The Role of Rural Tourism in the Socio- Economic

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS, ENGINEERING & DEVELOPMENT Issue 2, Volume 5, 2011 The Role of Rural Tourism in the Socio- Economic Diversification of Rural Space from Lăpuşului Land (łara Lăpuşului, Maramureş County, Romania)* Ştefan Dezsi and József Benedek covers a surface of 918.53 km2 and it is incorporated in eight Abstract—This study is aimed to provide a “radiography” of administrative-territorial units (with a total population of nowadays stage of rural tourism’s development in Lapuşului Land 33,846 inhabitants counted in the last census of 2002). Among and highlights the main results of a larger study about the rural these, seven are localities (BăiuŃ, Coroieni, Cupşeni, Groşii tourism from this region. After a brief review of the evolution of the Tibleşului, Lăpuş, Suciu de Sus, Vima Mică - with almost 24 tourist accommodation units specific for the rural tourism (the tourist hostels) within a given period of time (2000-2009) and of their settlements), respectively, a town from the category of small territorial distribution in the localities, we presents the main results of urban centres (Târgu Lăpuş, with 5,844 inhabitants) which has a field investigation taken through the technique of questionnaire 13 member villages. The above mentioned data reveal the true applied directly, through operators upon a sample made of 24 rural feature of Lăpuşului Land, with 37 member villages households from 12 localities. The questionnaire elaboration and the belonging to a city (the average per country is 42.8 member assessment of the field inquiry results was based upon the analysis of villages to a city in 2004). The majority of the local the following problems: presentation of the households’ specific communities from Lăpuşului Land gathered in a territorial features that practise rural tourism; effects of the contacts with project in 2001 (the association “The Social and Economic abroad; motivation of practising rural tourism from the perspective of Development Micro-region of Lăpuşului Land”). This project the implied actors; way in which the actors appreciate their own level of life compared with that established at the level of country and its was based on the concepts promoted by the European Union possible implications upon the tourism; way in which the households for the territorial planning and development. attract tourists, offered services and foreseen improvements, places Lăpuşului Land stands out through the geographical for accomodation, practised prices; seasonality problem of the diversity marked by a complex natural frame, with a touristic flow; incomes from tourism; character of tourism (inner, considerable number of components and a high diversity of international) and the origin areas of tourists; degree of orographic shapes, landscape diversity, climate and bio- satisfaction/insatisfaction, reasons for dissatisfaction and the climate features and the hydrographical and bio-geographic intention to continue or renounce rural tourism. Finally, the main resources. All this is doubled by the existence and the conclusions have been drawn on the basis of field inquiry processing manifestation of a sum of social, historical and economic and assessment. conditions with direct or/and indirect reflection and manifestation, in different degrees, within the offer and the Keywords—tourist resources, etnographic region, rural tourism, field inquiry, questionnaire current tourist phenomenon features. The long evolution of the society from Lăpuşului Land in I. INTRODUCTION social, historic and complex natural conditions has allowed the individualisation of Lăpuşului Land as being one of the most Lăpuşului Land is located in the north-eastern compartment representative ethnographic regions from the Romanian ethnic of the Transylvanian space and it overlaps one of the clearly space, which has earned a special place in the local cultural defined depression units in the north side of the Transylvanian and rural civilisation as a consequence of its perpetuation of Depression. It is overlapped in the eastern part of the tectonic- numerous archaic material and spiritual cultural elements, erosive depression Baia Mare – Copalnic – Lăpuş, formed revaluated on a tourist and cultural level through the specific upstream by the canyon dug in the Preluca Massif by the means of tourism that can be practised all year round [9]. network of rivers reunited in the hydrographical convergence area within the central sector of the depression (the local II. METHODOLOGY collection of waters from Târgu Lăpuş – Răzoare – Dămăcuşeni). This fills almost entirely the superior The present study – having as basis a similar one enrolled hydrographical basin of the Lăpuş river. The area studied during the period 2000-2001 that aimed at the analysis of the rural tourist phenomenon micro-regionally and locally [4] - [6] * This article was accomplished by the PN II – IDEI 505 – having as purpose capturing the phenomenon at the scale of project's contribution, financed by CNCSIS the entire country, is focused on the analysis of the rural 198 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS, ENGINEERING & DEVELOPMENT Issue 2, Volume 5, 2011 tourism features unfolded in the perimeter of Lăpuşului Land to manifest during at that time also in the Lăpuşului Land area. given the spatial structure with a mainly agricultural feature These meant the appearance of more tourist accommodation and the general agricultural processes (the opposite of structures of small sizes in the majority of the cases following tertiarisation) and the pauperisation processes that have altered personal initiative, which took into account the adoption of the Romanian rural space during the period after 1989. In this price policies and promotion of more competitive products context, the scientific interest has been turned to the compared to the high capacity units (which are very difficultly appearance of regional and local strategies, alternatives and functionally shaped), besides the location usually in tourist answers to the major political, social and economic processes interest areas. This feature offered at the same time what was occurred after the change of the communist regime from 1989, missing from the large accommodation units (intimacy, family and to these possibilities which may be used for the territorial stay, closeness to nature etc.) development. The present study is focused on the tourist Thus, together with the appearance of several private phenomenon, especially on one of its rapid developing forms accommodation units (such as motels, hostels or the secondary after 1990, the rural tourism, among the small palette of residences, such as the holiday houses), the system of the activities that have found a proper development ground in the family hostels, connected to areas of specific rural habitat, rural space (tourism, forestry and its associated products, activities and traditional customs, developed to diversify different crafts etc.). In this study, we have decided to analyse tourism and its forms. These family hostels are very important the achievements of the last fifteen years of the local for many localities from Lăpuşului Land having a great communities in the area using the criteria of scientific attractiveness potential and corresponding to the classification objectivity. We would also like to analyse the extent to which and certification norms in the field (for instance, Târgu Lăpuş, their achievements are left behind by the real possibilities and BăiuŃ, Lăpuş, Suciu de Sus etc.). Moreover, as a consequence to identify the causes that have led to this discrepancy and, of the legislative stimulation, the private initiatives and the based on this, to set forth some viable solutions for the tourist collective ones in this field appeared very rapidly (unfolded development meant to correct these problems. through the means of the Maramureş Ecologist Society), as As a whole, the research performed aimed at the multiphase well as the association type of activity organization (starting unfolding: the first phase aimed at the inventory of the with 1997, through the founding of the “Lăpuşului” Rural attractiveness elements which made up the tourist offer of the Tourism Association, with the head office in Târgu Lăpuş). region, its value estimation and its hierarchy using the method Thus, the rural hostels represent the most important tourist of valuable ranks (not comprised in the present study). The accommodation units existing at the moment in Lăpuşului examination, using the investigation method, of the active Land from the point of view of the offered (cumulated) households within the total tourism unfolded in Lăpuşului accommodation capacity, of the qualitative dimension and of Land during the second phase (the one that constitutes the the spatial distribution. object of the present study). Based on the data and the Entering the tourist circuit starting with the second half of information resulted from the first two phases, with the help of the ‘90s, their evolution was marked by a progressive trend. the SWOT analysis, the weak and strong points on which the There were already 10 rural tourist hostels (grouped in only viable tourist planning and development strategies might be set two localities – Groşii łibleşului and Lăpuş) in 1997, while, in forth, were identified during the third phase. 2003, their number reached 31 distributed in seven localities, with 104 accommodation places. The last few years have III. THE EVOLUTION OF THE ACCOMMODATION maintained

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