« Back

Abstract: The crucial importance of mountain regions in the socioeconomic and environmental cohesion policies is underlined by key documents in Romania as well as in the European Union. However, the lack of a unique definition or set of criteria used to delineate the mountain regions, in order to analyze their characteristics constitutes a barrier to the elaboration of a common strategy for their development. This study has created a methodology based upon the Geographical Information Systems to select a Romanian hardly accessible mountain region with a complex and high-valued touristic potential and determine its characteristics. The approach consisted of the identification of all hardly accessible mountain regions with a complex and high-valued touristic potential, followed by the choice of a representative site and its spatial analysis based on the values of specific indices. The results indicate that the selected area exhibits accessibility, environmental, demographic, and economic problems in most administrative units. Tourism trends suggest reduced accommodation, food, and entertainment opportunities, an increase in the number of tourists, but a decrease of the average duration of stay, and reduced usage of the touristic facilities. Based on these findings, the outstanding touristic potential of Romanian hardly accessible mountain regions appears to be insufficiently valorized, calling for actions on behalf of the authorities.

Keyword: GIS, mountain region, tourism, regional development, accessibility