Diversifying tourism in municipalities within impact areas of national parks

The objective of this work was to present the tourism potential (PT) and tourism attractiveness (AT) of municipalities located in the impact areas of Polish national parks. Moreover, the classification of the municipalities based on the so-called tourism utilization rate has been elaborated. According to the analysis, the percentage of the municipalities of each type in terms of TP and TA is very similar only in the group consisting of the best municipalities (4.9% TP; 5.8% TA). In the remaining cases, the distribution is disproportionate. Municipalities with a medium tourism potential account for 78.6%, while administrative units with a low TP - 16.5%. The inverse situation can be observed in the case of the TA indicator. There are 17,5% of municipalities with medium tourism offer in relation to the most numerous units with small TA (76.7%. of the municipalities). The municipalities take advantage of their natural resources and tourist virtues to various extents. 13.6 % of the analysed administrative units have implemented their tourism potential very well, which confirms that it can be regarded as a mean for the local economic development. Unfortunately, the number of municipalities where the existing conditions for leisure activities and recreation are not used in a satisfactory way is comparable (15.5%). The most numerous group is comprised of local administrative units that use their tourism potential at a medium level (36,9%). At the same time, the fact that a significant share of municipalities benefit well from the available resources (34%) should be considered positive.