Own investment capacity of communes in naturally valuable areas and local conditions of tourism development

The aim of the research was to identify the level of the Polish municipality’s own investment capacity with the most significant share of naturally valuable areas in the years 2014-2016 and the level of tourism development of these areas. The methods of economic analysis – comparative, indicative and tools of taxonomic analysis were used here, which allowed for ranking of the surveyed units in terms of the level of naturally valuable, tourism function, the level of local development and own investment potential. The surveyed entities had their own investment capacity, however, due to the scope of infrastructure needs, it should be assessed as low. The conducted research indicates a small scope of development of tourism in communes with the with the highest naturally valuable areas. In results, it can be concluded that this development opportunity has not been effectively used. In the authors’ opinion, the development of the tourist function in the most naturally valuable areas which ensures that tourism will be the basis of local development of these areas is not possible without external support in the form of subsidies from the national budget and the implementation of knowledge on how to manage these areas.