Geographic assessment of obstacles on European rivers for water sports tourism

Experts predict that the global market of water sports tourism is expected to reach almost $ 850 billion by 2032, with an average annual growth of almost 17% over the next 10 years. At the moment, not a single segment of the world tourism has such a high growth rate. At the same time, we should not forget that water tourism is one of the most technically complex sports. If in other types a tourist can stop on almost any difficult part of the route in order to recuperate, find the best solution, the fast water flow does not allow this. The guarantee of correct actions can be given only by the worked out reaction of each tourist individually and the crew of the tourist vessel as a whole. Therefore, the purpose of the research is professional, incl., assessment of water obstacles, which is extremely important for the safety of tourist sports trips, that are often carried out on the verge of the physical and technical geographical capabilities of their participants. The goal was achieved through the use of such scientific research methods as analytical-statistical, com- parative-geographical, reference and field expeditionary research. The authors have established that water tourism is a rafting of tourists in water areas on various means of rafting – inflatable boats (rafts), kayaks, catamarans, canoes and others with overcoming various obstacles on the water relief – rapids, riffles, river bars and boils, and even waterfalls of different heights. The nature, number and variety of water obstacles determine the technical complexity of the water tourist route. Therefore, the task of scientists is to develop criteria for assessing the complexity of water obstacles so that tourists-athletes, when overcoming them, can compare their tourist experience, technical capabilities of their vessel in order to decide whether they can safely overcome a particular obstacle (go through the route). The authors analyzed a number of classifications for determining the complexity of water obstacles – International, American, S. Chernik’s classification. These classifications differ in the initial categories of complexity assessment of water obstacles and are close enough when assessing more complex obstacles from category IV to VI of complexity. The analysis showed that the international classification is best used in assessing the complexity of local water obstacles (rapids). Instead, either the American classification or the S. Chernik’s classification should be used to assess long water sports routes. Europe has a fairly dense river system and a significant number of rivers suitable for water tourist trips. The maximum category of complexity of European rivers is the sixth (according to any of the classifications). Such level of complexity can be found on the rivers of the Scandinavian Peninsula, the Balkan Peninsula, and the North Caucasus. The potential for the development of water sports tourism is not evenly distributed between European countries. A special place in this regard is occupied by the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, since rivers of all categories of complexity are represented here – from the easiest to the most complex. For tourists-athletes of high qualification, the Scandinavian Peninsula rivers can serve as a training ground.