TOURISM AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN RURAL COUNTRYSIDE IN CASE OF THE SETTLEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN THE SLOVENIAN ALPS

Tourism is a form of the biggest peaceful migrations of people andat the same time a way of life, which affects their understandingand experiences about their journeys [Kova , 2002: 4]. It isrelated with the consummation of goods and services, which areunnecessary in their essence. In recent years an increasinglyfrequent tourist trend has developed, the desire and demandfor untouched nature, cultural, historical and archaeologicalattractiveness, first hand experiences of practices and traditions oflocal communities, recreation and healthy living, etc. The purposeof the article is to show an overview of the development and modernforms of tourism in the rural area and the main direction for thedevelopment of ecotourism. We examined the Alpine region as aspecial case, which, owing to its characteristics, is a particularlysuitable area for the development of such forms of tourism. Aconscious conversion of abandoned dwellings and cheese dairiesin to tourist accommodation facilities or apartments, supplied orunsupplied shelters is a way of keeping them alive. They could beused either as starting points for hiking or climbing tours into themountains or as shelters during bad weather. With this in mindan idea of a dispersed hotel emerges. The main purpose of sucha hotel is to unite the characteristics of the area with the localcommunity with their activities. For the tourist this would meana brand new and interesting experience. We therefore concludethat the dispersed hotel is an innovative form of hospitality thatpromotes sustainable development, provides the possibility andthe opportunity for balancing the use of local resources and touristpotential.