Environmental impact of tourism in Romania

The Environmental Impact of Tourism in Romania

Introduction

In this essay the main attention will be focussed on the impact of tourism upon the environment in Romania, so the positive and the negative aspects of tourism will be brought in discussion. In Romania the environment is a factor influencing tourism demand. Given that the demand for products of interest is partly determined by its quality, the environment can have a positive or negative impact on tourism.

Tourism-environment relationship is particularly important, protection and conservation of the environment being the primary condition for progress and development of tourism. This link is complex; it is manifested in both directions. The environment is defined as the quality of life of people living and natural environments suitable habitats for animals and plants.

The impact of tourism on the environment

The positive impact

Tourism is one of the most important industries and has developed continuously. Romania is visited by more people which are interested in exploring new destinations and cultures as distant. Thus, areas having special natural resources attract more visitors, especially if they offer the opportunity to know the customs and traditions of other cultures.

When tourism and environment coexist in harmony, environment benefits from tourism. There are many examples of this kind, most falling into one of two types: conservation and environmental rehabilitation. Preservation means keeping informed choice and use of the natural and anthropogenic. Conservation and tourism often go hand in hand. In Romania many historical and archaeological monuments have been saved from destruction because of tourist interest to them.

In Romania parks and nature reserves managed to protect many species that would otherwise have been destroyed by uncontrolled hunting. Tourism not only provides a reason to preserve the environment from man, but also provides money for conservation: a share of the income from tourism can be used to preserve the environment. In this tourist from all over the world are involved in different touristic programs like hiking the trails of medium and high difficulty , visiting historical monuments and palaeontology, easy routes to points of Belvedere, and Keys resort to Râusor Buti, trails for ski touring, climbing routes, programs for the study / observation of flora, bird watching and observation traces animals.

Conservation implies preservation of the environment in a form as close to the original, rehabilitation involves a major change in the use environment. Many buildings and tourist areas have been saved by being restored as tourist attractions or tourist accommodation.  

Many buildings and tourist areas have been saved by being restored as tourist attractions or tourist accommodation. Many factories in Romania began a new life as museums, industrial areas were converted into places of festivals, a variety of impressive castles and houses that were in decay became accommodation for tourists. Such examples show how the environment can benefit from tourism, saving what would otherwise be lost entirely.

The most important natural reserve from Romania, natural monument, internationally recognized as a Biosphere Reserve is Retezat National Park. The park contains many touristic attractions such as over 80 lakes, 20 peaks over 2000m, the most extensive and deepest glacial lake in Romania, more than 54 habitats of rare or vulnerable plants and animals, glacial relief in the north and caustic terrain in the south. In this reservation tourist from all over the world are involved in different touristic programs like hiking the trails of medium and high difficulty , visiting historical and paleontological monuments, light trails to points of Belvedere, ski at Râusor and Cheile Butii, climbing routes, programs for the study and observation of flora, bird watching and observation animal trails.

Another international known touristic attraction from Romania is the Danube delta. Tourists from all over the world choose the Danube delta as their holyday destination because of its unique landscapes and habitats. This has a good impact upon the natural reservation, because foreign tourists help raising the money for modernising and maintaining the many and diverse natural habitats in the delta.

The negative impact

Tourism is a consumer of space and tourist resources, participating default degradation and environmental pollution and tourism potential. This degradation is carried out either by direct pressure of tourists on the landscape, flora and fauna and other tourist attractions on which tourism can partially or totally damaged or recovery by the misconception of some areas, points and tourist attractions. Human pressure on the natural environment increases day by day, people moving more often and longer distances on the past. Leisure offers greater opportunity in the exploitation and conquest of the natural environment, most free time is spent outside the city, in nature. Periodic output of the city to green areas – in the form of tours, a weekend or holiday sites – has become a social custom with negative environmental effects. Many of the environmental damage caused by tourism are caused by the large number of visitors arriving at destinations whose optimal reception capacity has been exceeded.   

Environment rarely escape harm when the number of tourists is very high. Air and water quality and diversity of flora and fauna are inevitably affected in some way, and landscapes, cities and monuments. Movement of uncontrolled tourist sightseeing done in natural or anthropogenic causes of often irreversible destruction of some of the items they have devoted to tourist attractions (the destruction of vegetation and flora, breaking trees and especially juveniles, poaching, degradation of the landscape). Pollution is increasing and because of the nature of automobile tourism whose deleterious effect is alteration of air quality, destruction of grasslands, trees and flora, etc… Another way of environmental degradation is the purpose of investment unscientific and irrational nature tourism, investments take the form of: over-dimensioning stations in terms of reception and treatment capacity, failure of general principles of natural resource exploitation.

An example showing the mutual relationship between tourism and environmental complex in general, and the negative impact that it manifests on each other, in particular, is the disappearance of the last 20 years to 14 huts in the Romanian Carpathians, the loss due to fire. Such damage is due to negligence of tourists.

Conclusions

Through this essay it has been showen that tourism has much more negative impacts on the environment of Romania than positive ones and that they are often closely related to the economical aspect of tourism.

In conclusion Romania is a country enjoying a natural setting with great potential and infrastructure often enough natural tourism, travel form, in this view, is less demanding

.

After research, results that Romania does not benefit by much more positive aspects, since many components of the environment have been destroyed by tourists, rather than preserved. As Romania has much to do about environmental preservation.

References:

Cooper et al, C., (1998) Tourism Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition. New York: Addison Wesley Longman Publishing

Cooper et al, C., (2005) Tourism Principles and Practice, 3rd Edition. Harlow (Essex): Pearson Education Limited

http://www.plural-magazine.com/article-the-danube-delta-eco-tourism-museum-center-in-tulcea.html

http://www.romanianmonasteries.org/romania/retezat-national-park