The Influence of Tourist Infrastructure on the Mountain Landscape. Towards a Tourist Landscape. Case Study of the Silesian Beskid

Abstract

The dynamic development of tourist infrastructure can damage the value of a landscape. Thus, the identification of the impact of tourist infrastructure on landscape is an important issue in the context of the limitation of further degradation of landscape. The purpose of this article is to assess the influence of tourist facilities in the mountain landscape of the Silesian Beskids in terms of both spatial and physiognomic aspects. The impact is assessed by using an index of landscape load with tourist infrastructure (landscape load index – LLI) developed by author. The index is based on calculation of the saturation of landscape with cubature, area and linear elements of tourist infrastructure corrected by a coefficient describing the degree of their impact on the landscape. The results indicate the spatial diversity of the landscape load and thus of the transformation of a landscape towards a tourist one. The presented method has an application value in the forecasting and programming of the tourist infrastructure with respect to landscape values.