Publications

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, viable destinations must develop competitive products in a framework of responsible development. Many destinations operate within highly competitive environments where customers have a wide range of choices even within a country or a region. The challenge is for destinations to develop a service culture, physical environment and a set of products that can satisfy not only first-time visitors but attract repeat visitors. Due to the obstacles of ensuring a quality destination experience many communities are missing significant opportunities to create productive employment for the residents and realize opportunities for poverty reduction due to the ineffective planning and management. Maintaining and improving high quality supply in Romanian tourist destinations situated inside or close to protected areas is fundamental to meeting the challenges of competitors and increasing their market share. Integrated Quality Management (IQM) is an argumentative and efficient method proposed by the European Commission to reach and maintain tourist products and services quality in destinations. This paper aims to explain how Integrated Quality Management (IQM), as an integrated management tool, can improve the level of sustainability in Piatra Craiului National Park keeping its comparative advantages and enabling long-term market competitiveness. Improving the quality of this tourist destination is essential in satisfying tourists' needs, making the local tourism industry more competitive and ensuring that tourism development is in a balanced and sustainable way.

Sustainable development means “Think global but act local” (David Brower the founder of the nongovernmental organization Friends of the Earth 1969). Lasting tourism is considered in most of the cases a tourism manner, but all the touristy activities should be durable and bring economic and social benefices to local communities and to encourage the conservation with nature. On the international level, many destinations have chosen to promote ecotourism in order to improve the problems regarding the environment, and for to encouraging the area development. This kind of tourism encourages the responsible behavior of the tourists, local culture and appreciation for the traditional way of living, the conservation of some habitats and ecosystems and brings ways of sustainable development for local communities situated in natural areas with infrastructure problems. Ecotourism is the most recommended one in the protected areas, because the local resources can be advantageous used without causing the degradation of the area. The Retezat National Park is the first park founded in Romania and has a remarkable tourism potential, insufficiently exploited and many times deteriorated by applying an inadequate tourism to a protected area. Ecotourism can bring socio-economic development for the communities round the park, natural and cultural potential capitalization in the area and can be a catalyzing for a sustainable development of tourism and nature conservation. For the development of this kind of tourism the administration efforts of the park, authorities and local communities should be directed to sustainable forms of development and the adjustment of touristy infrastructure of ecotourism requirements.

The article analyzes visitor management techniques as a way to develop sustainable tourism in protected areas. Visitor management is an important tool in recreational and protected areas, as increasing use levels can negatively impact the quality of recreational experience as well as natural resources. To meet the requirements of both nature and visitors, a prudent and careful management is necessary. In order to manage protected areas within acceptable ecological and social carrying capacities, tourism planners need to monitor visitor numbers, leisure activities and behaviour and understand expectations and motivations.