Correlations between tourism and environmental load in the 'Slovak Paradise - Slovensky Raj' E. Slovakia

Tourism - and specially nature tourism - is an area, where the interaction between the tourists and environment is very intensive. Tourists are sensitive to the beauty and purity of the environment, but at the same time, the environmental impact of their presence in nature is marked. In order to maintain the beauty and purity of the environment a number of environmental threats are to be alleviated. Further, it seems to be necessary to decrease/regulate the number of tourists, or a set of costly cleaning and revitalising operations are to be implemented. The paper analyses the data available on the tourism related load of one of the most beautiful areas in Slovakia - the 'Slovak paradise', located in East Slovakia. (authors)