As if its original name wasn't enough of a draw, the country's tourist-mobbed Český ráj area, which translates as "Czech Paradise," has been christened a UNESCO Geopark.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization made the decision in late October, bestowing with the Geopark label one of the agency's most recently developed designations, part of an attempt to create the first internationally recognized category for important geological sites.

The concept was developed around 1990 with the intention of bringing regional socioeconomic development to parks through the world body's patronage, but delays and cuts in funding have hampered the scope of the project.

There are currently only 30 Geoparks in Europe and Asia, and Český ráj, some 90 kilometers (53 miles) northeast of Prague, is the first such site in the Czech Republic and in the former Eastern bloc.

The Český ráj Geopark measures around 700 square kilometers (270.3 square miles). It's a space vastly larger than the area set aside by Czechoslovakia in 1955, when a 92-square-kilometer swathe of land was named the Czech Paradise Protected Landscape Region — the first such conservation area in the modern Czech lands.

Always popular for its woods, lake, basalt and sandstone spires and castle ruins, no matter what its designation, nearly 200,000 people visited Český ráj in 2004.

In late 2001 Czech authorities sought UNESCO World Heritage status for the park, which would have made it the Czech Republic's 13th such locale. That designation, unlike the Geopark status, would have carried with it funding for safeguarding, promotion and emergency aid.

However, locals withdrew their nomination for World Heritage status on the heels of a negative evaluation of the site by the UNESCO Advisory Body on Natural Sites, said UNESCO spokesman Alessandro Balsamo. The evaluation said that Český ráj fell short on four criteria for World Heritage status — geological significance, ecological significance, biodiversity and beauty.

But Environment Ministry spokeswoman Karolína Šulová said the qualifications were enough for Geopark status, so the ministry and the Museum of Czech Paradise in Turnov opted to push for this title instead.

Though it may not translate directly into funding for the park, Český ráj could well see indirect benefits from its Geopark status, such as more tourists, said Šulová.

The park is already one of the most popular sites in the Czech Republic, visited by foreigners and Czechs alike, but Šulová predicted that other EU funds might become available as a result of the Geopark designation.

"When you have this title, it is an extra incentive for EU commissions to give money."

The park will need more funds if it is to maintain and develop the expanded area defined as the new Geopark, said Šulová: "It needs money the ministry does not yet have for it."

In the meantime, the lofty title will do little to change the day-to-day operations of the park, said Helena Kopecká, manager of the Czech Tourist Authority. But with the new UNESCO seal of approval and educational programs and interpretive trails in the works, she says, Český ráj could draw even more tourists next year.