COMPARISON OF TOURISM PERFORMANCE IN CHOSEN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WITH THE ACCENT TO SLOVAK REPUBLIC IN THE PERIOD BEFORE AND AFTER ACCESSION TO EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERSHIP AT THE BEGINNING OF 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

Article reviews the development of tourism in the three selected countries of the European Union in the early 21st century. It focuses to the period before and after accession of the Slovak Republic to the European Union. The study points to the area that is dedicated to tourism within the European community. The findings present the evaluation of selected indicators: number/development of accommodation facilities of transitional housing) of the national tourism in the stated period on the example of the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and Germany. To evaluate the development of tourism sphere on chosen indicators there were used and presented mathematical - statistical methods as: the arithmetic average, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, median, average growth rate, the average rate of increase, the geometric average, and correlation and regression analysis. Since the compared countries have significantly different population rate, infrastructure and tourism operators’ coverage, comparison of absolute indicators of these countries in the field of tourism was limited to basic findings of the results of elementary statistical characteristics - capacity of collective tourist accommodation establishments and their growth rate. The survey results pointed to significant differences in performance in tourism of chosen countries.