Atrakcyjność turystyczna regionów na przykładzie Francji

Abstract

Technological and economic transformation of the past few decades resulted in a significant re-evaluation of the factors affecting the location of economic activity. General trend in these changes is the declining importance of the so-called “hard factors”, “cost factors” (such as transport costs, labour costs and the amount of taxes), as opposed to the so-called “soft factors”; special emphasis among these factors is placed on human capital. An important aspect of the human factor in the process of innovative economy development, is the quality of life in the area. The high quality of life in a given place encourages people with high creative potential to live in this place. According to Richard Florida’s theories, people do not migrate to find work, but work follows people. Therefore, the so-called “good climate for people” is one of the most important factors for growth in the regions. Qualities, such as cultural heritage, clean air, high level of safety, and the atmosphere of openness and tolerance, are the factors that are increasingly important for the choice of residence. Moreover, there are also features of attractive tourist sites. According to the above statements, it seems that touristic regions in economically developed countries, in addition to large cities, are one of the more desirable places to live for creative people, which is a potential source of innovation for local and regional economies. Assuming that the abovementioned correlations exist, this paper attempts to assess the attractiveness of tourist regions of France. The size and the structure of accommodation was chosen as the indicator of tourist attractiveness.