Przestrzenne cechy transgranicznej współpracy turystycznej w regionie Morza Bałtyckiego = Spatial features of cross-border tourist cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract

This article aims to explain where the cross-border tourism cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) can be observed, and its specifical aim is to answer the research question: What are the spatial characteristics of cooperation in cross-border tourism projects in the Baltic Sea Region? Using the methods of spatial analysis in GIS, statistical methods and analysis of project documents, synthetic research was carried out on the cooperation of beneficiaries of tourism projects under the Interreg IV A, B and C programs in the BSR. The spatial nature of this cooperation was presented in a descriptive and cartographic form, taking into account the locations of beneficiaries, budgets, roles in the project, concentration, connections and topics of their cooperation. Although the empirical study presented below is limited only to tourism cooperation under the EU-funded Interreg IV program in the BSR, it is one of the first studies on cross-border cooperation between entities separated by a sea border in general, as well as one of the first synthetic studies on projects from different levels of European Union funding in the Interreg program (A, B and C), which cover a larger area of research. Cooperation is measured by number and distance of the relations between the beneficiaries. Comparison of the number of implemented projects related to tourism, the number of beneficiaries, the average amount of beneficiaries' budgets and their concentration showed diametrical differences in the region between its western and eastern parts. It can therefore be said that the "Iron Curtain" is still visible, which in the second half of the 20th century divided the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea from its north-western part