Discussing the Spatial Underpinnings of Tourism Policy and Planning in Romania

Abstract

The paper examines the spatial concepts and mechanisms that drive the reconfiguration of the tourism space and provide policy-relevant information. Mapping the spatial patterns of tourism supply and demand at finely-grained data over the last two decades, the analysis employs spatiotemporal and scaling methods to capture the interactions and dependencies among tourism concentrations. The findings point to space-tourism realignments based on heterogeneous concentration patterns and trajectories of change, supply growth and expansion at the first level of contiguity, and diffused domestic vs. polarized international arrivals. The binary approach of tourism concentrations of supply and demand with varying location quotients enables the identification of both differences and similarities in terms of contextual and tourism development indicators. In support of context-sensitive policy interventions, we argue that space should be regarded as a central dimension of the tourism development policy. Providing a snapshot of the tourism concentrations in 2019, the study may count as a baseline reference for further analyses in post-pandemic times.

Keywords

• spatial changes
• accommodation infrastructure
• tourist flows
• tourism policy
• romania.