Post-Industrial Tourism as a Chance to Develop Cities in Traditional Industrial Regions in Europe

Abstract

The paper is about the future of development of traditional industrial regions after their restructuring. Creating of tourist trails based on industrial heritage is shown as a good pattern of actions striving to revitalization of such areas. As a confirmation there are presented two examples of post-industrial tourist routs in Europe: “The Industrial Heritage Trail” in Ruhr Metropolitan Area (Germany) and “Industrial Monuments Route of the Silesian Voivodeship” in Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia (Poland). Regions in which these trail are located are simultaneously very similar and much different so there are compared both determinants and consequences of creating there these tourist routs. As a result it is ascertained that in spite of the difficulties in adaptations of industrial facilities into tourist objects such actions are profitable and may help in further development of traditional industrial regions.