Pojęcie szlaku turystycznego w polskiej literaturze przedmiotu – przegląd koncepcji

Abstract

Although regular tourist trails occurred in the 2nd half of the 19th century and nowadays they are one of the most important elements of tourist infrastructure, there is no universally approved definition of a tourist trail, both in Polish and international scale. When considering the Polish scientific contribution to the subject the main matter of argument is the marking. This is connected with the creation of so called cultural and virtual routes which – contrary to hitherto existing trails marked by the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society – have no symbols leading the tourist. Other difficult features are: the position of tourist trails within the whole system of tourist infrastructure and the relation between organized tourist routes and general tourist itineraries. All the terminological problems demonstrate that the issue of tourist trails has not been deeply examined by the Polish geography of tourism.