Contemporary Challenges for Sustainable Tourism – a Regional Perspective

Sustainable tourism has become a new method of practicing tourism. It has emerged in the last part of the 20th century, from the efforts of academia as a response to the increasing negative effects of mass tourism, noticeable all over the world. At the same time, sustainable tourism is considered by some a utopia, a narrow niche of the tourism market, with limited perspectives. From a theoretical standpoint, it is highly debated with no consensus regarding its definition, features and principles. In recent years, although significant steps have been taken especially by international organizations, like UNEP (The United Nations Environment Programme) and UNWTO (The World Tourism Organization), sustainable tourism still faces numerous challenges. In the present paper, we have collected information from several authors and organizations and have presented some contemporary challenges for sustainable tourism. For our research, we have tried to identify several common challenges for six selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe – The Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, and also go into a more detailed look in the case of Romania. Finally, we consider that if we can identify specific regional challenges, we might find regional solutions and answers. Considering the numerous similarities between the six countries, there might be common solutions for the benefit of the entire region.