Przestrzeń turystyczna przestrzenią konfliktu

Nowadays, the issue of a conflict is being widely discussed in many scientific disciplines (sociology, psychology, economy, management, environmental protection, law, political science, anthropology, geography, etc.). Depending on the purpose of the analysis, conflicts are presented in various aspects and contexts. Thus, the number of perspectives from which they may be considered is increasing. Many of the current conceptual approaches assume an ambivalent – natural character of a conflict, as well as its negative and positive impacts. It is commonly believed that the most frequent cause of conflicts occurring in space is the limitedness of resources. However, it is not always the case – other subjects of a conflict include the desire for power, prestige, the functions performed or values. The parties involved in a conflict, regardless of its causes (type) are always people. Therefore, we cannot speak of a spatial conflict, but a conflict occurring in a space or a conflict about a space. In this case, the causes of a conflict may be the objective conditions of its source or (mostly) the usability of an environment as a space to locate various functions (e.g. tourist ones) in it. In other words, the source of a conflict is rooted in the relationships between the demand for and supply of a space displaying specific (measurable or immeasurable) positive qualities, between at least two entities who are space users and not space functions. The features of contemporary tourism space have an influence on the ongoing processes. At the same time, every tourism space functions within a broadly understood social, cultural and economic environment, as well as is susceptible to various external influences and undergoes natural changes in time. Tourism space is becoming increasingly kinetic; it is a dynamic system. Nowadays, the emergence of conflicts within tourism space is unavoidable and therefore, the present objective is not so much to prevent them as to use them to stimulate changes and shape the contemporary tourism space. It is a challenge for the modern management of tourism space and its responsible planning. Next to the negative aspects of conflicts in tourism space, we should notice and take advantage of its frequently constructive character – e.g. they may be a sign of the existing system dysfunctionality, increase the knowledge needed for adequate diagnosis, and, what is especially beneficial, stimulate new solutions and innovativeness. Referring to the researchers’ suggestions that mature tourism spaces should be regarded as a particular category of territorial systems of innovations, it is worth pointing out that the success (stability) of these spaces is often based on experience in settling conflicts and dealing with them skilfully. It is experience which may co-create a realistic basis and conditions to implement the conception of the sustainability of local tourism development. Unresolved conflicts, which emerge more and more frequently in tourism space (the mature tourism space in particular), especially the social conflicts between local inhabitants and tourists, are becoming increasingly acute, which can be exemplified by the dramatic situation of Venice or Barcelona. In Poland, a good example is the growing, multifaceted conflict related to a model of foreign tourism (dominated by British youth) in Krakow. Deliberations over the problem of conflicts in the contemporary tourism space provoke numerous questions, e.g. about the directions and mechanisms of changes in tourism space, or the significance and course of segregation, degradation or revitalization for other, non-tourist functions.