Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 1
Local Rural Studies in
Františkov/Klikov, Třeboňsko,
Czech Republic
Patricia Dorn, 1261346
Anna-Maria Krulis, 0716990
Teresa Kusnirova
Maria Oberwinkler, 0706685
Nathalie Schwaiger, 0960565
Running a Business within the borders of a Biosphere Reserve
Lecturers:
Dipl.-Ing. Willi Haas
Dr. Simron Jit Singh
Lecture:
814.529, Analyzing Local Rural Systems
Date:
30.07.2013
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 2
Table of Contents
1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................1
2. Method........................................................................................................................................1
3. The Informant............................................................................................................................. 2
4. Findings.......................................................................................................................................3
4.1. Material and Energy..................................................................................................... 3
4.2. Local and Regional Tourism......................................................................................... 4
4.3. Community................................................................................................................... 6
5. Reflection..................................................................................................................................... 7
6. Literature..................................................................................................................................... 9
7. Appendix..................................................................................................................................... 10
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 3
1. Introduction
The village of Františkov/Klikov, the site of our research, is situated within the borders of the
Třeboň Basin Biosphere Reserve. As the UNESCO defines it, Biosphere Reserves are: “places that
seek to reconcile conservation of biological and cultural diversity and economic and social
development through partnerships between people and nature” (UNESCO). Therefore this setting
presented us with the opportunity to analyse how a sustainable interaction between inhabitants and
their surrounding can be designed.
Placing our focus on local accommodation businesses we met our interview partner – the owner of a
local Pension, to learn more about the current understanding of this relationship.
Mainly we wanted to find out what the key sustainability issues concerning tourism, more specific
running a Pension, in Františkov/Klikov might be. The lead categories we wanted to discuss with
our interview partner were the personal and business history, reasons for setting their business in
this location, material and energy use, costs, tourism in this region as well as local and regional
aspects of the Biosphere Reserve. We wanted to understand what it means to run a business in this
specific setting, how nature gets affected by the operation but also how the Biosphere Reserve
retroacts on the business.
Tourism presents the region with additional pressure not only in terms of material and energy flows
but also concerning preservation matters. In the context of sustainability we expected the most
pressing issues to arise connected to the construction of the Pension, the organisation of the
continuous material and energy flows and the logistics related to the tourist business. To be able to
collect data we questioned ourselves about the boundaries we wanted to set our analysis in. The
Pension and its adjoining facilities, the Pub and the owner’s house are set as the main system but
flows from and to the surrounding are being considered.
2. Method
Our interdisciplinary team is formed by students from the Masters Programme in Social Ecology
from the University of Klagenfurt, with backgrounds in Geography, Sociology, Cultural Sciences
and one student from the Masters Programme in Applied Ecology from the University of South
Bohemia, with a background in Landscape Ecology. These diverse perspectives gave us the great
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 4
opportunity to view the question of sustainable interaction within the Biosphere Reserve from a
multitude of angles.
To conduct the interview we decided on a problem centred interview. “The problem-centered
interview (PZI) is a theory-generating method that tries to neutralize the alleged contradiction
between being directed by theory or being open-minded so that the interplay of inductive and
deductive thinking contributes to increasing the user's knowledge” (Witzel, 2000). This narrative
method gives the chance to open a topic very broadly and let the interviewee choose the order of
priority.
The interview was held in German and took place in the garden behind the owner's house. The
setting was very relaxed and informal. Originally the interview was arranged to be with Mrs. R., but
on arrival we learned that her husband would be answering our questions instead. Despite this
surprise considering the change of interview partners our interview went very well. The given
information might have differed because of the work division within the couple. Her being more
involved in the everyday life of the Pension, dealing with the guest and being responsible for the
administrative work and him giving more information about regulations, material and technical
details of the construction process.
Afterwards we did a collective interpretation of the data collected during the interview and drew
conclusions which will be presented as follows.
3. The Informant
Learning about local accommodation business Mr. R. presented us with the opportunity to
investigate on practices, possible restrictions and also reasons for settling, within the boundaries of
the Biosphere Reserve.
The property owned and operated by family R. can be traced back to the year 1924, when Mrs. R.’s
grandfather built the house they are still living in today. Originally the house was designed to give
space, not only to the family’s needs, but also the blacksmith's shop and the restaurant, which today
is run by leaseholders.
Mr. and Mrs. R. grew up near Prague, the place where they met and started a family together. They
frequently used the property as a holiday spot until communism was installed. The family lost their
ownership rights and the restaurant was partially turned into a grocery shop run by communist
authorities, which lasted until 1995.
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 5
Mr. R. and his family escaped to Austria in 1982, finding permanent settlement in Upper Austria.
After the Velvet Revolution the property was given back into family hands in 1995, but due to poor
care a lot of work needed to be done. Threatened to lose the house because of high maintenance and
investment costs, Mr. and Mrs. R. decided to take over action. The need to preserve the house was
pressing and as the family had noticed the demand for guest housing in the region, the idea to build
a Pension was born. Mrs. R., who had worked as a cashier in Austria, permanently relocated to
Františkov, taking care of the business. Their grown-up son decided to stay in Austria, and Mr. R.,
who still owns a car dealing business in Upper Austria, sees himself forced to spend 2-3 days per
week in Austria too.
Although Mr. R. himself does appreciate the region's nature, Mr. and Mrs. R. did not deliberately
pick the Biosphere Reserve as location to start their accommodation business, but rather took the
circumstances presented to them. The fact that the family owned the property in this exact spot and
the popularity of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, which created a demand for guest housing,
determined their choice. Mr. R. likes to adventure bike or canoe trips in the Třeboň area and also
regularly organises tours with his friends, but the concept of his surrounding being a Biosphere
Reserve didn't seem to be very conscious in his mind or greatly affect his behaviour towards nature.
Starting to build the new housing complex, designed to give room to 40 people, the family saw
themselves confronted with legal restrictions, due to the location of the property within the
boundaries of the Biosphere Reserve. Three years passed until the building project was approved by
the authorities and the work could start in 2008, lasting till the big opening in July 2010. The
planning restriction mainly concerned the outside appearance of the building and no additional
measures to build in harmony with nature were initiated by the family. Nature preservation and
sustainability cannot be identified as key concerns, although environment friendly measures like
waste separation or installing a solar power plant in the future are options welcomed by the owners.
4. Findings
4.1. Material and Energy
When questioned about the origin of his building material Mr. R. answered that he got cheaper
bricks, floor tiles and doors from Austria. The roof tiles, on the other hand, were bought in the
Czech Republic as the transportation costs from Austria would have evened out overall costs from
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 6
the Czech Republic. The Pension's furniture is mostly from Ikea and Möbelix.
The walls' isolation had not been planned in the beginning. After some time, our respondent had
started to think that polystyrene isolation would keep the houses cooler in summer. However, it
became obvious that the rooms were almost too cold afterwards and that this expensive investment
would not have been necessary.
One of the couple's biggest problems is the disposal of the Pension's sewage. Although the property
is connected to the regional water supply, there is neither a gas line nor a sewer tunnel. Waste is
stored in two 20 m3 containers at the corner of the property. When those are full, Mr. R. calls a
company in Majdalena, which is about 9 km from Klikov. The containers are then emptied into two
faecal sucking trucks and taken to purification plants, where the water is cleaned for reuse. Our
interviewee stated that the trucks are needed regularly during the high season and the whole
procedure is not inexpensive.
This applies for many of the region's households, as they are not connected to the sewage system.
Our respondent informed us that when he started building the Pension, the municipality promised
them to construct a sewage canal within three years. This never happened. Instead, the households
in the area received a questionnaire, asking them if they opted for the construction of an individual
sewage system at high costs. Mr. R. thinks that such an investment just needs to be done for the
common good and that households with a connection to incoming water should have an outgoing
canal as well.
Some people in the village are still using coal for heating, which Mr. R. calls “stinky” and not really
necessary. He is using regional wood for heating their own place but electric heating in the Pension.
Our respondent mentioned that he is willing to pay more for having his wood delivered than cutting
it on his own. This would involve asking the municipality for an allocation of forest area and bigger
time investments for the felling and transportation.
When asked about his plans for the future our respondent stated that he wants to use solar panels in
his private home to see how it would work. He can imagine solar power for the Pension but only for
heating water. An heat pump would also be a good and less expensive idea. We were informed that
they would not get any kind of financial support for changing to solar energy.
4.2. Local and Regional Tourism
The promotion of the Pension via internet is the main driver for attracting Czech, German or
English speaking tourists. It lures them to come there by the prospect of beautiful nature, relaxation
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 7
and sport opportunities such as cycling, hiking, canoeing, swimming and fishing. Another way to
promote accommodation or activities for tourism is offered by the Suchdol Tourism Board. But due
to high member contributions, a private website was preferred.
The majority of tourists are families coming from the Czech Republic which make a high
proportion of returning guests, but also groups and companies book in. The number of tourists has
increased year by year until full occupancy by 2013. In case of overbooking, acquaintances owning
a guest house are being contacted. Bookings usually go for one week from Saturday to Saturday.
There is no responsibility taken to inform the tourists after their arrival about the biosphere reserve,
expected behaviour or any additional information like brochures. After departure, between 10:00
and 16:00 o’clock, two ladies from the village Rapšach are hired to take care of the cleaning; hence
additional labour force is offered and needed to maintain the facility. The problem of increasing
jealousy of other tourism stakeholders towards the success story of the Pension was being
addressed.
The only local-regional communication took place during the planning and building process of the
Pension. First ideas were to build single wooden houses, but due to the landscape-planning
regulation within the Biosphere Reserve, which aims to maintain the overall cultural and
architectural heritage of the area, the plans had to be changed. Certain architectural features that
consider the facade of the building (like the angle of the roof, the block bricks or size/form of the
windows etc.) had to be taken into account in the architectural plans. After all, it took three years to
get the building permit approved.
Even though the season in 2013 runs well, scepticism was still expressed towards the tourism
sector. In case their tourist business is of no success, using the Pension as a retirement home is
considered to be an option. Without the additional job as a car dealer, ongoing investments for the
Pension like building a pergola, benches, renting bikes, etc. would not be possible. So for now,
investments avert to completely rely on tourism as the only income.
The biosphere reserve is important in means that nature is identified as a comparative advantage for
tourism. Individual led tourism is the preferred way to save costs and have advantages in
comparison to the cooperation with other tourism stakeholder. Sustainability issues for the tourism
sector are neither being addressed by the regional regulations nor by the local case.
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 8
4.3. Community
A community is an important part of a town. In big cities, a person can choose his/her own
community consisting of people with the same interest. In a village however, one must get along
with different personalities and try to find a common “language”. Each community should have a
main meeting place. In Františkov there used to be a sort of functioning square, but nowadays the
main meeting point is a Pub next to the Pension which has been standing there since 1924. Even
owners of weekend houses visit the Pub and discuss with the villagers.
Although the Pension owner works partially in Austria, he still finds time to be a part of
Františkov's/Klikov's community. This is why we regarded him as a good resource of information.
He reported “Here everybody knows each other” and proved it by describing his neighbours and
their different jobs. For example we were told about a policeman, a car shop owner, a forester and a
carpenter. He also informed us that one of his new neighbours, who has recently moved to
Františkov, is intending to renovate the old house she lives in. As she is working in an electrotechnical
engineering factory in Suchdol, she is afraid to lose her job there like so many others. In
April 2013 one fifth of the employees were made redundant because the company moved away a
part of the production and other dismissals might still follow. The region does not offer many job
opportunities. People who know German can work in Austria, but others have to move or try to
open their own business, which is also the case of the Pension owner. He has found a business
opportunity in tourism, which is a big chance of income in the Třeboň Basin Biosphere Reserve,
although money from tourism flows just during a few months.
Even though Františkov belongs to the municipality of Suchdol, it does not get much support for
community life actions or the village's infrastructure. Suchdol is mostly using the money for itself
and nowadays the biggest investment goes to the construction of a new road in Suchdol. Exceptions
may happen, when a bigger part of the village is interested in the same event, for example the
decoration of a Christmas tree. But still, the region notices some enrichments of community life –
potteries, field trips (canoeing, cycling,..), fishing in nearby ponds, and last but not least Klikov's
soccer club, which is supported financially even by the Pension owner, although he does not play
soccer.
The appearance of the village is reflected by its community and vice versa the community is
influenced by the village’s image. Permanent residents having good relationships among themselves
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 9
and being engaged in community life will make the village look more appealing, function well and
therefore attract tourists or new possible inhabitants.
5. Reflection
Analysing this local rural system with our focus set on local tourism and accommodation business,
we have found out that, although the village is set in a Biosphere Reserve, concerns about nature
and its preservation were not on the agenda of our informant. Economic factors seem to be the
overall determinant in decision making processes, like we learned for example concerning the
procurement of building materials.
Nature is recognized as an asset in terms of attracting tourists to the region and personally valued
for recreational purposes. Beyond these profits no further thoughts are given to assure a sustainable
interaction with the environment.
This might be partially explained by the lack of promotion the Biosphere Reserve Třeboňsko is
experiencing in the region. Incoming tourists often pick the region due to its unique natural capital
and enjoy their stay taking the various opportunities the area offers them. Amongst inhabitants the
concept of a Biosphere Reserve does not seem to be recognized that well. Our informant issued
some statements concerning the regulations for his business due to the status of protection the area
underlies, but missed to know greater details about it. As stated at the beginning, the UNESCO
defines a Biosphere Reserve as a place where nature and inhabitants can exist in harmony, taking in
consideration both sides’ needs but the local community does not seem to be well informed about
this idea. In addition the knowledge of how a sustainable relationship can be designed and the
understanding of how such a state would be profitable for all sides is not provided.
In the case of our informant dealing in tourism, a greater awareness not only for the impact he
himself has on the area but also the additional pressure the tourists he houses create on the natural
system, would be welcomed. The Pension could function as a valuable distributor of information
about the Biosphere Reserve.
In respect to the social component of sustainability a greater appreciation for the local environment
could also help to antagonise the trend of rural depopulation, the area sees itself confronted with.
The scarcity of jobs can clearly be identified as main driver for emigration, but the potential of the
location might hold new possibilities in this sector too if utilised right.
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 10
The analysis of Františkov/Klikov showed us how complex a local system is organised. With the
help of our informant, who provided us with a great insight in local customs, flows and priorities,
we got a sense of what the main sustainability issues might be. To better understand the conflicting
areas and main drivers further research would be necessary.
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 11
6. Literature
Witzel, Andreas (2000), The Problem-Centered Interview., in: FQS Forum Qualitative Research
Sozialforschung, Vol.1, Article 22 (access: 08.07.13).
UNESCO (2013), Biosphere Reserves - Learning Sites for Sustainable Development
(access: 26.07.13).
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 12
7. Appendix
Picture 1: The Pension - Entrance
Dorn, Krulis, Kusnirova, Oberwinkler, Schwaiger 13
Picture 2: The Pension
Picture 3: The Pub