A holistic approach to sustainable tourism development (bottom-up) comprises the enabling of locals (e.g. through information and training programmes) to actively take part in the entire tourism planning and implementation process. In this way, the responsibility and control of tourism development in the region remains for the most part in the hands of the local population. This along with self-responsibility and influence on the supra-regional level can be regarded as a very important outcome and as a guarantor for a long-lasting regional increase in prosperity.
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Father Romuald Wilk has inspired many copmmunity actions in Przysłop. He is leading the monastery of the Order of Discalded (Barefoot) Carmelites located in the village (above).
Bikers in front of the school of Zawoja Przysłop. Photos by Dominika Zareba
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The inhabitants of a tiny village located near the Babia Gora National Park and Biosphere Reserve in Poland make a habit of saying that they live in “harmony with the Decalogue and nature”. The development of a tourism education path, which forms a section of Amber Trail, and the preservation of a local school from closure through the establishment of an environmental education centre are examples of results achieved by an association of local people.
Five hundred people live in Zawoja Przysłop on the southern ridge of the Magurka Mountain (872 m), which is part of the Beskid Zywiecki mountain range in Poland. The village lays alongside the Amber Trail running from Budapest in Hungary through Banska Stiavnica in Slovakia and towards Krakow in Poland. The development of the 300-kilometre Amber Trail was aimed at linking natural and cultural heritage conservation to community-based grassroots actions, while at the same time supporting the revitalisation of local economies. The community of Przyslop successfully translated this idea into practice. A total of 2,500 people visit the hamlet annually, which can be attributed exclusively to the local initiatives during the last five years.
With the active involvement of teachers, parents and children, the Elementary School No. 4 in Zawoja Przysłop is developing a Model Centre for Environmental Education, which shall serve not only educational, but also cultural, tourism-related and informational purposes.
The work carried out to date in this Centre opened up a chance for survival for the small school, which was threatened by a shortage of local governmental funds. Working together with the Babia Gora National Park, the school offers tourist and educational services for both groups of pupils as well as for other tourists.
An important role in catalysing these developments should be attributed to the monastery of the Order of the Discalced (Barefoot) Carmelites located in the village, which plays a significant role in forming a pro-environment attitude in the local community. Some examples of the monastery’s environmental investments are the one-turbine wind farm providing electricity to the monastery, and the heat pump and solar panels, which supply heat to adjoining monastery buildings. It is the windmill which has become the symbol of the Przysłop hamlet, and it has served as an inspiration for local inhabitants to initiate and to organise various environmental and cultural activities.
For more information please contact:
Dominika Zareba, National Greenways Manager, Polish Environmental Partnership Foundation
E-mail: dominika.zareba@epce.org.pl
Association for Sustainable Development “Przyslop”
E-mail: zawojasp4@interia.pl
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| The windmill has become the symbol of the Przysłop hamlet. Photos by Dominika Zareba |
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Positive Socio-Cultural Impacts of Tourism:
