Abstract
Landscape heritage of the Romanian Carpathians is emphasized through protection activities, but in the same time it represents an important pool of resources suitable to the numerous forms of tourism. Conservation is in line with sustainable tourism and its alternatives, ecotourism. The present study aimed on analyzes several features of the Carpathian prot ected heritage and how activities function through environmentally friendly tourism. Results showed a great diversity of understanding and implementation of ecotourism in the Carpathian Mountains, with numerous actions of organization, but also with a series of measures that are absolutely necessary for the proper functioning of this tourism alternative. The study provides several models to estimate some characteristics of ecotourism resources, which provide returns for consumer satisfaction as well as improve the management of protected areas.
Highlights
The ecotourism was developed on the tourism market in ’80s “within the womb of environmental movement”, (Honey, 1999) and in almost thirty years is the fastest growing segment of the global tourism industry (Gibson & Dodds, 2003; West & Carrier, 2004), becoming increasingly more important in the tourism industry, (Chafe, 2005)
The term ‘ecotourism' is often used by tour operators as a marketing tool to promote any form of tourism that is related to nature, (Wight, 1994), the money from ecotourism could be reinvested in environmental protection and growth the access of local people both in jobs creation and to civilization
The study starts at the completion of related references on how to address the theoretical aspects of ecotourism that has multiple definitions and application forms, followed by an overview about Carpathian protected areas establishing the main legal issues that underpin the management of protected areas seen as most suitable entities for the practice of ecotourism in Romania
Summary
The ecotourism was developed on the tourism market in ’80s “within the womb of environmental movement”, (Honey, 1999) and in almost thirty years is the fastest growing segment of the global tourism industry (Gibson & Dodds, 2003; West & Carrier, 2004), becoming increasingly more important in the tourism industry, (Chafe, 2005) It is defined and promoted in a great diversity depending of the conditions and views of each country, the basis remain as being "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well‐being of local people", (TIES, 1999; Taylor & Dyer, 2003, Valentine, 1992, Cater, 1995), a type of tourism where the environment, local community and visitor all benefit. The hypothesis of the paper starts from the idea that once the establishment of protected areas in the Carpathian Mountains, forms of tourism and tourist destinations have diversified In these circumstances, is the ecotourism properly developed as examples of good practice from world‐wide?. What measures are needed to harmonize protection with ecotourism exploitation?
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