The article focuses on a widely understood conditions for a tourist development of an area. The conditions comprise both tourist amenities in the areas under analysis with elements of tourist facilities in these areas, the area accessibility by various means of transport and their furnishing with elements of technical and economic infrastructure. Analysed was the problem of relationship between the degree of tourist function development in the area and protected areas situated within its administrative boundaries. The article also discusses the relationship between the degree of tourist function development in the areaunder discussion and tourist policy realized in the form of pollution control investments with particular regard to sewage management, water, air and climate protection, waste management, protection against ionizing radiation, noise and vibration control and protection of biological and landscape diversity, which from the perspective of potential area tourist function development is extremely important and conditions its development. The assessment of the degree of tourist function development in a given area was conducted using indicators characterizing both the degree of tourist facilities management and intensity of tourist traffic. The analysis of dependencies between the naturally valuable areas and amount of pollution control investments and individual provinces ability to fulfill ...