Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
accounted for 90% of all flows. The intra-eastern
bloc exchanges were shaped by ideological
priorities. These were to 'promote international
friendship' and 'a better understanding of
brother nations'. The real world was rather
different. After the Solidarity movement had
secured a position of political influence in
Poland in 1980, the Czechoslovak authorities
imposed complex barriers on travel to that
country, and the need to develop a 'better
understanding of a brother nation' was set
aside. Instead, a system of special permissions
was introduced for trips to Poland, so that after
1982, with martial law imposed in Poland,
such tourism exchanges were severely reduced.
Tourist flows with the former USSR were
heavily restricted. While there was no problem
buying a package trip, individual trips were
restricted to strictly prescribed travel routes
between borders and Black Sea coastal resorts.
There were a number of areas closed to foreign-
ers. Cross-border exchange between Slovakia
and Ukraine was prohibited (MVSR, 2004b).
Local inhabitants wishing to visit their relatives
on the other side of the border (sometimes no
more than a few hundred metres away), had to
arrange visas in Prague and Moscow.
Hence, the most significant developments
in international travel after 1989 were the
removal of passport and visa formalities. In 1990
the former Czechoslovakia signed non-visa tourist
exchange agreements with 18 countries, includ-
ing Austria, Germany and Italy. Five other
countries followed suit in 1991, and by 1992
agreements were in place with most European
states. Restrictions on travel to Poland were also
lifted and travel to Ukraine liberalized. In 1993
Slovakia signed the Association Agreement with
the EU, which was another major impetus for
liberalized travel.
Liberalization of travel was reflected in
huge increases in the scale of international tour-
ist flows (Figs 8.2 and 8.3). All four ECE coun-
tries (the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary
and Poland) have experienced broadly similar
trends in inbound tourism, with a period of
rapid expansion after 1989 being followed by
decline or static numbers. Whereas 29.6m for-
eign visitors came to Czechoslovakia in 1989,
by 1996 this number had leapt to 109.4m
visitors to the Czech Republic (CNTO, 2004)
and 33.1mn to Slovakia (ŠÚSR, 1991-2005).
Fig. 8.2.
Foreign visitors at frontiers in ECE,
1988-2003. Sources: ŠÚSR, 1991-2005; HNTO,
2003; CNTO, 2004; PIT, 2004.
Fig. 8.3.
Departures by residents in ECE,
1988-2003. Sources: ŠÚSR, 1991-2005; HNTO,
2003; CNTO, 2004; PIT, 2004.
There were a number of reasons for these
increases, linked to the removal of the Iron
Curtain, the growth of business tourism in newly
opened economies, and the generation of
trans-border shopping tourism from Germany
and Austria. The period 1996-1997, however,
was something of a watershed for the visitor
inflows to all ECE countries. Slovakia experi-
enced a similar trajectory to its neighbours,
although
its
decline
in
numbers
was
less
