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The revitalization of a tourism resort in a transition country : What kind of ecological problems ?

Marek KABACINSKI - Chief of Environmental Protection Department, City Hall of Zakopane, Poland

 

1 Introduction

In recent years one can observe very intense development of tourism in Poland ( all countries of Mid-Eastern Europe).

Tourism has become a fashionable way of spending free time both during week-ends and longer holidays. Active tourism, such as skiing, mountain cycling, windsurfing, is more and more in fashion. People in this part of Europe live faster and faster, and that is why they require relaxation on a higher level.

The development of tourism in the countries of Mid-Eastern Europe which are in the time of big social and economic changes, is determined by many factors, such as : the lack of proper hotel base, insufficient amount of sports grounds, etc. I would like to concentrate on ecological issues connected with the development of tourists movement. Ecological factors which influence the development of tourism in Poland will be illustrated by the example of Zakopane.

Zakopane, a town of 30 thousand inhabitants, is the best known and the most popular sports, tourists and cultural center in Poland. It is a kind of Polish Chamonix. Zakopane is situated in the south of Poland, about 100 km from Cracow, beside the border with Slovakia. It lies in a dale at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, the highest mountains of Poland. The Tatras are the only Alpine mountains in Middle Europe. They cover the length of 51 km and the width of several or more km. Most of the mountains is situated on the area of Slovakia, the Polish Tatras are the part of onefifth of the whole. The highest peak of the Tatras is Gerlach - 2655 m over the sea level, and the highest Polish peak is Rysy - 2499 m over the sea level.

 

II Ecological issues of Zakopane

Ecological issues are connected with many factors: historical aspect, social aspect, financial aspect, judicial aspect, management and the environment protection.

 

1. Historical aspect

There was a big backwardness as far as ecology is concerned. In the past times, before 1989 the year of social and economic changes, ecology was of the minor interest, it was not a problem, in fact it did nit exist. The old refinery in the town which dates back to 1936 clarified only the lesser part of the sewage. There was a new refinery but it started with the old technology, so it has never achieved the required results in clarifying sewage. Only 30 per cent of the town had the sewer system. The only source of heating was coal, and the smog in the dale of Zakopane was very common. At those times the town had 17 old coal fire houses in the housing estates, and each of the detached houses had its own coal heating system.

2. Social aspect

The ecology education of the society is not common. In practice it is limited to a subject in school called "The environment protection". There is no popularization of the environment friendly life.

3. Financial aspect

In the country of social and economic changes, like Poland, there is a lack of funds in every field of life ( education system, medical service, police department, military department, etc.). The protection of the environment is also lacking financial support. The basic role in realizing tasks connected with protecting the environment lies in the competence of towns and parishes, whose budgets are absolutely too low to realize the tasks.

The whole budget of Zakopane is spent on the current affairs of the town : schools or social service. In order to realize the necessary investment jobs the town must take loans. At present the financial law has limited the possibilities of taking credits by the parishes, which in a big degree has limited running the investments.

The schematic division of the budget for Zakopane shows as follows.

Tab.1. Division of the budget for Zakopane in 1999.

The whole budget for the town	48 millions PLN - 12 millions US dollars
Income of the town	39 millions PLN - 9,8 millions US dollars
Credits + allocation for the protection of the environment	13 millions PLN - 3,25 millions US dollars
The share of the budget in the investments for the environment	0,4 millions PLN - 0,1 millions US dollars

Until the year 2004 there is no possibility for the town to take credit, which is followed by the lack of bigger investments because the budget is burdened with paying earlier debts all connected with the environment.

Another important thing connected with the finances of Zakopane is the fact that the town has the budget of the town with 30 thousand inhabitants, whereas taking into consideration the great number of tourists, the urban infra-structure must be held at the level of the city with 150 thousand inhabitants.

4. Judicial aspects

At present time one can observe the process of adjusting the Polish law of the environment protection to the requirements of the European Community. A lot has already been done in this field :

• "Energetistic Law" controlling the rules of energy management
• The waste bill
• The environment protection bill
• The animal protection bill
• Geological and mining law
• The agrarian and forestry grounds protection bill.
• The natural sources protection bill.

At present we are waiting for passing a new Water Law and the bill introducing the system of productive and deposit payments. All the products and fuels dangerous for the environment will be burdened with additional charge, and a new market will be created for the waste and pollution.

Enforcing the law connected with the environment is not fully effective. There is no proper system which would force those who pollute the environment to eradicate the faultiness. There are very big fines for crossing the permissible emissions, but they are impossible to pay.

During doing the investments connected with the environment there are many adjustments required. Everybody can appeal and the applications can be considered for many years.

5. Pollution

Water protection. The aim that the town is going to achieve is to keep all waters in the first class of clarity, that is why the level of investment in the water-sewage administration is very high. Two refineries, with total capacity of 29000 cubic meters a day, have been modernized. All the sewage is clarified biologically. The sewage system covers 80 % of the town, and 90 % of the inhabitants receive drinking water. To complete the investments connected with the water-sewage administration, Zakopane needs about 100mln PLN ( 25mln USD). If the application of Zakopane and the whole Podhale region given to the fund of ISPA for refunding the sewage system succeeds, the problem will be solved in the year 2004.

The protection of the grounds. The town owns an old and exploited dumping ground. The investment of building a new waste utilization plant has been started beside the old dumping place. The area has been bought out, we have the preliminary agreement for building it, and the practicability of the whole enterprise has been studied. For this aim the town needs about 13mln PLN ( 3.2mln USD).
The next important issue in this field is to organize utilization of dangerous waste in Zakopane. The town wants to create a special system of collecting, segregating and removing dangerous waste. Very big financial expenditure is spent to keep streets, parks, and other parts of the town clean.

The protection of air. For several years Zakopane has been running the program of improving the air clarity in town. The main subject is to eliminate coal heating and using ecological sources of heating.

• There is the heating system based on the hot underground water. In this system hot water is led from a bore-hole which is 14 km from Zakopane to the gas fire house in the center of the town. The fire house starts the heating system for the inhabitants. The whole investment is estimated for 280mln PLN ( 70mln USD). At present, 100mln PLN ( 25mln USD) has been given from the PHARE fund and in two years the investment will be completed.
• All the time the town holds the investment of the gas heating system as the alternative for the hot water. It has been in process since 1989 and so far 4.7mln PLN ( 1.1mln USD) has been spent from the town budget. The system now covers the length of 51 km.
• The town supports financially private house owners who took loans to change the coal heating to ecological sources. The town pays interests from credits taken in the Environment Protection Bank.
• The next very important problem is to reduce pollution emitted by the means of transport. It is a very complicated subject which requires decisions at the state level.
  1. There is no good railway connection between Cracow and Zakopane. The distance of 130 km is covered in 3-4 hours, that is why the railway is not competitive for the car transport.
  2. There is no comfortable and fast road from Cracow to Zakopane. The present road is narrow, crowded, and therefore dangerous.
  3. Zakopane has bad communication system, the streets are crowded, especially in the east-west direction. There are also not enough parking places. To rebuild the communication system the town is estimated to spend150mln PLN ( 37mln USD).

The protection of natural sources. The expansion of house building has a very negative influence on forestation. Trees in town are removed or damaged during building new houses and improving the urban infra-structure. Weakening of conifers ( spruce, fir) is the result of the low emission ( of communication) and it is connected with bigger docility to damage caused by insects ( bark beetle). According to the workers of the Tatra National Park that phenomenon has decreased recently.

6. Environment management

6.1. Environment protection in Zakopane is managed by the companies of commercial law.

• Water-sewage management is held by the SEWiK company, in which the parish town of Zakopane is the major share holder.
• Waste management is held by the TESKO company with Zakopane as the major share holder.
• Heating management is held by "Geotermia Podhalanska" S.A. The major share holder is the national Fund for the Environment

Protection and Water Administration, and the town of Zakopane has 13 % of the shares. In future the program of hot water supply will cover the whole region of Podhale. A very big contribution in building this system had the Danish Agency of Environment Protection.

The system of managing communal firms in Zakopane allows to achieve two basic goals :

• Depreciation payment allows to regenerate the assets of the company
• The companies work out their income and hold investments. In case of bigger tasks the town is the investor. 

In such a model of management, the role of the town resolves to supervising the companies.

Taking into consideration the lack of credit possibilities for the next 5-6 years and facing the unfinished investments, Zakopane tries to find outside investors who would like to enter with their capital and to have share in the town companies.

6.2. Tourists movement management. It is very important not to concentrate tourists movement on the few most attractive places. During holidays the route to the Morskie Oko lake is visited by 30 thousand people. There are two aspects of this problem. The first concerns scattering the tourists movement over the whole region. On the other hand there is no sports infra-structure where tourists could spend their free time.

 

III Conclusions.

1. The authorities of Zakopane are aware of the fact that the development of the town is connected inseparably with the principle of stable development. That is why financial efforts of the parish from the very beginning has been directed towards environment protection investments. It appears in the mission of the town taken in the strategy of development : Zakopane - The Tatra center of international tourism, culture and sport, developing with the respect for natural and cultural heritage, friendly for the inhabitants and guests.

2. Since the beginning of the socio-economic changes in Poland, the attitude towards the environment has also changed. At present it has become an important field of the national economy which is managed in a more and more modern way. Zakopane reached a high level, and presented solutions can be treated as the model ones.