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Abstract

Due to the fact that tourism has strong influences on regional development, many undeveloped and developing countries have detected it as a chance for economic prosperity. This paper argues the inevitable relationship between tourism development and regional development. The objective of the paper is to present the influence of tourism on regional development in south-west part of Macedonia. Moreover, it addresses the issues of tourism flows, accommodation capacities as well as the tourism consumption within the south-west region. In this respect, the analyses are based generally on official sources of secondary data spreading over the sample period from 2003 to 2010. Furthermore, the descriptive statistics applied in different types of analyses, point out that the South-West planning region is the leading statistical region in Macedonia when referring tourism and regional development issues. Yet, despite its enormous potentials, tourism in the south-west part of Macedonia, still has not reached its peak point. On one hand, this empirical evidence underscores a good example of tourism application in regional development, but on the other hand, points out the necessity of undertaking governmental measures and initiatives for enhancing tourism contribution to the regional development.