The New Silk Road in Slovakia : what does it mean for tourism development?

Long-term political ambition in Slovakia is focused on attracting Chinese investors, mainly after sanctions against Russia. The Chinese government proclaimed the initiative "16+1" (11 EU member states + 5 non-EU states) focused on the financing of infrastructure development in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Up to now, investments into the infrastructure were very low, up to €50 Mio., less than 1% of Slovak foreign direct investments (Merics 2017). The first train delivering goods from the port Dalian in China through Russia and Ukraine to the transhipment yard in Bratislava arrived in November 2017. The question is if this huge project will have any impact on the development of the country and, especially, on tourism development. Secondary (media) analysis and field research was conducted by means of face-to-face interviews with the most important tourism stakeholders on the national level and in the Bratislava and Košice regions. There are benefits and risks connected with the New Silk Road for Slovakia. The major benefit is economic development due to building infrastructure; the major obstacle is conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Tourism stakeholders have no great expectations about the impact of the New Silk Road on tourism development in Slovakia.