Daniel MICHNIAK, Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
The Polish-Slovak border, the mountainous relief, and environmental protection have been barriers to cross-border transport and tourism development before 1989. Political and economic changes after 1989 contributed to the development of cross-border transport and tourism in both parts of the borderland. The construction of new cross-border roads enabled the development of more intensive contacts of inhabitants and the development of cross-border tourism.
The aim of this contribution is to assess selected changes in cross border transport: (1) changes in transport infrastructure based on the analysis of the cross-border transport projects and (2) changes in public transport based on the analysis of timetables of the cross border public transport connections in the borderland during the last three decades) that have influenced tourism in Polish-Slovak tourism regions. We have also tried to answer the questions whether these changes are in accordance with the sustainable development goals.
Three phases of development of cross-border transport were identified: (1) Development of cross-border public transport and improvement of road and rail infrastructure in the period 1989-2003 (balanced development); (2) Decrease of cross-border public transport and improvement of road infrastructure in the period 2004-2013 (unsustainable development); (3) Minimising of cross-border public transport and development of tourist’s road infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians (unsustainable development with small steps towards sustainability).
During the last two years, cross-border passenger transport has been influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic that led to the collapse of the cross-border bus transport and decreased the number of cross-border tourists due to various restrictions for cross-border mobility.
Mots clés : cross-border transport|transport infrastructure|public transport|tourism|Polish-Slovak borderland
A102889DM