This year, the number of tourists in Slovak Paradise National Park was at its lowest number from the past several years. This is the outcome of the report provided by its administration. A head count of tourists was carried out during 4 days in August and 4 days in September for the very first time in its history.
Volunteers were located in 6 spots, counting tourists whatever the weather might have been. As one of them told the public broadcaster RTVS, the majority came from Slovakia. "A lot of Czechs were visiting along with Poles. There were some Americans and Germans coming but most of the time we were passed by Slovaks." Besides volunteers, electronic devices help to carry out the count detecting tourists by their body temperature. They were placed in the Falcon dale, Sucha Bela and Hornad river canyons and in the Kysel ferrata. "This gadget cannot detect the nationality of the tourists but, at least, we get the numbers," said Lubos Cibula from the Slovak Paradise National Park administration.
The main goal of the head count is to get the information about the capacity of individual locations in the National Park. As director of this National park Tomas Drazil added, the results help better management from the perspective of nature protection. "It helps us to see if some localities are overcrowded. In general, the results of this head count are interesting for local municipalities and entrepreneurs," stated Drazil. Tourists find this place intact, as one of them explained for RTVS. "I like the Slovak Paradise more than the High Tatras where there are many more tourists. It's more peaceful in here."
The place visited the most turned out to be the Sucha Bela gorge, which marked, however, a significant drop in the number of its visitors. Tomas Drazil informed that the record hit 34.000 tourists in Sucha Bela in 2019 while in 2021 the gorge saw 17.000 visitors. "The numbers dropped by 50% when compared to the pre-pandemic situation." The administration body claims that the 2021 season is one of the worst as to the number of visitors. And although it is disadvantageous for businessmen, it is profitable for the environment.
Source: RTVS, RSI
