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Received 25/10/2016 - Accepted 28/06/2017
DOI: 10.15628/holos.2017.5263
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is the answer of the question if interregional cooperation supported by economic policy of UE fosters tourism development and if yes in what way. The relation between tourism and interregional cooperation is relatively seldom analysed in comparison with other strands of territorial cooperation such as crossborder and transnational cooperation. This results from specific philosophy of interregional cooperation.
In order to achieve the purpose of the paper it was necessary to present the system of interregional cooperation management and model of tourism in European Union. The paper analyses the period 2007 - 2013 when INTERREG IVC provided funding for interregional cooperation across Europe.
The overall objective of the INTERREG IVC Programme was to improve the effectiveness of regional policies and instruments with special attention to the areas of support such as:
* innovation and the knowledge economy,
* environment and risk prevention.
Tt could be assumed that it had been possible to include tourism in tourism projects implemented within Interreg IV C. To prove it the qualitative and quantitative analysis of 204 projects divided into 12 themes has been done. Aditionally the database of good practices was analyzed. The analysis of its documents allowed to identify 60 tourism-related good practices. These practices focused on cultural and sustainable tourism.
KEYWORDS: tourism, European Union, regional policy, interregional cooperation, INTERREG.
1INTRODUCTION
Europe has recently seen a rapid growth in tourism [Fesenmaier, O'Leary, Uysal 2013, p. XV] and hospitality industry [Grobelna, Marciszewska 2016]. Tourism is becoming an increasingly important factor for social and economic development [Sharma 2004, p. 1]. Due to this reason the European Union supports tourism development stronger and stronger through numerous assistance programmes [Guide (...) 2016], in particular territorial co-operation programmes and neighbourhood policy programmes [Faby 2016, Studzieniecki 2015, Studzieniecki 2016].
The relationships between tourism and programmes of cooperation beyond borders were documented in extensive literature dealing with the subject. Interregional cooperation programmes are, however, an exception. It is stressed that they are the 'youngest' INTERREG programmes [Fact Sheet 2015] with the smallest financial support [Balaz 2006, p. 102]. Studies on tourism in interregional cooperation programmes focus mainly on case studies [Mc Keever, Larwood, Mc Kirdy 2006, p. 191, Deffner, Metaxas 2010, p....