Issue 2, Volume 5, 2011 241 The Relationship Tourism-Environment in the Romanian Danube Valley. Study of Case: Giurgiu – Calarasi Area. Madalina-Teodora Andrei Abstract—The relationship tourism – environment is very Europe, on the one hand, and Eastern Europe and the Orient dynamic and involves many changes on both sides. The tourism on the other hand. The Danube is the tool through which this depends on the environment quality and landscapes that it offers. connection is achieved, because it constitutes not only a The environment offers the support, the unfolding frame for the national or regional interest, but also an international tourist activity. This biunivocal system determines the balance of relationship between the two elements: tourism and environment. interest. This river constitutes the European corridor that The GiurgiuCalarasi area is situated near from the Bucharest, and connects the North Sea to the Black Sea, creating the easy could be considered a nice and attractive touristic area. In the transition between the north of Europe, the south-east of studied counties, in the localities along the river Danube, between Europe and the south-west of Asia. Giurgiu and Calarasi there are different aspects of pollution, due to The main European communication route imposes itself the unequal concentrations of polluters, as well as the different with a series of features among the other European rivers. values exceeding the admitted actual norms The tourist activity influences very little the quality of water because the Danube area Firstly, the Danube is an important geostrategic route, is not exploited in the true meaning of the tourist potential, and the being the river that crosses the entire continent as a median Danube has a great capacity of selfcleaning, its waters falling in axis. Also, the connection with the planetary ocean makes the 1st category of pollution. We cannot state that the degree of the Danube be “the river with the five seas”. Which are pollution does not influence the tourism. The degradation of the these seas? They are some of the most important ones in the natural and anthropogenic environment leads to the decrease of the economic flux: the Black Sea, the North Sea (through the tourist value of the natural or anthropogenic landscapes, determining the decrease of the tourist interest for certain connection with the Rhine-Main-Danube Channel), the objectives, sometimes extremely valuable. The solution is to keep Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. clean environment for a sustainable tourism. The Danube, as a natural border between the European States, imposes itself geostrategically. The countries on the Keywords— Danube Valley, economic activity, environment, river closely depend on it in their economies, while the pollution, tourism economies of other European states are tributary to the Danube, so that any minor change of a geostrategic type being able to create economic unbalances with less I. INTRODUCTION favourable influences in the stability of the respective state. The Danube, because it crosses the European continent The integrating role of the Danube, in terms of economy and from west to east, has an important geostrategic position, policy, is an additional argument for the support of the and the connections through the Black Sea to the Orient and statement that the Danube represents a geostrategic route at the planetary ocean offers a geopolitical importance, which a national, European and world level. can be observed over time. The Danube represents Europe’s largest navigable route, The second river in size from Europe, with 2860 km in especially after the building of the important length, the Danube gathers its waters on a surface of around transcontinental navigational connection (which links the 2 805,300 km , which represents 8% from the total surface of North Sea to the Black Sea). Over time, the Danube Europe. The large river springs from the Black Forest preserved and developed this feature. The navigation on this Mountains and after it crosses the territories of 11 European river existed during the time of the Dacians, these being states, it flows into the Black Sea on the territory of well-known as good river sailors in the historical Romania. documents. The historian Arrian, describing one of the The Danube is organically connected to the territory of military trips of Alexander the Great in the north of the Romania and its geostrategic interest is in full concordance Danube (335 BC), wrote in his chronicles that the army with the geostrategic position of Romania. The territory of crossed the river at night, using local boats made of tree our country is crossed, in its southern part, by the Danube on trunks (“monoxile”). But the Greeks created colonies close a length of 1075 km (1/3 of its total length), of which 700 to the river outlet, on the coast of the Black Sea, to ease the km form the state’s natural border with the Republic of trading with the inhabitants of Dacia. The Romans used the Serbia and Montenegro, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine, river as the main navigable route of the Empire, this and the rest of 375 Km flows exclusively on Romanian connecting the western part with the eastern part of the territory. Regarding the hydrographical basin, 33% belongs empire. to Romania, thus, besides Germany, the largest shares of the For all the European states and, especially, for the Great territorial statistics of the Danube are owned by our country. Powers, the Danube became the navigable route with From a geostrategic and geopolitical point of view, profound implications, but for Romania this is organically Romania represents a bridge between the Occidental related to the economic evolution and development as a INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT Issue 2, Volume 5, 2011 242 European state. This feature of important navigable route Romanian population, in large numbers, although some gives the Danube the status of a pan-European and statistics of the respective states do not always show these international river. numbers, has favoured the cross-border connections and the Due to the fact that the Danube is the navigable river, this creation of some territorial cooperation structures between becomes an important trading route. The trading relations states, like the Euroregions. are set not only between the river countries, but also On the Romanian valley of the Danube, the conditions for between these and the other countries of the European the founding of some cross-border cooperation forms have continent and other states from other continents. The trading already existed. The Euroregions created in this Danubian hinterland of the Danube may be extended at a European sector are: scale, and the economic importance is defined at a global The Giurgiu – Russe Euroregion scale. The signing at Giurgiu of the Collaboration Convention Due to its physical, geographical and economic features, between Giurgiu and the municipality of Russe, lead to the the Danube may be considered an energy route. There are founding in 2001 of new Euroregion. The municipality of many hydro-electrical plants and atomo-electrical plants Giurgiu and its member communes, the municipality of built on the river, two large hydro-electrical plants operating Russe and the non-governmental organisation The on the territory or near Romania (the Iron Gates I and the Municipal Energy Association from Russe are part of this Iron Gates II, built through cross-border cooperation) and Euroregion. two atomo-electrical plants, one on the Bulgarian bank The major advantage is that the two cities are close and (Kozlodui), and the other on the territory of Romania are located on the unique traffic route over the Danube with (Cernavodă). The location of the atomo-electrical plants on a road bridge and a railway bridge, “the Bridge of the Danube bank is necessary because of the large quantities Friendship”. The border crossing is ensured by 5 customs of water used to cool the reactors. These plants hold an points. important percentage from the energy balance of the The Danubius Euroregion respective countries, contributing to the economic The Euroregion appears in 2002 at the initiative of cooperation of the states, but also offering certain energy Giurgiu county from Romania and the District of Russe independence necessary to each national economy. from Bulgaria. As a location it overlaps the Giurgiu-Russe Nowadays, the Danube represents an important cultural Euroregion territory. The following administrative territories route, being the link between the German, Slavic, Romance are included in this Euroregion: Giurgiu county and the and Oriental cultures. The Danube can integrate these surrounding communes, and from Bulgaria, the District of cultures in the great European culture and can consolidate Russe, with a number of 8 municipalities. The Euroregion the relationship between the other cultures on the other has a number of 298022 inhabitants in the Romanian side, continents, especially the Asian one. The Danubian culture among which 96% are Romanians and 3.9% are of Romany itself has a cosmopolite feature with global values. ethnicity, and on the Bulgarian side there are 250000 Finally, the meaning of the Danube as a river route inhabitants, among which 27 inhabitants of Romanian origin consists of: its trading and transportation importance, the and 635 of Walachs. cultural importance, which are primordial; its importance as This Euroregion is advantaged by the existence of the an energy source; its importance for the national economy, only bridge over the Danube, the one from Giurgiu – Russe. especially for agriculture, fishing, but also for other All types of national and European communication routes economic sectors, and, last but not least, its tourist pass through this Euroregion. Another advantage is the importance, the Danube and its Delta being a great source of closeness to Bucharest, an important centre.