Evaluating the Tourism — Environment Relationship: Central and East European Experiences

The relationship between environment and tourism in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) can be portrayed as symbiotic, embedded within processes of postcommunist restructuring. With reference to specific CEE experience, I will evaluate briefly in this paper some of the components, problems, and outcomes of five dimensions of the tourism — environment relationship. These are: environment as a stimulus to tourism; environment as a constraint on tourism; tourism and sustainability; environment and place marketing; and tourism impacts on the environment. It is concluded that, although tourism should be viewed as just one element of postcommunist development, it has a multifaceted relationship with natural and cultural environments which demands that particular attention be paid to sustainable management.