SOIL EROSION, CHANGES OF LAND USE AND MIGRATION TRENDS - IMPACT ON TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable tourism can be simply defined as `tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities`. Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development. A suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability (UNEP and UNWTO, 2005). The paper presents a comparative analysis of ecological and sociodemographic components: land use changes, intensity of erosion, population, household and settlement size (in the area of Vranje Valley in the period from 1953 to 2016). According to the erosion maps produced using the erosion potential method by prof. Gavrilovic, the mean coefficient of erosion (Zmean) of the study area amounted to 0.76 (intensive erosion processes) in 1953, while it was 0.34 (slight erosion processes) in 2016. Along with erosion control works, the observed changes have caused a decrease in the intensity of erosion in the last 60 years.