ASSESSMENT OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ROMANIA: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN NORTH OF MOLDOVA

Tourism is one of the essential components of population services and a major influence factor for economic and social development. The tourism industry is characterized by a great structural complexity, in multiple forms of this service. This industry can also have an impact on the natural resources and environment in the various tourist destinations, on everyday life of these locations and also on the individuals from those areas, whether rural or urban. Nowadays, tourism faces different challenges, being necessary to find adequate ways to ensure the possibilities of the future tourists generations and host communities through the measures adopted at national, regional and local level. This study is an overview of the Romanian tourism aiming to make possible the understanding of its evolution in the last twenty years by presenting the current situation in the tourism sector and its perspectives of development. Taking as a case study the Suceava county, located in North of Moldova, the paper proposes the assessment of the tourism development possibilities taking into account a number of factors which may enhance or diminish the tourism potential: natural, economic, demographic, political and psychological factors. There are no standard answers to the questions that tourism sustainable development brings into discussion. Tourism must be approached by optimal strategies in accordance with the economic, social, cultural and environmental situations existing in a given area. These strategies need to be applied both for the tourists and for the authorities responsible for this sector development.