A critical analysis on the evaluation of tourism attractiveness in Romania. Case study: the region of Moldavia

摘要

This study proposes some question marks over the actual tourism evaluation instruments in Romania. Overused and misused syntagms like "tourism potential" have created gaps in understanding determination between supply or passive tourism resources on one side and tourist demand on the other side, a relationship which is better illustrated by the concept of "tourism attractiveness" (Formica, 2000). Thus, knowledge of mechanisms which produce benefits at regional scale is often poor, as indicates the evaluation method used by the Space Planning of National Territory of Romania (2009). By using principles utilised in regional analysis by Smith (1987) or Lovingwood, Mitchell (1989), this paperwork tries to identify key role of tourism resources and infrastructures (potential and existent supply) in attracting important amounts of tourists in Moldavia. The results confirm presence of cultural resources as proximity factor of tourist registration and lack of strength of natural resources in producing overnights when not correlated with infrastructure.