Gazelles create greater share of new jobs in comparison with other businesses operating on the market. These are young businesses of various sizes, but mainly small businesses. They generate a high rate of growth of production within a short time, which is based on the use of innovation, they are also the bearers of innovation. They are characterized by effective use of creativity and human resource capacities. They may be found in all sectors of economy, but to the greatest extent in the services sector and within that sector mainly in business services characterized by high knowledge intensity, high dynamics and continuous growth in employment. Gazelles of business services in the Slovak Republic intensively use all types of innovation. Management ability to optimize innovative processes according to needs of the enterprise seems to be of importance. Human resources and performance is considered to be the most important area of innovation influence. With its innovative activity they act as the accelerator of economy and changes in the thinking and culture of both enterprises, as well as the whole company toward sustainable growth.

This paper aims to present the results of secondary and primary research focused on declared clusters of tourism in Slovakia and to draw conclusions of their influence on Slovak destinations. Subsequent progress could indicate whether declared clusters of tourism lead to competitiveness, innovation, research and growth or rather pursue those activities which are typical of destination management organisations.

Young dynamic service enterprises – gazelles – represent the modern economy phenomenon, which stimulates the growth by its operation, in particular of local economy. This article identifies the position of gazelles in services and defines their characteristic features with regard to knowledge intensity of their production. Research results document the dominant representation of gazelles in services within the framework of their sectoral distribution and their growing economic effects in the Slovak Republic. Knowledge intensity of production is determinant of gazelle innovativeness in services, and the result is supported by knowledge of higher intensity perception of innovation effects in a knowledge-intensive production of services.

The presented article focuses on examining two important areas within the framework of tourism development in the region, namely development management and cooperation of the interest groups in the tourism industry in the region. The main goal of the presented article is threefold: (1) identifying and measuring the perceived rate of problems in development management in the tourism industry, (2) identifying and measuring the perceived rate of problems of cooperation between the interest groups in the tourism industry, (3) examining connections between problem rates of development management and cooperation between interest groups in tourism. Based on professional literature, key factors (problems) in these areas were identified. Subsequently, tools to measure the rate of development, the reliability of which was verified based on McDonald's omega, were created. The article is supported by a primary survey in which 95 experts on the topic of regional tourism from Europe participated. The results indicate an average to above-average perceived rate of problems within the examined areas. An examination of the relationships between the problems of development management and the cooperation of interest groups in the development of regional tourism can be considered significant, where significant positive connections were confirmed. The results add to the knowledge base of the issue in question. At the same time, it is possible to identify practical benefits within the framework of identification, quantification and comparison of individual problems within the framework of tourism development.

The main goal of the article is to evaluate the importance of regional competitiveness of tourism as a factor of regional growth. The starting point is to examine the operation of cluster tourism organizations in the identified natural clusters of tourism. By calculating the location quotient, we obtain an overview of the concentration of the tourism sector in the Slovak regions and, by applying shift-share analysis, we explain the impact of regional competitiveness in tourism on regional growth and profiling of regional specialization in tourism. The existing cluster tourism organizations do not copy the sectoral tourism concentration in the regions. Only three tourist regions where cluster organizations operate are characterized by regional competitiveness in the context of the profiling of tourism specialization. The justification for the questionable action of cluster tourism organizations and their public funding is a challenge for the formulation of a cluster and regional tourism policy.