The Role of SPA Tourism in the Development of Local Economies from Romania

The study aims to identify the SPA tourism contribution to the development of local economies in Romania, during 2000-2012, a period in which Romanian tourism has seen a spectacular dynamic. Spa tourism has become today one of the major forms of the international tourism, generating an increase in the local systems of functional complexity. The study aims also to examine the importance of the SPA tourism in Romania territorial systems, which have been developed based on the SPA resources. The study is based on analysis of a rich bibliography on the development of health tourism, as well as a quantification of this process, for the period 1993-2012. The Spa tourism phenomenon was measured based on the evolution of the number of tickets issued (National House of Health Insurances - CNAS), tourist traffic in the SPA's, and the evolution of the accommodation, made by the National Institute of Statistics in Romania. A database of NACE (Classification of National Economic Activities) was built, for the period 2000-2012, to analyze the evolution of the number of firms, number of employees and the annual growth business and profit. The database was built for the SPA's and the total local economy also. The results confirm the working hypothesis of the importance of the SPA tourism in the sustainable development of the local economies that have specific resources.