REGIONAL TOURISM ORGANIZATION TEKOV AND SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: PREFERENCES OF LOCAL RESIDENTS AND STAKEHOLDERS

Recently founded Regional Tourism Organization (RTO) Tekov in the Levice cadastre has been actively participating in tourism development in the studied area. As the area has high potential for tourism development and activities of the RTO Tekov are becoming more frequent and considerable, we decided to analyze awareness and opinions of local citizens and stakeholders about RTO Tekov activities and impact of the tourism development on environment, very important topic related to tourism in past decades. The research was based on two questionnaires, one for local citizens and another for stakeholders including members of RTO Tekov. According to the results of the questionnaire, most of the citizens do not notice growth of tourist numbers nor negative impact on nature. They are either comfortable with number of tourist or would welcome more of them. Because of many benefits related to rise of tourist numbers, the asked stakeholders would appreciate expansion of tourism. However, not all of them plan activities associated with tourism in relation to the environment. The research paper includes suggestions for tourism development actions with sustainable approach and proposal for increasing of awareness about the RTO Tekov based on the questionnaire answers and present biocultural values.