Rural tourism in areas with specific historical landscape structures: The experience of Slovakia

Dispersed settlement in Slovakia could be characterized as one of the unique historical landscape structures. These well-preserved cultural – historical settlement structures reflected socio – economical activities that were strongly influenced by natural and historical conditions (Huba, 1989; Jansak, 1967). Formation of dispersed settlement in concerned area, which is Nova Baňa region, dates back to 11th – 12th century when settlers were moving to more remote and hardly accessible areas in search of fertile land. Therefore, areas remained relatively untouched by the fast development and are still considered to be marginal. Focus of this paper is to depict the importance of using developmental tool, such as rural tourism undoubtedly is, that would not harm fragile relics of settlement structures and would enrich the area with resources needed to sustain the genius loci of the area.