AGRITOURISM IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Between agritourism and sustainable development there is a close link. Agritourism acts as an integrator for local development and preservation of traditions and historical heritage, as well as for other economic sectors: agriculture, transport, services etc. This research presents an analysis of the evolution of the agritourism infrastructure and of the main tourism indicators for Romania as a tourist destination, as part of the development of the tourism industry. Quantitative and comparative analyses were carried out regarding the number and the existing accommodation capacity for agro-tourist boarding houses and the numerical evolution for domestic and international arrivals related to agritourism throughout the period between 2009 and 2017. Romania is an important agritourism destination, well known at national and international level for its unaltered natural resources (wild landscapes and nature) and preservation of traditions in rural area. A better understanding of processes occurring in the country could be achieved by comparing the processes with similar ones in another European Union Member State, which, in the present research, is Latvia, thereby confirming the cooperation of scientists of both countries in doing research on the viability of rural areas.