The purpose of this article is to present the tourist attractiveness of rural areas as a factor of social tourism in Poland and the Czech Republic. The systematic literature review (SLR) research method was used to verify the aim. An extensive review of the literature has been made which has made it possible to present the importance of tourist attractiveness in the implementation of social tourism on the examples of Poland and the Czech Republic. This article presents a literature review and systematizes the terminology of social tourism. In addition, it shows the expectations and behavior of different groups of customers in the types and forms of social tourism. In the final part of the article the authors presented the opportunities and barriers to the development of social tourism in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The aim of the article was to present the development of agritourism farms in terms of providing therapeutic services for people with autism. The literature review concerned Polish and Ukrainian farms. Autism in children can also be treated through contact between patients and domestic and farm animals. Therapies involving animals are called zootherapy and can be carried out in care farms, and additionally in those where tourist recreation is possible i.e. agritourism farms. The article draws attention to the benefits of contact between children with autism spectrum disorders and animals. The study presents a case study from Poland.

Cow-assisted therapy is one of the forms of bovine-assisted therapy, which is used to improve well-being and as a treatment for numerous diseases and disorders. Despite its growing popularity around the world, it remains relatively unknown in Poland. Cow-assisted therapy can be a good basis for diversifying the activities of cattle breeders. The purpose of the study is to identify the determinants of the provision of a cow-based health support service in Poland. The method used is a case study. The object under study is located in the warmińsko-mazurskie voivodeship and is one of the few places in Poland offering therapy with cows. It is also a facility that offers the purchase of animals trained for bovine-assisted therapy. There are barriers limiting the development of therapy with cows in Poland. Among the most important of these are cultural, climatic, financial, personnel and time barriers.

Socio-economic development is a multi-dimensional and highly complex subject. The goal of the current regional policies, which are widely implemented around the world, is to equalize the level of development of regions. In order for these measures to be effective, there is a need for developing methods and its continuous improvement. One method that allows statistical and multidimensional description of the level of socio-economic development is the determination of synthetic measures. The purpose of the article is to assess the level of socio-economic development of Polish provinces in 2005–2020 and to identify groups of provinces with similar levels of development. The applied methods made it possible to create rankings of provinces. The results of the study showed a high spatial differentiation of the level of socio-economic development in Poland. The provinces with the highest level of socio-economic development in terms of selected variables were the Mazowieckie, Dolnośląskie, Pomorskie and Małopolskie provinces, and those with the lowest were the Podkarpackie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie and Świętokrzyskie.

The rapid growth of digital technologies is affecting all areas of life, including tourism.The ways in which people plan trips, experience places and engage with the tourism industryare evolving. As a result, increasing attention is being paid to the role of new technologiesin shaping modern tourism. The purpose of this article is to identify major trends, researchtopics and gaps in the literature on the application of new technologies in tourism, basedon a bibliometric review of publications. A state-of-the-art type review was conducted usingbibliometric analysis. The analysis included 296 publications from the Web of Science CoreCollection database (2000–2024), using the bibliometrix tool. Since 2019, a marked increasein publication volume has been observed. Research in the social, economic and environmentalsciences dominates. The most common topics are AI, big data and destination management.The largest number of publications comes from Spain. New technologies are changing thestructure and operation of the tourism sector. The results highlight the need for in-depthqualitative research on the social and cultural impacts of this transformation, as well as forpromoting sustainable and inclusive tourism development.

Rural tourism can support autistic individuals through sensory-friendly settings,animal contact and nature-based activities that promote self-regulation, social interactionand sensory integration. Within health-oriented tourism, animal-assisted services offerflexible, goal-directed engagement tailored to individual needs. This article presentsa case study of an inclusive agritourism facility in the Lubuskie region of Poland, illustratinghow agritourism can combine therapeutic, educational and ecological functions.The study highlights the role of nature and animal interaction in enhancing emotionalbalance, communication and wellbeing for individuals on the autism spectrum. Findingsindicate the strong therapeutic potential of rural environments and emphasise the shortageof Polish facilities adapted to neurodivergent visitors, pointing to the need for broaderimplementation of agrotherapeutic tourism practices.