Spatial planning and sustainable tourism as basis for developing competitive tourist destinations

It becomes evident that the increase and expansion of tourism markets, also the creation of larger and more numerous tourist destinations, or the growth of the overall tourism industry which is expected to advance in the coming decades as never before, will cause enormous effects on the economy, cultural identity, as well as on the physical environment. It is required on a global level, to adequately distribute the development of tourism resorts and destinations, as well as to deal with the dangers that can arise and are related to overcrowding which can cause unsustainable development of the most visited and most attractive tourism places. The aim of the paper is to present the importance of the contemporary changes in tourism which requires adaptation of all participants in the creation of the tourism offer in given destinations. The destinations start to be considered as complex wholes with an aim to ensure competitiveness on the tourism market. Sustainable tourism has become a separate category of selective tourism offer. Destinations become to be a set of joint tourism products and services, which implies the active participation of all stakeholders. New concepts for achieving competitiveness have been developed such as: development of sustainable destinations, destination management planning and implementation of integrated quality management. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Faculty of and Hospitality