Role of tourism in development of rural marginal areas (region of Sumava Mts. in Czech Republic)

Marginality is a complex phenomenon resulting from the specific natural, economic as well as socio-cultural attributes of individual regions. It includes impossibility (of majority) of the population living in a given territory to integrate itself into the main developmental trends (e. g. Moller 1995; Sirovátka 1997). Transforming marginality into comparative advantage can be seen as one of promising ways to overcome it. As a region marginal from socio-economic perspective, but highly attractive as tourist destination, Sumava Mts. were chosen as a model area to demonstrate the idea. Documented by empirical findings, the latest history of the region is discussed in terms of assessing the strong and weak points of developmental strategy adopted by the region, which is based on tourism as the main agent fostering region's socio-economic wake.