Die touristische Attraktivität des östlichen Europa: Methodik und Inhalte einer Karte im Atlas Ost- und Südosteuropa

Abstract

This article describes and explains a map titled "International Tourism Attractions in Central and Southeastern Europe" which has recently been published in co-operation with the Institute of Regional Geography Leipzig in the framework of the "Atlas of Eastern and Southeastern Europe" edited by the Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies in Vienna. This map is enclosed to this issue of "Europa Regional". The overriding objective in publishing a map devoted to international tourist attractions in East Central and South Eastern Europe was to create a comprehensive and integrated survey that could paint a clearer picture of this large and import ant tourist region than the travel and tourism literature now available on individual countries and regions. One priority in doing so was to compare the density and relative merit of lesser-known international tourism attractions in the former Communist countries of East Central and Southeastern Europe with more familiar and better frequented Western tourist destinations in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Austria and Germany. Such comparisons would hardly be practicable on the basis of the travel literature of similar detail hitherto available on this region as this is generally restricted to a particular country or small group of countries, or indeed just one area, and is often compiled according to specific and therefore varying systems of values. This novel form of comprehensive survey is undoubtedly the most innovative aspect of the map. Although the outcome is in fact the collective effort of a large and multinational group of experts, nevertheless it had to remain to some extent subjective in its assessments due to a lack of complete parity in documentation and selection criteria. The map contains three layers of information: firstly, international tourist attractions, represented by circular symbols in different colours and in four sizes, secondly, a classification of landscape types represented by coloured planes, and thirdly, national parks, indicated by green screens. This article mainly enlarges on the spatial patterns and historical origins of monuments of cultural history in the region relating them to cultural realms and culture flows as well as periods of art history. It concludes with hinting on others factors relevant for the tourism potential of the region besides tourism attractions and with providing some estimate in which segments of Western European travel markets East Central and Southeastern Europe may have comparatively the best prospects.