Abstract

Travelling to cities has long traditions, but in recent years tourists more frequently decide to visit places which are not typical tourist attractions. One of the new, alternative methods of spending free time in cities is urban exploration. It is a kind of quasi-tourism consisting in rediscovering forgotten and abandoned places. In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe which were the part of the former Eastern Bloc, this phenomenon can be observed particularly in post-communist cities and districts, such as NowaHuta in Krakow, Poland. The aim of the article was to identify places visited by urban explorers in NowaHuta and to indicate the main problems of managing city tourism in the context of this type of adventure travel development. Urban exploration is considered controversial but is constantly gaining more and more popularity. The main tourism products are not the specific monuments and museums but emotions and experiences of tourists. This requires proper management of tourism according to the rules of sustainable development and the concept of experience economy. The explorers in NowaHuta act on the edge of law, which causes their activity to be seen in a negative way. In the wider perspective, however, they contribute to reviving the local activity for protecting, restoring and rendering the buildings of the communist heritage available.

Key words: Urban exploration, communist heritage, tourism management, city tourism, experience economy, Krakow, NowaHuta.