Industrial complexes and their role in industrial tourism – example of conversion

Abstract

Sustainable tourism development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and increasing its possibilities for the future. It should lead to management of all resources, so as to meet economic, social and aesthetic needs while maintaining cultural integrity, the most important ecological processes, biological diversity and the processes that make life possible. Sustainable tourism products are products that work in accordance with the local environment, society and culture so that the environment, society and culture can benefit and not to become the victims of tourism development. At present, luckily, it is possible to observe, in a wide range of tourist activities and especially in industrialized countries, also increasing interest in so-called industrial tourism aimed at exploring technical monuments. This form of tourism was initially the domain of narrow range of technically-based supporters, but gradually becomes more attractive to the broader public. This article deals with the development and transformation of tourism in the Czech Republic on an example of the Podluzi region and one of its centres – the town of Hodonin. From the tourist activities in the region those specifically attractive ones should be mentioned, which are wine and folklore tourism in close connection with gastronomical tourism and then increasingly popular cycling and water tourism. As for the cycling tourism, there are routes (related to the Greenways programme) leading so that they connect all the major winegrowing sites of the region and also the basic backbone network of cycling routes passing through the territory of the Czech Republic. The development of water tourism is closely linked to industrial tourism, where the important technical monument – the Bata’s channel is used as a waterway. The history of the town of Hodonin is briefly mentioned here in the context of the progressive industrialization of the area (lignite and hydrocarbon mining), its significant downturn and subsequent changes in tourist activities.