1 CURRENT TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURIST ATTRACTIONS Zygmunt Kruczek Abstrakt: Turistické zajímavosti jsou označovány jako klíčový prvek trhu cestovního ruchu a jsou důležitou součástí cestovního ruchu, protože podněcují zájem o cestování do Vaší cílové destinace a zajišťují spokojenost návštěvníků těchto míst. Jsou magnetem, který přitahuje turisty do regionu a také podporují poptávku po dalších turistických službách. V článku o pozadí vývoje turistických zajímavostí jsou ukázány současné trendy vývoje a faktory určující tento vývoj. Obsahuje četné příklady vytváření nových zajímavostí (atrakcí). Abstract: Tourist attractions are regarded as a key component of the tourism market and an important element in the tourism system, for they stimulate interest in travelling to a destination and provide people visiting these sites with satisfaction. They are magnets which attract tourists to a region, while at the same time stimulating demand for other tourism services. In this paper evolution of the tourist attractions background was used to show modern trends of development and to determine development factors. It includes numerous examples of creating new attractions. Kličove slova: Turistické zajímavosti, vývoj, trendy, růstové faktory. Key words: Tourist Attractions, Evolution, Trends, Determinants of Development. Introduction Tourist attractions have become a phenomenon of our times. Attractions and the behaviours associated with them are one of the most complex and highly structured universal codes co-creating modern communities. The role of tourist attractions in the postmodern world is changing. Consumer requirements and the innovativeness of tourism organisers have led to change and evolution on the tourist attraction market, which have led in turn to this sector becoming more diversified. Tourist attractions are dynamically changing in terms of form, location, style and scale. The goal of this article is to show modern trends in the development of tourist attractions. This paper presents the evolution of tourist attractions from ancient to contemporary times. Current trends od development are identified and the factors determining the development of tourist attractions market are defined. The Evolution of Tourist Attractions Reconstructing the historical development of attractions is very difficult for two reasons 1 Firstly, it is not easy to decide how many people need to visit given sites in order for them to be called “attractions”. For example, were the Egyptian pyramids an attraction in Roman times if they were annually visited by several dozen Romans? Does a site only become an attraction when it is annually visited by thousands of people, is easily reachable by various 1 SWARBROOKE J., The Development and Management of Visitor Attractions, 2nd edn., Elsevier. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, p. 406, 2002, p. 17. ISBN 0-7506-5169-5.