| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study. The main goal of the study is to determine the most effective solutions
for the development of cave tourism and medical tourism, as well as the standard of living and
infrastructure of the region, based on the used literature and the questionnaire research on
tourism development.
Applied methods. The study starts with information about the natural and geological heritage
found in the Domica region in Slovakia. It continues with the discovery, construction and
characterization of the most significant caves from a tourist and economic point of view.
Following the professional characterization, the questionnaire research developed and evaluated
in the last stage of the study analyzes the possibility of the development of cave tourism and
health tourism in the immediate vicinity of the Domica Cave based on the opinions, remarks
and experiences of the service providers in the area.
Outcomes. Caves are called natural underground cavities that have formed as a result of
geomorphological and geophysical processes under different natural conditions. The caves in
the karst are dissolved or are created by the weathering of the bedrock, while after the leakage
of gases, caves form as cavities in the volcanic rocks. Few countries have as many different
underground karst formations as Slovakia, with 7,014 known caves, of which only 18 can be
visited. Discovering these underground wonders is a new challenge for hikers. Interest in caves
peaked in the 20th century, when the desire to return to nature and improve the health of
patients with respiratory diseases (speleotherapy) became the leading motivation. Today, caves
are most often used for recreation. Nevertheless, within geotourism a popular way to explore
caves is caving and the associated extreme or less extreme sports that only came to the fore in
the 21st century.
The results of the research of this study are sufficient evidence that the region is suitable for the
development of cave tourism and medical tourism, for which the most obvious solution is to
create an international geopark. | hu |
