Evaluation of the impact of public support from the point of convergence criterion

The article deals with the ex post evaluation of the impact of drawing funds from operational programmes to achieve convergence in the field of tourism after the Czech Republic became a member of the EU. The evaluation of the achievement of convergence or divergence among regions is based on the beta and sigma convergence indicators which enable the evaluation of the development of time series of relevant indicators (in this case, indicators in the field of tourism). This evaluation was carried out within the regions brought together under NUTS II. The investigation is the result of evaluation indicators showing the achievement of convergence within the regions in only a few cases. Convergence was therefore not proven in all cases. In some cases, there was even a tendency towards divergence among the regions. In addition, the relationship between the aid granted and the annual growth of the chosen indicators was not achieved in all cases. This indicates that relevant local factors carry more weight and have a greater impact on an area than drawing support from EU funds.