ISSN 0354-8724 (hard copy) | ISSN 1820-7138 (online) Tourist Phenomenon in Geoagiu Spa Region within the Central Metaliferi Mountains Dombay ŞtefanA*, Magyari- Sáska ZsoltA Received: November 2010 | Revised: November 2010 | Accepted: November 2010 Abstract The Central Metaliferi Mountains, situated in south-central side of the Apuseni Mountains, have a variety of natu- ral and anthropic touristic potential, but, unfortunately, less known and not enough exploited. After conducting a survey in Geoagiu Spa we specifically recommend the following: increased number of one day tours, which are the main tourist destination in the region, many tours for visiting the major centers of cultural - historical monuments related to our past history, granting economic incentives for organizer of youth groups to attract the youth, di- versification of tourist routes with thematic actions: curiosities of nature, environment, organizing sports events with different timetable covering all seasons and all series, attracting local and foreign investors by providing tax incentives and financial programs introducing touristic resort in the international circuit. Keywords: tourist potential, natural and anthropic resources, Western Carpathians, survey The natural and anthropic resources within the region volcanism led to the appearance of some cold mineral springs (Boholt, Şoimuş) and thermal The Central Metaliferi Mountains, situated in ones (Geoagiu, Vaţa de Jos); the south-central side of the Apuseni Mountains, • the fitogeographic fund encompasses numerous have a variety of natural and anthropic touristic characteristic elements of the leafy woods area, potential, but, unfortunately, less known and not and of the coniferous area in the higher regions. enough exploited. The most important natural resources may be The anthropic resources are especially rich in el- grouped as it follows: ements of ethnography and folklore. Within this • the geological and geomorphologic resources. unity there are three ethnographic sub areas (V. These are interesting because of the varied pet- Butură, 1978): the Zărand sub area, the Mocănimii rographic constitution, such as: volcanic cons, sub area and the “Ţara Moţilor” sub area, each of forms belonging to the exokarst and endokarst, them with valuable characteristic ethnographic el- passes, defiles, and others; ements. • the climatic touristic fund that is characterized by For a better highlighting of region’s touristic po- a temperate climate, with influences from the tential, taking in consideration a few principles, a western air mass, moist in the south, and with certain zoning may be done: the highlighting and sub Mediterranean features in the southwest; the concentration of a great number of natural and • the hydrographical potential is formed by a dense anthropic sights; the presence of some cater spaces streams network, but, generally, short, these for the tourists, to ensure the access in the area; to being affluent of the Arieş, the White Criş ensure some functional networks between the ar- (Vaţa, Bucureşci, Stănija) and the Mureş (Am- eas, both inside and outside the region. poi, Certej, Boholt, Gurasada, Valea Roşie). On We mention that this zoning refers exclusively some of these there are dam lakes: Certej on the to the researched area: Făerag, or lakes for water supply. The Neocene A Gheorgheni University Extension, Faculty of Geography, Babeş-Bolyai University, Str Gradina Csiky, 535500 Gheorgheni, Romania; e-mails: [email protected], [email protected] * Corresponding author: Dombay Ştefan, e-mail: [email protected] Geographica Pannonica • Volume 14, Issue 4, 133-137 (December 2010) 133 Tourist Phenomenon in Geoagiu Spa Region within the Central Metaliferi Mountains The area of the Ampoiu Valley that is situated at The endowments and services within the tour- the southern limit of the Trascău Mountains, in ist infrastructure extended due to the curative ef- the Ampoiului Basin. ficiency of the thermo-mineral waters from Geo- The Băiţa-Deva area overlaps both the Căianului agiu. The endowments for relaxation and cure Basin and the Mureş Passage till Simeria. increased at the beginning of the XXth century, The Brad area that is characterized by the ad- when there were built the Germisara, Diana (with vanced development of the volcanic forms. covered swimming pool) hotelier complexes and The Geoagiu area. As from the researched area endowments for enjoyment in open air. this is the best developed, we intend to research this activity in the Geoagiu-Băi spa. Characteristics of tourist demands The relief is characterized by the presence of the lime stones that lead to the appearance of in Geoagiu spa resort some very attractive forms, such as: the Mada The main objectives of this research work were: de- Passes, the Cibului Passes, dolinas where the wa- termining the frequency of tourism in the resort, ter gathered, forming lakes, for example between follow the main motivations of tourists arrived in Geoagiu-Bai and Geoagiu Sat. the resort, establishing the duration of stay and The climate of the spa is continental- temper- preferences for certain forms of accommodation, ate with ocean influences. Because of the relief it determining the transport used by tourists to vis- has a topoclimates of low mountains and hills. it the resort, setting the decisive factor for choos- The hydrograph is the most important tour- ing Geoagiu Spa resort, to determine the main seg- istic resource. We refer especially to the thermo- ments of tourists by gender, age, socio-professional mineral springs, which are the most important categories, marital status and the origin of tourists therapy factors, too. The aim of this research are to investigate the Unlike the attractive resources belonging to the causes which led the tourists to seek for the ser- natural framework, which are a gift of nature, the vices of this tourist resort, identifying the main anthropic tourist heritage represents a sum of the reasons that determined the actual tourism forms, elements created by man, for relaxation purpos- and to verify that the tourist market area has a es. Yet, the following fact has to be clearly stated: strong seasonal pattern, being attended predomi- these were not created on purpose, but, on contra- nantly summer, the transport used to come to the ry, in most of the cases these had another purpose resort are mainly based on vehicles, and that for (economic, strategic, cultural). In time they have tourists arriving in resort, the hotels represents changed their characteristics, becoming proper the preferred accommodation. touristic sights, with a relaxation character. For this research we have examined a commu- Among the most important resources from this nity of 529 tourists in the resort in two stages (in category we mention: January - February. 2008 respectively April 15 to • religious edifices: the chapel built in Roman April 30, 2009). Tourist came to Geoagiu Spa from style from the Xlllth century and the Orthodox the following counties (Fig. 1). church “Saint Nicholas” from the XVlth century Among the subjects covered by the investiga- in Geoagiu-village, the Castle and the church tion, 59% are men and 41% are women. Tourist be- from Sântămăria-Orlea, the Church from Strei longs to the following age groups (Fig. 2). from the Xlllth century, the church from Densuş After socio-professional category and mari- from the Xllth century; tal status the tourists presents the distributions • the memorial house “Ion Budai Deleanu” in the shown in Fig. 3 and 4. Cigmău village; the memorial museum “Aurel The tourists participating in survey, 42% prac- Vlaicu” in the Aurel Vlaicu locality; tice tourism in an organized way.16.7% of them • museums (The Ethnographic Museum from come to resort through various agencies, and Orăştie, the Hunedoara History Museum with 10.7% by other forms of tourism. Most come on the Corvins Castle, the Sarmizegetusa Archae- their own (58%). ological Museum, the Brad Mineralogical Mu- seum). Types of information related to Geoagiu Spa resort The tourist infrastructure ensures the accom- They are: advertising 18.7% 39.1% acquaintances plishment of the tourist consumption, being the advice, information obtained from travel agencies most expressive indicator of the economic effi- 15.2%, other ways (previous visits) 27%. ciency and of the touristic potential utilization. Its Image that presented by those who had previ- main function is to satisfy the demand through ous visits to the area have largely contributed to specific endowments and services in accordance the choice of resort. Significant share holds media, with the raising number of tourists in the spa. advertising and information obtained through 134 Geographica Pannonica • Volume 14, Issue 4, 133-137 (December 2010) Dombay Ştefan, Magyari- Sáska Zsolt 6.60% 5,85% 31.30% 20% 22% 16,79% 4% 15% 39% 17,92% 21.70% Hunedoara Alba Sibiu under 20 y. 21-29 30-39 Cluj Timiş Caraş-Severin 40-49 over 50 y. Figure 1. Counties of origin of tourists Figure 2. Tourists at Geoagiu Spa categorized to the Geoagiu Spa on age groups 10.2% 25.0% 22% 44% 28.6% 22% 18.0% 18.2% 3% 9% workers with secondary education married without children married with 1 child with higher education pupils, students married with 2 child married with 3 child pensioners unmarried Figure 3. Socio-professional category Figure 4. Marital status of tourists for resort guests at Geoagiu Spa to the Geoagius Spa travel agencies. Various information ways are re- previous visits (25%). For those aged 30-39 years, the ceived differently depending on a number of indi- most important information channels are acquaint- vidual variables like age, gender, level of training. ances (39.5%) and previous visits (26.3%). In the group Thus the age perception is different. aged 40-49 years greatly increase the information As shown in the figure (Fig. 5), tourists having an received from travel agents. That way information age up to 20 years were mainly informed by oth- increases in importance in the age group between er ways (60.9%) and acquaintances (39.1%).