Perspektywy rozwoju turystyki jeździeckiej w Polsce

• Authors: Marzena Józefczyk

Title variants

EN

Perspectives of equestrian tourism development in Poland

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

Equestrian tourism in Poland has been developing very fast recently. Hundreds of kilometres of new horse itineraries are created every year, with the growing number of small family companies organizing horse hacking. Although the potential of equestrian tourism development in Poland is undoubtedly very high, it faces considerable threats. From the early 1990’s, the Polish law does not allow horse riding in the National Forests except on marked trails or with the Head Forester Agreement (The Forest Act from September 28th 1991, Chapter 5). An attempt to restrict horse hacking in the forests goes even further with the recent proposal of creating ‘toll horse trails’ (paid paths dedicated only to equestrian tourists) to avoid environmental impact of horse hacking. At the same time, there is no published research showing the actual environmental impact of horse riding in the Polish wilderness. The results of Australian, American or North European studies in the National Parks cannot be simply transferred into Central European conditions. The article discusses possible scenarios of equestrian tourism development in Poland. The SWOT analysis helped to identify the main threats and chances, after many interviews among equestrian tourism activists and the author’s observations during 5 years of researching horse-based tourism. Besides an attempt to predict equestrian tourism future in Poland, the paper shows the specificity and uniqueness of this form of activity. The conclusions might be useful for the authorities responsible for regulating equestrian tourism in Poland, as well as for environmentalists. It is important to emphasize that horse-based tourism should develop in a sustainable way. This goal can only be achieved if environmental protection is well balanced with the need of rural regions development.

Keywords

PL

turystyka jeździecka; szlaki konne; rozwój zrównoważony; analiza SWOT

EN

equestrian tourism; horse trails; itineraries; sustainable development; SWOT analysis

• Publisher: Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego we Wrocławiu
• Journal: Rozprawy Naukowe Akademii Wychowania Fizycznego we Wrocławiu
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 45
• Pages: 138-145

Contributors

author

Marzena Józefczyk

• Uniwersytet Wrocławski