ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF THE COMMUNE

The tourist and recreational offer of the Rabka-Zdrój Commune is focused mainly on the development of free time for children and adolescents, i.e. one of the most important groups visiting the health resort. However, it should not be forgotten that Rabka-Zdrój should also be a place attractive to a wider group of recipients, the more so because such potential exists. In Rabka-Zdrój you can spend time actively (in summer - hiking and biking trails, horse riding, in winter - skis, skates, sleds), you can also learn about the history of the region and its traditions (wooden architecture trail, pottery workshops, glass painting, violin workshops ). The specificity of Rabka-Zdrój, referred to as the city of children, also dictates the profile of attractions: Rabcio Puppet Theater, Rabkoland Family Amusement Park and numerous events addressed to children allow for attractive leisure time management.

According to the provisions of the Rabka-Zdrój Health Resort Development Plan for 2016-2023, Rabka-Zdrój is a center of outstanding tourist and spa values. The advantage of the health resort, which is Rabka-Zdrój, is the climate, mineral water resources as well as landscape and tourist values. At the same time, the transformations of Rabka from the communist period led to the development of recreational functions, which in turn contributed to a number of negative functional and spatial transformations. The central zone of the city and the surrounding areas have undergone particularly intensive transformations, which has had a significant impact on the loss of the identity of Rabka as a town with highlander traditions and spa features. On the other hand, universal solutions, characteristic of most Polish cities, have become dominant. These phenomena were simultaneously accompanied by the degradation processes of the old, historic spa substance.

Currently, Rabka-Zdrój is facing the challenge of redefining its functions and setting development directions for the coming years. It seems that both own resources (tourist and health resort values and the tradition of the place), as well as the observed trends - both global and more and more common in Poland - which place more and more importance and resources on a healthy, active lifestyle and preventive health care that the dominant tourist and spa function of Rabka-Zdrój in the coming years is not subject to any discussion. The only question is how to develop the Commune so that it can cope with not only Polish, but also European competition and come out victorious in this rivalry.

Rabka-Zdrój should therefore focus on preparing an attractive, innovative and competitive offer, including therapeutic, prophylactic and rehabilitation, tourist and recreational, sports and recreational, cultural and other services, which will allow it to develop effectively in the future.

During the works on the above-mentioned The document distinguishes the following growth barriers, which should be eliminated so as to ensure the harmonious and dynamic development of Rabka-Zdrój, in particular through activities that will strengthen the image of the health resort as a place richly endowed by nature, well-kept, ecologically clean with a rich spa and recreational infrastructure and cultural:

1. Underinvestment of green areas and recreational areas constituting the basis for the development and building a competitive advantage of the health resort;
2. Lack of attractive and competitive in relation to other places tourist and recreational infrastructure, constituting an incentive to come to Rabka-Zdrój, and at the same time creating attractive jobs for the inhabitants of Rabka-Zdrój;
3. Negligence in shaping public space - a large number of deteriorating (often historic) buildings in the city center;
4. Significant gaps in access to an attractive leisure activity (both for the city's residents and visitors to Rabka-Zdrój);
5. Many years of underinvestment in the spa and treatment facilities;
6. Too high, especially for a tourist and spa town, the level of pollution of the natural environment, including air, in the autumn, winter and spring period, caused by low emissions;
7. Failure to use the location and resources of facilities to develop conference and training functions in Rabka-Zdrój;
8. Excessive traffic load in the immediate vicinity of zone A of the health resort;
9. Many years of neglect in communication between local government authorities and city residents.