Daniela Luminita Constantin

Tourism, cultural resources and regional competitiveness: a case study in Romania

For many regional economies tourism can offer effective solutions to the question of regional competitiveness. As a niche market, cultural tourism responds at present to a growing demand, more and more travellers ranking arts, heritage and other cultural activities as one of the main reasons of travelling. This paper proposes a case study in Romania, which discusses the current state and the perspectives of cultural tourism development at national and regional level. A special emphasis will be put on the possibility to correlate the policy measures supporting tourism development with those addressing the creation of a competitive specialisation profile, infrastructure improvement, sustainability, institutional capacity building, financial management and control so as to contribute to economic recovery and reducing intra and interregional disparities.

Implications of European Union Structural Assistance to New Member States on Regional Disparities: The Question of Absorption Capacity

Increasingly, endogenous factors and processes are being emphasized as drivers in regional economic development and growth. This 15 chapter book is unique in that it commences by presenting five disciplinary takes on endogenous development from the perspectives of economics, geography, sociology, planning and organizational management.

Regional specialisation and industrial concentration in Romania’s transition period from an election cycle perspective

In this paper we propose an inquiry into the patterns of regional specialisation and industrial concentration in Romania during its transition to a market economy (1990–2004). Following an econometric modelling-based approach we demonstrate that the changes in these patterns have been influenced to a large extent by election cycles, and more precisely by changes in the economic policy options determined by the ‘colour’ of each corresponding government. These findings have an important significance for the postaccession period, suggesting the need for decisions on economic structures to be carefully monitored when a new election cycle is approaching, in order to avoid possible negative consequences for efficiency and integration in EU structures.

Issues regarding the effective municipal real property management: the question of classification criteria with a case study in Romania

The effective municipal real estate management has a special significance to the East European countries, considering their major inheritance of municipal real estates from the former communist regime, which could represent an important generator of local revenues. This paper proposes a discussion on the classification criteria of municipal properties, as a preliminary step for designing a long-term strategy for each class of properties. It is followed by the identification of the assessment methods that can be used in this field. The paper aims to demonstrate that classification and assessment represent - in this order - two distinct phases, explaining how they can be linked so as to serve as a solid methodological basis for the effective management of the municipal real estates. A case study in Romania is also included, aiming to explore the possibilities to adapt and apply various classification criteria developed in the international arena. In addition, the methods for the real estate property assessment used in the Romanian practice have been adapted in order to be employed for the assessment of the municipal real estates.

A Spatial Analysis of Tourism Infrastructure in Romania: Spotlight on Accommodation and Food Service Companies

Location is a key concept in tourism sector analysis, given the dependence of this activity on the natural, built, cultural and social characteristics of a certain territory. Consequently, the tourist zoning is an important instrument for delimiting tourist areas in accordance with multiple criteria, so as to lay the foundations for finding the most suitable solutions of turning to good account the resources in this field. The modern approaches propose in this respect a series of analytical tools that combine GIS and spatial agglomeration analysis based techniques. They can be also employed in order to examine and explain the differences between tourist zones (and sub-zones) in terms of economic and social results and thus to suggest realistic ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of tourist activities in various geographical areas. In the described context this paper proposes an interdisciplinary perspective (spatial statistics and geographical information science) for analysing the tourism activity in Romania, mainly aiming to identify the agglomerations of companies acting in this industry and assess their performance and contribution to the economic development of the corresponding regions. It also intends to contribute to a better understanding of the way in which tourism related business activities develop in order to enhance appropriate support networks. Territorial and spatial statistics as well as GIS based analyses are applied, using data about all companies acting in tourism industry in Romania provided by the National Authority for Tourism as well as data from the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI).

The absorption capacity of European funds for rural development in Romania: estimates of the factor influence

This paper addresses the absorption capacity of the European funds for rural development in Romania, given their crucial importance for reducing the urban-rural gap and supporting the convergence within the EU structures and living standards. After discussing the problems that agriculture and rural development in Romania are confronted with, an estimation from a regional perspective of the factors that influence the absorption capacity of the EU funds is proposed. This is based on a quantitative analysis which combines three research approaches: multiple regression models, principal component analysis and a new composite index of absorption capacity of European funds for rural development in Romania. The results point to the significant influence of the counties’ characteristics on their capacity to absorb the funds available for agriculture and rural areas development and can offer a useful background for the forecasts on the regional absorption rates in this sector.