EUROPEAN TERRITORIAL COOPERATION AS A FACTOR OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

The article presents the outcome of qualitative and quantitative research methods applied by the authors to evaluate benefits and obstacles of the cross-border INTERREG program between Hungary and the Slovak Republic from 2014 to 2020, as one of the tools of European territorial cooperation for tourism development concerning bordering regions of Slovakia. This article aims to provide a recipient with a verified research method and results of the analysis to encourage more efficient employment of the European territorial cooperation to alleviate differences in bordering regions between the Slovak Republic and Hungary, furthermore with other non-member states of EU such as Serbia or Ukraine. Besides the most essential institutional and legal outputs of the topic in question, analysis, and evaluation of the current condition reflecting the tourism development in the Slovak Republic are provided. The quantitative analysis offers results of systems analysis regarding the direct, indirect, and induced contribution of tourism GDP creation and employment. World Tourism Organization Yearbooks were taken into account as the secondary sources to analyze the development of tourism in Slovakia in comparison with other European countries. Official statistics published by the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic and the INTERREG cross-border cooperation program portal of Hungary and the Slovak Republic for 2014-2020 were the basis for analyzing and comparing the benefits of cross-border cooperation programs between Slovak republic and Hungary for the development of tourism including all three periods. Quantitative indicators such as awareness of the local public authorities and legal persons involved, benefits, and obstacles within tourism programs were analyzed by primal sources in the process of the statistical survey and verified by the Delphi method in the conclusion. The results of partial analyses and surveys served as the basis for drafts of measures to improve the current state of employment of cross-border cooperation programs for the development of tourism across the bordering area of Slovakia and Hungary