Development of Tourism Infrastructure in the Borderlands: The Case of the Bystrzyckie and Orlickie Mountains

“…In the comparative borderland research carried out by other authors, a square sample with underflow has also been used, where the squares located on both sides of the border are not adjacent [15]. However, in our case, this would not adequately consider the tourism infrastructures commonly found on the border ridges, which are often important tourist areas [6]. In addition, the analysis of the square fields was burdened by the MAUP problem; indeed, the observed phenomenon would appear slightly different if other square grid sizes were used.…”

“…He claims that phenomena such as national regulations (taxes or other law constraints), consumer preferences for domestic products or travel destinations; different public and private management centers; a lack of information about neighboring countries; and higher transport or communication costs in the case of customs or passport control cause visible differences in the infrastructure development in borderlands. As a result of this impact on the state borders of the surrounding areas, issues of development for various types of border and cross-border infrastructures are frequently discussed research topics [31,32], including issues of tourism infrastructure and tourism development in these areas [1,6,33]. These issues are also particularly important for the spatial and investment policies of public local authorities in these areas [34][35][36].…”

“…As a result, depopulation was observed in the Polish borderland, leading to the disappearance of former villages and a decrease in the quality of infrastructure [19,25,66], alongside re-naturalization and an increase in the area of forests [67,68]. The Orlickie and Bystrzyckie Mountains have rarely been the subject of separate studies on the Polish-Czech border, except for the articles of Kołodziejczyk, which analyze the development of marked tourist trail networks [6,60]. studies on the Polish-Czech border, except for the articles of Kołodziejczyk, which analyze the development of marked tourist trail networks [6,60].…”

“…The Orlickie and Bystrzyckie Mountains have rarely been the subject of separate studies on the Polish-Czech border, except for the articles of Kołodziejczyk, which analyze the development of marked tourist trail networks [6,60]. studies on the Polish-Czech border, except for the articles of Kołodziejczyk, which analyze the development of marked tourist trail networks [6,60].…”

“…These analyses are not limited to an area located in one country but examine the entire functional regions crossed by state borders [4,5]. Thanks to the democratic changes in the early 1990s and the inclusion of Poland and the Czech Republic (established in 1993) into the European Union (EU) in 2004 and into the Schengen Area in 2007, the state border is usually only administrative [6]. This is conducive to socio-economic development based on tourism [7] and to the cross-border cooperation of local communities [8][9][10].…”