The Collaborative Economy through the Lens of Sustainable Tourism. A Regional-Centric View

Abstract

Nowadays the tourism industry faces major changes given the vast possibilities for the development of a collaborative economy in tourism that brings forth a new marketplace where consumers rely on each other -changing renting, swapping, and sharing their accommodation locations. The purpose of the present paper is to answer one of the most important challenges of the City of Brașov in Romania, which is the management of the touristic offer. The paper provides a quantitative-qualitative research approach that analyzes - based on semi-structured surveys with the users of collaborative platforms - the perception of travelers concerning the development of collaborative tourism in Brasov County. The management of touristic offer should take into account the pressure that this new type of renting may be exerting on the local economy, especially considering unfair competition on other segments of the tourist market and the change in the physiognomy of the cities of Brașov County.