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Науковий вкник, 2004, вип. 14.3
development plan based on nature tourism with construction of ski lift facilities. The objective of this survey was to realize the participation of the local people in the decision-making process of the development plan of their village. As a result, over 90 % of the respondents agreed with the plan. However, 43 %o of them did not agree with hotel construction, which could result in damage to nature, landscape and social lives in the village, and could derive the local people of an opportunity to provide tourist homes for visitors.
Keywords: mountain tourism, Ukrainian Carpathians, ski lift, participation of local people, questionnaire
Асист проф. Тецухжо ЙОШ1МУРА, Др. - Ун-т в Kiomo, Японш; доц. Олег СТИРАШВСЬКИЙ, канд. техн. наук - УкрДЛТУ, Украта;
проф. 1гор ПОТОЧН1К- Ун-т Любляни, Словенш; проф. Нестор БИБЛЮК, д-р техн. наук - УкрДЛТУ, Украта;
студ. Юрт СТИРАШВСЬКИЙ - УкрДЛТУ, Украта
Планування прського туризму з залученням мкцевих жител1в
в УкраТнських Карпатах
Украшсью Карпати розташоваш на твденному заходi Украши. Цей репон е дуже привабливим для туриспв як з Украши, так i з-за кордону. В селi Рожанка проводилось опитування на предмет залучення мюцевих жшешв до оргашзацп зеленого туризму, л^нього та зимового вщпочинку з використанням прськолижних витяпв. Мета опитування - залучити мюцевих жителiв до планування та реалiзащi екотурис-тично'1 дiяльностi в 1'хньому сель Як результат, понад 90 % респонденпв погоджу-ються iз запропонованим планом, однак 43 % iз них вважають, що будiвництво готе-лю може попршити еколопчну ситуащю в селi та зменшити доходи мюцевих жите-лiв вiд приймання туриспв у власних оселях.
Ключов1 слова: гiрський туризм, Украшсью Карпати, прськолижний витяг, анкетування.
Introduction
Mountain tourism is characterized by fragile ecosystem, scenic beauty, high altitude, difficult access, scenic beauty, lack of infrastructure, sense of isolation and so on. While local communities obtain money income through mountain tourism by providing accommodations, selling food and drink, and working as a nature guide, negative impacts of tourists on the natural environment inevitably occur. Therefore, the balance between economic benefits and nature conservation must be considered and maintained by local communities benefiting from mountain tourism.
The Ukrainian Carpathians attract many tourists by providing an opportunity of skiing in winter while, in summer, many tourists come there for outdoor activities such as hiking and camping. Tourism could be a blessing for Ukraine whose industry has not yet recovered from the turbulence of the post-Soviet years. In Rozhanka village located in the Ukrainian Carpathians, however, money income is insufficient due to the lack of tourism industry. Therefore, this village has a plan to boost up its economy by utilizing nature inside the village, which is being used for forestry and cattle grazing, as tourism resources. The plan includes the construction of ski lift facilities in mountain areas to draw tourists in both winter and summer.
Local participation in the planning of nature tourism in Rozhanka village is important although local community participation in the decision making process of tourism development has often been lacking in the past [1]. Therefore, we inter-
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viewed the residents of Rozhanka village to reflect their opinions to the development plan of the village based on nature tourism.
Materials and methods
The study site is Rozhanka village located in the Ukrainian Carpathians (Figure 1). In July 2002, we randomly chose and visited houses in Rozhanka village, whose area, population, number of households are 3390 ha, 2130, and 620, respectively. We interviewed one dweller in each house on behalf of the whole household as they filled out the questionnaire.
Figure 1. Study site
As a result, 61 questionnaires were collected. This means that the sampling rate was 9.8 %. In this questionnaire, information was elicited on individual and household data, necessary infrastructure and facilities for tourism and life improvement, products and knowledge that can be provided for tourists, and possible activities inside the village. We also asked if the residents of Rozhanka village agreed with the development plan based on nature tourism with construction of ski lift facilities.
Results and discussion
Canvass survey
Table 1 shows the individual and household data of the respondents of the canvass survey conducted in Rozhanka village. As shown in this table, 62 % of respondents were involved in the forestry sector, and no one was related to tourism industry. There were three respondents who earned relatively high annual income of over 10,000 GRN (1 USD = approximately 5.2 GRN at the time of July 2002), and all of them emigrated. The life levels of the respondents were sufficiently high in terms of durable goods possession although information technology tools such as computers or mobile phones were rarely or not owned (Figure 2).
Figure 3 shows necessary infrastructure and facilities for tourism and life improvement identified by the respondents. The degree of necessity for each item was evaluated according to 5 steps, that is, very high, high, moderate, low and very low. As shown in the figure, road construction/improvement was the most necessary. Actually, there was no paved road in the village although 31 % of respondents had a car/truck as shown in Figure 2. In fact, on rainy days, it was very hard to drive on dirty roads, and this somehow kept driving tourists away from the village. It should be noted that 46 % of the respondents answered that the necessity for
hotel construction was low or very low while 29 % for cottage construction. Large-scale accommodations could derive the local people of an opportunity to provide tourist homes for visitors, and cause relatively great damage to or irreversible change of nature, landscape and social life in the village. This figure also shows
_Table 1. Profile of the respondents in Rozhanka village_
Category Number
- 19 1
20 - 29 7
Age 30 - 39 19
40 - 49 17
50 - 59 9
60 - 8
Gender Male 46
Female 15
Marital status Married (incl. bereavement) 53
Single 8
Government employee 8
Village office employee 2
Type of work Forest enterprise 28
(Major income source) Sawmill worker 10
Emmigration 6
Unemployed (incl. pensioner) 7
- 2000 11
2001 - 4000 30
Household Income 4001 - 6000 13
(GRN/year) 6001 - 8000 4
8001 - 10000 0
10001 - 3
Percentage of ownership Figure 2. Durable goods possessed by the residents in Rozhanka village
(multiple answer)
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that all respondents answered that they needed school building construction very much. Actually, although reconstruction work of a new school building replacing the decrepit one started, it was stopped due to insufficient finance. As a result, the respondents needed the infrastructure and facilities used for their life improvement such as road construction/improvement, a school building and hospital rather than those used only for tourism such as a visitor center, bar/restaurant, observatory, hotel, cottage and museum.
Road construction/improvement 100 80 60 40 20 0
1 2 3 4 5
100 80 60 40 20 0
100 80 60 40 20 0
Observatory
3 4 5
School building
Bar/restaurant
100 80 60 40 20 0
3 4 5
Hotel
100 80 60 40 20 0
3 4 5
3 4 5
Hospital
100 80 60 40 20
Visitor center
100 80 60 40 20 0
Cottage
100 80 60 40 20 0
3 4 5
Museum
100 80 60 40 20 0
5
5
0
5
Note: 5 - Very high; 4 - High; 3 - Moderate; 2 - Low; 1 - Very low.
Figure 3. Necessary infrastructure and facilities for tourism and life improvement
Figure 4 indicates the products that can be provided for tourists by the respondents. Such products are expected to become income sources for the residents of Rozhanka village. According to the figure, 95 % and 92 % of the respondents answered that they could provide dairy products and meat/egg products, respectively. On the other hand, only 38 0% can provide alcoholic drink that is Ukrainian vodka called Horilka. Similarly, Figure 5 shows the knowledge on nature that can be provided for tourists by the respondents. Such knowledge also can be income sources when the local people work as a nature guide. As shown in this figure, 87 % of the respondents can provide knowledge on mushrooms and berries because they go into forests to collect them as many Ukrainians do. Possible activities depend on the quality and quantity of natural resources in the village. According to Figure 6, possible activities in Rozhanka village were skiing (95 %), camping (95 %), mushroom/berry collection (70 %), hiking (69 %) and so on. On the other
hand, only 28 % of the respondents answered that fishing was possible because there was not much fish in the Rozhanka river. Boating was listed by only 2 %% of them due to the shallow depth of the river. Some respondents added horse riding and cycling to possible activities when asked if there were any other of them.
Dairy product Meat/egg product Wood product Mushroom and berry Fruit Vegetable Alchoholic drink
20
40
60
100 0/
Figure 4. Products that can be provided for tourists (multiple answer)
Mushroom and berry Animal and bird Plant and flower Domestic food production Farming and grazing Forest and forestry Culture and rural life Hunting Fish and fishing
20
40
60
80
100 %
Figure 5. Knowledge that can be provided for tourists (multiple answer)
Skiing Camping
Mushroom/berry collection Hiking Cultural sightseeing
Farm visiting Swimming
Wildlife watching Bird watching Fishing Boating
20
40
60
100%
Figure 6. Possible activities inside Rozhanka village (multiple answer)
0
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Finally, according to 5 steps, we asked about the degree of agreement with the development plan of Rozhanka village based on nature tourism with construction of ski lift facilities. As shown in Figure 7, 88 % of the respondents agreed with the plan strongly or very strongly. That is because they understood that ski lift facilities could bring them economic benefits by encouraging nature tourism. On the other hand, only 9 % did not agreed at all, probably because they were afraid that their environment, landscape and life could change at the unacceptable level. Therefore, careful attention should be paid to the level of their change, and negative impacts to
them should be minimized when making the development plan of the village.
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
&
-r
A'
<3
>
Figure 7. Agreement with the development plan of Rozhanka village
Conclusions
The Ukrainian Carpathians blessed with nature are a considerable draw for domestic or international tourists. The results of the canvass survey in Rozhanka village showed that 88 % of the respondents strongly or very strongly agreed with the development plan based on nature tourism with construction of the ski lift facilities. However, it should be noted that 46 % of the respondents answered that the necessity for hotel construction, which could cause relatively great damage to or irreversible change of nature, landscape and social life in the village, was low or very low. Large-scale hotel construction also could derive the local people of the opportunity of providing tourist homes by themselves. On the other hand, more than 90 % of the respondents answered that road construction/improvement was required. It was concluded that the respondents needed the infrastructure and facilities used not only for tourism but for their life improvement. The respondents listed possible activities such as skiing, camping, mushroom/berry collection, hiking, farm visiting and so on. In conclusion, Rozhanka village could offer many opportunities of nature- or agriculture-oriented activities. The all respondents in Rozhanka village answered that they needed a new school building for their children, whose construction work was stopped due to insufficient finance. We believe successful nature tourism could realize it by bringing sufficient economic benefits to Rozhanka village.
Reference
1. Garrod, B. (2003) Local participation in the planning and management of ecotourism: a revised model approach. Journal of Eoctourism 2(1): 33-53_
