Comparative study between Romanian inland spa tourism and seaside tourism

Abstract

Tourism has become a worldwide phenomenon and extremely important for Romanian economy, especially after 1990. Its fast evolution is related to a strong economic development and wage’s growth. Tourism has brought important benefits, both for tourists (in terms of personal experience) as for destination’s economy and society (in terms of wealth, employment and reputation). Thus, tourism is now a necessity for mental health (either for recreation and knowledge) and physical health (motion, relaxation, treatments). In Romania, tourism has also achieved notable share in the national economy, especially regarding urban tourism, followed by mountain-resort tourism, seaside and spa tourism. The last two types of tourism (by type of natural resource) chosen to be analysed and compared – Inland spa tourism (“Turismul balnear”) and Seaside Tourism (“Turismul litoral”) show very close behaviour in terms of demand (tourist arrivals or overnight stays) but are treated unequally by the central government along with its investments. Our study pointed out that Romanian spa tourism has more unique features, less regional competitors than seaside tourism, a better occupancy for a similar capacity in use, a better territorial distribution of the destinations and their resources (along with a higher diversity of connected activities – such as natural attractions, leisure activities, local traditions, cultural features, more connection with local societies etc.) as well as a wider range of beneficiaries. Thus, our study is meant to be an alarm signal and starting point for future analysis that emphasize this imbalance between the potential of spa tourism and the general interest in investing and developing it.

DOI: 10.15551/lsgdc.v39i0.15