Slovenia is a diverse country divided into 12 regions with their own characteristics. In the Koroska region several natural and cultural features are present, and these attract tourists, who appreciate beautiful nature and a genuine contact with the locals. Koroska region is categorised as a region in development, therefore the tourism here has potential to address some of the development issues, such as depopulation of the countryside, outmigration of younger population to the cities, closures of small farms and unemployment. In order to take best advantage of tourism as economic sector and at the same time maintain existing natural and cultural resources, a good strategy is required. Such strategy presents indicators on a regional level to execute strategic and spatial tourism development. The Master thesis is aimed at preparation of the proposal of the regional spatial plan for tourism in the Koroska region. The current state of tourism is presented, and areas, attractive for tourists in the past but now in decline are highlighted. The strategic directions for tourist development are also presented and these originate from existing plans on a national and regional level, but also from examples of regional tourist planning abroad. For better illustration of current development and visions in the Koroska region interviews were conducted with the regional representatives, tourist providers and representatives of the public tourist institutions. Based on their contributions, the main tourist offer was obtained along with the most pressing tourism development issues that can be found within the region. Based on the gathered information analysis of spatial suitability for certain types of tourism was created. Based on these work steps the regional spatial plan for tourism was created in the final phase of the dissertation. In contrast to existing plans, this plan is focused on the spatial dimension of tourism and presents a mid-term consideration of the sectoral development.
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