Current Issues of Tourism Research

Introduction

Dear readers of Current Issues of Tourism Research,

Our scientific journal brings new contributions to expand the area of cognitive tourism. Alan Clark’s contribution is dedicated to selected educational issues. Contribution of Mirosław Mika and Magdalena Kubal deals with actual problems of agritourism in Poland, Ľudmila Šmardová's contribution is devoted to comparison of the selected aspects of tourism on the model of Austria and Slovakia. Finally, the contribution of co-authors team consisting of Peter Čuka, Barbora Némethyová and Bibiana Miščiková is dedicated to the specifics of tourism cluster development in Slovakia. The review by René Matlovič is a report from his active participation in the conference in New York.

We are trying to summarize the researcher’s needs for the development of tourism and factors which are determining its quality in ten points.

1. The scientist - researcher must devote practically all his time to research.
2. Except of watching the main sources of information in his/her discipline by so-called common channels (library, internet, conferences, etc.), it is important to build up a private library.
3. Another condition is to build a personal network of people, investigators from his sector- more and further from the domestic working area the better.
4. Determination of own scientific concept- although it may change e.g. every 5 to 10 years, this concept should be in researcher’s attention constantly present.
5. Building his or her own scientific information database of working papers, results of measurements, notes and so on.
6. Active acquisition of own team-ability not only by power (e.g. by commanding) to engage much more people for his/her concept and obtain their enthusiasm for team research work.
7. Active fundraising for research-ability to obtain grant funds, sponsorship funds, or raise his hand to people who have the ability
8. Having a little extra - scholastic talent - that is what I defined in my last memoir, as “scholastic talent”. Scholastic talent is complex multifactor long-term ability to process relevant information which affects the development of the reference department-tourism, to their true interpreting and predicting the most efficient utilization of available methodologies. Talent also includes the ability to flexibly adapt and create working methods and procedures to conform to current goals of research and to the constantly changing object of research. Talent also includes the organization of the research process, long-term conceptual approaches created by research scholars and the attained quantity and quality of outcomes.
9.To know the problems of tourism personally. In particular, empirical knowledge. An integral part of this knowledge is, of course, personal, direct, systematic scientific observation in real conditions-especially in the terrain. Secretiveness of some researchers in “academic administration” does not foster to real knowledge
10. A researcher, except of the above mentioned conditions (work effort, time, resources, information resources, talent, etc.), must have a positive motivation for his/her actions. In short- he/she must love his/her work.

Dear readers, scholars, authors. It is up to you which kinds of research you will prefer, which methods you will choose in your research and which journals you will buy. Current Issues of Tourism Research builds on the modernity of complex methodological research, as qualitative as quantitative. We consider the first supporting goal to be timeless, accuracy and scientism.

Čuka Peter (Editor in Chief)