2. Methods

Based on the conclusions of the conference of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Ottawa in 1993, the UN accepted the following definition: "tourism involves people travelling and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one

In the first place, tourism is mentioned as a system of services where the most important role is played by commercial establishments such as food, accommodation, cultural, social but also

Vegetative, social, cultural and ecological factors which determine the maximal ability of an area to have an impact on people and their recreational activities are defined as recreational potential of an area. This potential is created by recreational infrastructure and recreational activities [15].

Many authors paid attention to the possibilities of tourism from the point of view of spatial

The potential of a landscape represents the ability of a landscape to offer certain possibilities and prerequisites of its different uses with the aim to satisfy the needs of human society. Based on an anthropocentric point of view, ecosystem services represent advantages and benefits for society and nature. Ecosystems provide benefits such as water, food, wood, soil formation, purification of water and air, flood and drought protection, crop pollination and others [28]. However, human activity can destroy biodiversity and decreases the resistance and the ability of healthy ecosystems to provide a wide range of goods and ecosystem services. If anthropocentric approach considered the basis for perceiving the benefits, it can also lead to an imbal-

The assessment of recreational land potential is mentioned by many authors [29–32]. Ref. [31] is mentioned as an example of assessment. Their assessment is based on the attractiveness of basic forms of land utilization. The decisive role for the attractiveness of an area is played by the primary, natural supply of a land which is represented by grass covers, recreational areas, forest covers and conservation areas. The secondary supply of a land, which is created by humankind, and the criterion of material-technical facility and the attractiveness of cultural-

From this point of view, undivided and extensive forests, submontane and mountain plants, wetlands, the occurrence of protected flowers, trees, almost extinct mammals and rare birds are attractive for tourism. Abiotic conditions of landscape-morphometric parameters of the relief are as much important as the previous factors. When considering what a land can offer to tourism, natural conditions but also preserved cultural-historical buildings, cultural establishments and cultural and sports events play a significant role. When determining particular demonstrations of its basic functions, one must also have a comprehensive knowledge of natural and culturalhistorical environment of a recreational area. The environment helps tourists to get to know the

An example of such an area is Devin—the borough of Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia,

division by assessing the recreational potential of a landscape, for example, [16–27].

consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes."

1.3. Possibilities of tourism from the point of view of spatial division

additional establishments and services [14].

192 Mobilities, Tourism and Travel Behavior - Contexts and Boundaries

ance of utilization of natural resources [3].

which was the subject of our observations.

historical buildings are also taken into consideration.

history, the architecture, the technical sights and the culture of an area.

The basic database was the current land cover—secondary landscape structure. The current state and the characteristic patterns of the current land cover were mapped on the third, fourth and fifth levels based on CORINE Land Cover Technical Guide—Addendum 2000 legend [33]. The land cover classes are arranged in a vector format which was created by the synthesis of thematic and relevant layers discussed in the fundamentals for geographic information system (ZB GIS, 2012) and licensed updated databases of identified buildings based on the Corine Land Cover legend derived from vector databases of orto-maps from aviation photographs (EUROSENSE Ltd., 2014). These were supported by the field research of habitats of European and national importance in 2014–2016. The database of land cover classes includes precious information about the character of habitats, the level of soil anthropization, socioeconomic actions of people in landscape and the characteristics of the current tourist infrastructure. The updated database of land covers enables the selection of natural, seminatural, socioeconomic and fabricated cultural-historical resources. It also provides sufficient characterization for the assessment of cultural benefits and ecosystem services (the scale of 1:5000).

The landscape-ecological importance (LEI) represents the benefits of a land based on the qualities of land cover classes. It is defined as an inherent quality of ecosystems (land cover classes). Degrees of naturalness, indigenousness and the current state of vegetation, the overall biodiversity, gene pool importance, and rare and endangered species are assigned to ecosystems. It is all based on the degree of vegetation hemeroby based on the studies of [34].

Smejkal [35] reminds us that the level of hemeroby must be assessed separately for each society and an important factor is the degree of direct human actions influencing the society. The assessment of hemeroby level has a critical role for nature conservation and is also connected to the assessment of stability and resistance of associations, soil retention, the degree of biodiversity and others. It is used to express biological balance or to describe different functions of vegetation in landscape (Table 1).

When assessing the LEI of particular landscape elements, the current state of vegetation and the degree of hemeroby are taken into account. The degree of hemeroby is the degree of anthropogenic impact on vegetation cover in relation to soil qualities.

A degree of LEI is being assigned to the elements of land cover. There are five degrees in the scale from "an element with a very low LEI" to "an element with a very high LEI." There are suggestions about appropriate forms of tourism and frame measures for increasing or maintaining the overall biodiversity and its function for each degree of LEI.

In the quantification of landscape-ecological significance and in the quantification of level of vegetation hemeroby, we were based on [35], which we have modified according to our abovementioned criteria.

Table 1. Degrees of ecological importance (LEI) of individual landscape elements [35].


**Conflict of interest**

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest that could influence the publication of this chapter.

*Movement of Water and Solutes in Agricultural Soils DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114086*