Spatial decision support using data geo-visualization: the example of the conflict between landscape protection and tourism development

Urban areas and regions with significant natural features, scenery or cultural heritage have become the most popular sites for tourist destinations. Therefore, it is necessary to make efforts to preserve the natural environment before uncontrolled tourist infrastructure spreads. But the real situation is not clear. As the scale of tourism grows, resources become more unsustainable. A destination with a damaged environment loses its attraction and this causes an increase in the building of new tourist destinations. But the solution is not in closing areas for visitors but in finding the right level of tourist load, because money coming from tourism may help to keep the landscape sustainable. This paper shows one way of how to assess and visualize conflicts between landscape protection and sustainable tourism development for decision-makers in municipalities. On the example of the Nízký Jeseník Highlands, composite indicators dealing with specific environmental value, tourism potential and tourism infrastructure load have been proposed. Using a linear regression between most correlated data sets specific areas of different conflicts with tourism were identified and proposed for further development.