Sustainable Tourism Development in the Protected Areas of Maramureș, Romania: Destinations with High Authenticity

Sustainable development involves economic growth in line with the requirements of ecological balance and human development, involving people’s relations with the environment as well as the responsibility of the current generation over future generations. Sustainable tourism was designed and supported in an attempt to manage all resources, so that the economic, social, and aesthetic needs of an area are satisfied while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity, and life support systems. Sustainable tourism is not “a fashion”; it is a way of thinking and acting with long-term implications. At national level, we believe that Maramureş County, Romania, is one of the most gifted natural and socio-economic geographic areas in the Oriental Carpathians of Romania, in which the conditions of sustainable tourism can be met and supported long term. The purpose of this scientific paper is to identify, synthesize, process, and interpret data about the tourist qualification of some localities in the protected areas of Maramureş, so as to inform local decision-makers and tourists about tourism forms currently practiced (and) possibly practicable in the future, because since tourism, as an economic branch, leads to the growth of jobs, it can contribute to the sustainable development of the area. The mathematical model proposed in the paper allows the grouping of available resources from 25 settlements in order to establish the types of tourism that can be supported and developed in these localities.