Daniela Ruxandra Andrei

Protected Natural Areas and Sustainable Development

The process of tourism development has come to include, step by step, the expansion potential of areas where it could be practiced in less accessible natural spaces, which are more problematic from the point of view of tourist penetration and the organization of tourism activities. In this context, making tourism under the umbrella of this concept of expansion, has led, on the one hand, to the expansion of protected natural areas, to their advertising and implicitly to the increase of demand for this type of tourism, and, on the other hand, to the amplification of danger posed to the integrity of the ecosystems included in the tourism circuit. The paper, starting from the actual context of sustainable development, highlights the fact that the tourism potential of protected natural areas constitute an important factor for sustainable development only, if is doing in condition of responsibility and respect for environmental conservation and regeneration of environmental resources

Development of sustainable Romanian eco-tourism - concepts and features.

Given that ecotourism, as a form of sustainable tourism, registered a further develop in recent decades, and an increasing interest from tourists and specialists in the study of tourism, this paper is timely and appropriate. The tourism, like a socio-economic phenomenon, has experienced continuous growth and diversification, wearing new forms, such as rural tourism, agro-tourism, ecotourism, etc. This study includes both theoretical concepts, documentation obtained from the literature and a series of concrete results on the degree of development of ecotourism in Romania. Is shown, in particular, organized ecotourism situation as a form of tourism in protected areas.