ScienceDirect. The Role of SPA Tourism in the Development of Local Economies from Romania

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1 Available online at ScienceDirect Procedia Economics and Finance 23 ( 215 ) nd GLOBAL CONFERENCE on BUSINESS, ECONOMICS, MANAGEMENT and TOURISM, 3-31 October 214, Prague, Czech Republic The Role of SPA Tourism in the Development of Local Economies from Romania Draghici Cristian-Constantin a, Pintilii Radu-Daniel a*, Peptenatu Daniel a, Comanescu Laura Georgiana a, Sirodoev Igor b a University of Bucharest-Faculty of Geography &CAIMT, 1, N. Balcescu Blvd., Bucharest, 141, Romania b University of Bucharest - CICADIT, 4-12, Regina Elisabeta,Str., Bucharest, 318, Romania Abstract The study aims to identify the SPA tourism contribution to the development of local economies in Romania, during 2-212, a period in which Romanian tourism has seen a spectacular dynamic. Spa tourism has become today one of the major forms of the international tourism, generating an increase in the local systems of functional complexity. The study aims also to examine the importance of the SPA tourism in Romania territorial systems, which have been developed based on the SPA resources. The study is based on analysis of a rich bibliography on the development of health tourism, as well as a quantification of this process, for the period The Spa tourism phenomenon was measured based on the evolution of the number of tickets issued (National House of Health Insurances - CNAS), tourist traffic in the SPA s, and the evolution of the accommodation, made by the National Institute of Statistics in Romania. A database of NACE (Classification of National Economic Activities) was built, for the period 2-212, to analyze the evolution of the number of firms, number of employees and the annual growth business and profit. The database was built for the SPA s and the total local economy also. The results confirm the working hypothesis of the importance of the SPA tourism in the sustainable development of the local economies that have specific resources The Authors. Published by by Elsevier B.V. B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license Selection ( and/ peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center. Selection and/ peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center Keywords: territorial systems; SPA tourism; functional complexity; local economies; * Pintilii Radu-Daniel. Tel.: address: pinty_ro@yahoo.com The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( Selection and/ peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center doi:1.116/s (15)4-1

2 1574 Draghici Cristian-Constantin et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 23 ( 215 ) Introduction Tourism is now one of the most dynamic sectors of the global economy, as it registered a positive trend in recent years. According to UNWTO, in 212, the number of international arrivals for the first time exceeded the threshold of one billion (UNWTO World Tourism Barometer). Moreover, many studies confirmed that this sector can bring significant benefits in terms of economic (job creation, income growth, infrastructure development in general) and social, increasing living standards (Jurowski et al. ; Ross 1992). As the globalization process is present in tourism too, it becomes extremely as popular as the income increases and the access to knowledge and technological innovation becomes easier (Cormany and Baloglu 211). Analysis of spa tourism in developing local economies is important because of the complex economic influences, manifested both vertically and horizontally, in the economic system of local economic systems (Ianos et al. 212; Peptenatu et al. 212a; 212b). Studying the role of health tourism in developing local economies becomes particularly important in establishing sustainable management strategy on medium and long term, so that socio-economic benefits to be evident in local communities. Thus, through an effective management policy to improve services, coupled with a proper marketing policy of this type of tourism, it can bring significant economic benefits with positive impact on these communities (Mueller and Kaufmann 21). 2. Methodology Quantifying the importance of spa tourism in developing local economies started with creating a comprehensive database of all the spas in Romania. This database was realized at NACE (Classification of Economic Activities National) level, for the period 2-212, and it represents an important start point for calculating the following indicators: the evolution of the number of firms, number of employees, turnover and profit dynamics, all these by for each spa, by reporting them to the total of local economy (Pintilii et al. 214; Stoian et al. 214). 3. Results For all the spas in Romania, the evolution of the number of tourists was not the same with the evolution of the number of tourist at national level, so that for the period under review, the number remains relatively constant, around 1% of the total number of tourists registered in Romania (Fig. 1a). Analyzing national tourist traffic, can be observed that the total number of tourists has decreased for the period In this period the tourism sector is marked by significant structural change. At the end of this period, the number of tourists begin to rise with slight oscillations, peaking in 28 with values slightly exceed 7, tourists (Fig. 1b). Ratio of the number of nights and number of overnight stays in resorts show that the duration of stays for health tourism is higher than the national level, for the period under review, ranging between 2 and 3% of total overnight stays at the country level (Fig. 1c). Analysis of the total number of tickets and spa treatment tickets, by state insurance, shows an overall upward trend, but it have been observed an oscillatory evolution, related to the socioeconomic aspect, in general (Fig 1d). The ratio of specific indicators for spa sectors (number of firms, number of business, profit and number of employees) and the same indicators, show the increasing role of the spa sector in developing local economies (Fig 2 a, b, c, d). Analysis of turnover in spas activities, reported to the total turnover shows a fluctuant evolution, the overall trend being downward. The trend is explained by the high values obtained by other economic sectors, but they are in a deep connection with the spa activities (commercial activities) (Table 1).

3 Draghici Cristian-Constantin et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 23 ( 215 ) % no of tourists Total no. of tourists No. of tourists in SPA resorts overnights staying Overnights staying - national level Overnights staying - SPA resorts (a) (b) (c) number of tickets % Tickets - granted by state insurance Tickets - granted by state insurance - spa treatment(%) Tickets - granted by state insurance - spa treatment (d) Fig.1. (a) Share of tourists from resorts in the total number of tourists; (b) The evolution number of tourists in resorts; (c) Evolution of the number of overnight stays in health resorts (-211); (d) The evolution of the number of tickets for leisure and spa treatment, granted by state insurance. (a) no of firms in spa sector profit in spa sector total no of firms turnover in spa sector (b) total turnover total profit 1 15 total employees (c) (d) Fig. 2. (a) number of firms in the spa/total number of firms; (b) turnover in spa/total turnover x 1; (c) profit in spa/total profit; (d) employees in spa/total number of employees. employees in spa sector

4 1576 Draghici Cristian-Constantin et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 23 ( 215 ) Table 1. Share of turnover from spa sector in total turnover (%) SPA \ Year Amara Bazna Băltățești Bizusa Borsec Borșa Bughea Bușteni Buziaș Calacea Călimănești Caciulata Covasna Eforie Felix 1 Mai Geoagiu Herculane Lacul Sărat Lipova Moneasa Monteoru Nicolina Ocna Sibiului Ocna Șugatag Olănești Predeal Pucioasa Săcelu Sinaia Slanic Moldova Slanic Prahova Sovata Soveja Stâna de Vale Târgu Ocna Tâșnad Techirghiol Tinca Turda Tușnad Vatra Dornei Vălenii de 1 1 Munte Voineasa Spa tourism is a fundamental part of the economic systems with tourism function, based on the exploitation of specific resources. In these systems the spa tourism contributes to the development of other economic sectors, developed due to the tourist flows of these spas. Acknowledgements The research activities were financed by the research project Territorial Management (UB/1365). References Cormany, D. & Baloglu S.S. (211). Medical travel facilitator websites: An exploratory study of web page contents and services offered to the prospective medical tourist. Tourism Management, 32-4, Ianos, I., Peptenatu, D., Pintilii, R.D. & Draghici C. (212). About sustainable development of the territorial emergent structures from the metropolitan area of Bucharest. Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 11-9,

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