THE LIFE CYCLE STAGE OF WESTERN ROMANIA RESORT-TOWNS AS A TURNING TABLE FOR THERMAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT, BIHOR COUNTY, ROMANIA

Abstract

The geothermal potential of the towns of Ștei and Beiuș and their evolutions as resort-towns feature a development evolution whose tourist potential rely on the recent geothermal waters’ capitalization as a spearhead for regional development. Both localities from western Romania were declared tourist resorts based on numerous favorable premises, among which the thermal waters for both curative and leisure purposes. The tourist evolution of the two resort towns occurred differently in terms of supply and demand and in terms of the thermal water consumption and applying Butler’s tourist life cycle concept both resorts are found at the development stage. An inventory of tourist attractions, both natural and man-made has been accomplished, as well as its tourist infrastructure such as operational leisure, catering and accommodation facilities for the supply side. This analysis covers a gap in the existent literature. To reveal the tourist consumption pattern in the two resort towns, secondary data referring to tourist arrivals has been analysed. All these surveyed elements allowed a comparative analysis of two engendered small towns on their rise to tourism development and a highlight of their tourist development stage through the geothermal water capitalization.