Poland signs the Protocol on Sustainable Tourism to the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians
Poland has therefore joined the group of the document’s signatories. The Protocol on Sustainable Tourism is an implementing regulation to the Carpathian Convention which aims to ensure sustainable development of the Carpathian regions of the following seven countries: Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary.
The objective of the Protocol is to strengthen and facilitate cooperation between the parties regarding sustainable tourism in the Carpathians, for the sake of present and future generations, in order to maximize benefits from tourism and economic development while minimising the negative ecological, environmental and socio-economic impacts of tourism.
The Protocol regulates the general obligations of the parties with regard to coordination of policies related to sustainable tourism planning, implementation and management in the Carpathians; it requires that the goals of sustainable tourism be respected in the various sectoral policies and that participation of regional and local authorities and other entities, as well as international cooperation, be ensured. The Protocol also regulates so-called special activities which include the following: promotion of the Carpathian Region as a sustainable tourism destination, development, promotion and marketing of Carpathian regional products, services and sustainable tourism packages, ensuring that sustainable tourism meets common and high quality standards, increasing the share of sustainable tourism in the sustainable development of the local economy, ensuring that tourism management is environment-friendly and supports sustainable local economic development, increasing the input of tourism to the protection and sustainable use of the region’s biological and landscape diversity, increasing the input of tourism to sustainable development of agriculture in the Carpathians, planning and sustainable development of transport and tourism infrastructure, increasing the input of tourism to the protection and promotion of the cultural heritage and traditional knowledge of the local communities, increasing the input of tourism to education and to greater awareness of sustainable development issues, exchange of information and experience, creating the conditions for the development and management of sustainable tourism in the Carpathians, promoting cross-border cooperation in the field of sustainable tourism, managing the impacts of tourism on biological and landscape diversity, managing the environmental impacts of tourism, managing the socio-economic and cultural impacts of tourism, monitoring the effectiveness of sustainable tourism policies and strategies, implementing joint programmes and projects.