02 / 2014 / Volume 3

In 2013, it had been ten years since the World Heritage designation of Úbeda and Baeza. After this time period, there should have been a change in the image of this tourism destination, which should have been translated, according to the literature, into an increase in tourism, and, consequently, into a greater impact of this activity on the economy of both cities.
The aim of this work is to evaluate whether the designation of Úbeda and Baeza as World Heritage Cities has led to an increase in the economic impact generated by tourism in these destinations. To do this, the evolution of the main tourism variables of these cities over the last decade has been analysed, concluding that, indeed, there has been an increase in the direct economic impact generated by tourism in these cities, which is mainly explained by an increase in average daily expenditure.

The paper focuses on the adaption of the theoretical models of the regional tourism competitiveness to the conditions of the Czech Republic. The authors of this study analyze a newly emerged theoretical model of regional competitiveness monitoring with respect to the current data availability. The ultimate aim is to specify a proposal for the Czech national tourism organization (CzechTourism) in terms of practical usage and monitoring of the competitiveness model. The principal question is how and why to monitor the competitiveness of a tourist destination at the regional and national levels in the Czech Republic. The next step of the project is the conducting of the research, testing of the model and the implementation.

The question of growth and development is an issue much discussed by professionals as well as the wide public. These discussions are increasingly concerned with tourism, its significance for economic growth and development and its positive and negative consequences. The question of how tourism is to be coordinated in order to help achieve set priorities in the most effective way is related to this. The following text gives a summary of miscellaneous approaches to and views on this issue.