Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
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Is Calarasi County Passible for Practicing Sustainable Tourism?

Cosmin Nicolae Mirea^1* and Puiu Nistoreanu^{2 *}Correspondence: Cosmin Nicolae Mirea, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, Tel: 0734867486, Email:

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Introduction

Tourism is one of the most global phenomena, having the necessary strength to connect all the nations of the world. It should be noted that with the global character and climate change, tourism must adapt to the newly created situations. There is an increasing emphasis on the sustainable nature of tourism and on ways to turn tourism into sustainable tourism. This process of transformation is not necessarily an easy one, as it requires high intellectual, financial and material efforts. Also, in order to build a sustainable tourism, some well-developed destination management plans must be developed. The efforts and results of the process of transforming tourism into sustainable tourism can be measured through indicators of sustainable tourism. In most cases, these indicators are developed by organizations with expertise in the field [1] or by various decision-making institutions [2]. Some research has addressed the study of indicators developed by organizations with expertise [3,4]other research has addressed the study of indicators developed by decision-making institutions [5,6]. The indicators refer to the social, economic and environmental impact that tourism has on an area, destinations or even enterprises in the tourism field.

The present study envisages the analysis of specific indicators for the management of a sustainable tourist destination, having as component parts the specialized literature, research methodology, results, conclusions, research limitations and bibliography.

Literature Review

About sustainable tourism

The tourism sector is a heterogeneous sector due to the nature of the activities, the specific infrastructure and the services offered to tourists. Consequently, there are well-used tourist destinations and there are less capitalized tourist destinations. This may be due to local authorities, the resident population, the resources available to the destination and other categories of socio-economic factors. Currently, due to climate and socio-economic change, the way in which a tourist destination is capitalized has gained boundless importance, given that sustainable development is a ubiquitous and indispensable notion for all tourism activities. On sustainable development, the key point has been 1987 since the World Commission on Environment and Development issued the report " Our common future ''. In the report, the Commission provided the best-known and most comprehensive definition of sustainable development, namely that "sustainable development is about meeting current needs without compromising the ability of the next generation to meet their own needs" [7].

Thus, sustainable development can be considered a concept characterized by altruism and responsibility. Also, another feature of sustainable development is that it is interdisciplinary, in the sense that it has applicability in a wide range of fields and studies, such as research related to future directions of sustainable development of the medical sector [8], farmers' perception of sustainable agriculture [9], the effect of online learning on sustainable development [10] and other such fields and studies. At the same time, it is obvious that tourism is one of the areas in which sustainable development has a wide applicability, because there is a special link between tourism and sustainable development, being characterized by the following aspects: high degree of interaction between tourist and local communities; raising awareness of cultural differences and environmental issues; dependence between tourists and local communities [11]. Thus, it can be considered that tourists are directly responsible for the development direction of the destinations they visit. If we were to try a correlation between the definition of sustainable development in the report "Our Common Future" and what sustainable tourism could mean, a possible definition would be that sustainable tourism represents the satisfaction of present tourist needs, without harming the possibility of posterity to satisfy its own tourist needs. Consequently, as some resources are based on satisfying any need, it is implied that certain tourist resources are also based on satisfying tourist needs.

Thus, the present generation has the duty and responsibility towards the next generation to consume prudently and efficiently the present resources. Like sustainable development, sustainable tourism, it is a concept characterized by responsibility, and the World Tourism Organization defines it as "tourism that considers its present and future economic, social and environmental impacts and that addresses the needs of tourists, industry, environment and local communities '' [11]. The above definition is very comprehensive in the sense that all forms of tourism can be included in this definition. Moreover, some authors [12] consider that sustainable tourism is a "reactive concept", that is a concept that combats the negative effects that mass tourism has. If at the beginning of the substantiation of the theoretical framework on sustainable tourism it was quite difficult to distinguish mass tourism from sustainable tourism, now this problem has been eradicated by developing indicators of sustainable tourism. According to the World Tourism Organization, indicators of sustainable tourism can be measured at national level, regional level, destination level or tourism companies level [1]. In 2013, The European Commission has developed a guideline on the tourism indicator system. This system contains basic indicators and optional indicators. Table 1 presents the basic indicators of the management of a sustainable tourist destination.

Table 1: Basic indicators of managing a sustainable tourist destination.

The indicators presented in Table 1 cover all three facets of sustainable development, namely economic, social and environmental. Thus, by checking the indicators presented in Table 1, it is possible to find out whether a certain destination is managed from a sustainable point of view and whether it is suitable for sustainable tourism.

Source: Adaptation to the European Union, 2013, Guidance on the European system of tourism indicators for sustainable destinations [2].

Brief presentation of Calarasi County

Calarasi is a territorial administrative unit (county) in Romania and is located geographically in the southeastern part of the country. The county seat is the city of the same name. On the territory of the county is located one of the most fertile plains in the country, namely the Baragan Plain. In addition to the fertile soil, Calarasi County is crossed by the Danube River, which gives it a privileged status and a high tourist potential. Moreover, from the point of view of the general infrastructure, it is important to mention that the county is crossed by the A2 highway, entitled Autostrada Soarelui and by an important railway that connects Bucharest and the port of Constanta. If from the point of view of the relief, the dominated unit is the Plain, in terms of hydrography, the Danube is the dominant element, but the county is also crossed by the rivers Arges and Mostistea.

Moreover, the county has a whole series of natural and artificial lakes. Calarasi County has an area of 5088 km² of which 4.3% is covered by forests [13]. The natural tourist potential of the county is largely represented by the hydrographic network. Also, the county register’s several nature reserves, among which Iezer-Calarasi, Ciocanesti Island or Ciornuleasa Forest. The anthropic tourist potential is largely represented by church settlements. Among the most representative are the Church of Plataresti Monastery, Negoiesti Monastery or Frunzanesti Monastery. Due to the relief, the main activity in Calarasi County is agriculture.

Research Methodology

This study focuses on the indicators for managing a sustainable tourist destination developed by the European Union. The purpose of this study is to present the evolution of sustainable development indicators in tourism regarding Calarasi county to find out if this county, as a tourist destination, can be included in the sphere of practicing sustainable tourism. The present study presents a quantitative approach to the notion of sustainable tourism, based on the calculation and analysis of the dynamics of sustainable indicators developed by the European Union. The European system of indicators for sustainable tourism comprises four broad categories of indicators: tourism management indicators, indicators on the economic value of tourism, indicators on the social and cultural impact of tourism and indicators on the impact of tourism on the environment.

Each category contains several basic indicators and several optional indicators. This study focuses on the calculation of basic indicators. Due to the restrictions on the epidemiological situation created by the Covid19 virus, which prevented a thorough field research, only some of the basic indicators developed by the European Union were selected. Thus, among the selected indicators are: “Percentage of destination that has an action plan on sustainable tourism; the number of monthly overnight stays; average length of stay; occupancy rate of accommodation units; jobs in tourism, expressed as a percentage of total jobs; the number of tourists per 100 residents; percentage of employees in tourism by sex; the volume of waste produced at the destination; discharged wastewater [2]. Also, for the analysis, the existing accommodation capacity indicator was taken into account, being an indicator of territorial sustainable development [14]. The research included the following steps:

• Analysis of the Development Plan of Calarasi County;

• Analysis of the Sustainable Development Strategy of Calarasi County;

• Analysis of the evolution of indicators over five years, in the period 2015-2019.

Quantitative data were collected from the website of the National Institute of Statistics [15].

Results

Action plan regarding sustainable tourism in Calarasi County

Through the National Strategy for Sustainable Development 2013- 2020-2030, Romania has set two major directions of action, namely: capitalizing on the cultural and natural heritage and improving the quality of tourism-specific infrastructure. The capitalization of the cultural heritage will be achieved by restoring the objectives and by modernizing the infrastructure. Romania also aims to modernize the tourism infrastructure in order to sustainably capitalize on the natural resources at its disposal. Moreover, Romania aims to consolidate and promote its national tourism brand [16].

At county level, through the Development Plan of Calarasi County for the period 2014-2020, Calarasi County Council started several projects on sustainable development, and one of the priorities was entitled "development of cultural, tourist and sports infrastructure, but at by 2020, only 23.73% of projects on this priority have been implemented [17]. Thus, through the prism of the Development Plan of Calarasi County and the Sustainable Development Strategy of Calarasi County it is found that the destination percentage indicator that has an action plan on sustainable tourism, with monitoring and evaluation mechanisms is met, reaching even the percentage of 100% since the two documents mentioned above have applicability on the entire territory of the county.

According to the Development Plan of Calarasi County, two measures were drawn up that aimed at prioritizing the development of cultural, tourist and sports infrastructure. The first measure with reference to tourism was the development of the tourist infrastructure, and the concrete actions for this measure aimed at creating a tourist circuit around the lakes on the Mostistea river valley and establishing a tourist port in Calarasi and one in Oltenita. The second measure referred to the promotion of tourist objectives on the territory of the county, and the concrete actions referred to the promotion of an ecological tourism within the Danube, the promotion of religious tourism and the promotion of cycling tourism on the Danube meadow.

Although the measures, actions and targets have been well established, it is quite a long way from scriptural to factual, that is, neither measure was implemented [18]. In this respect, the existence of a plan on sustainable tourism is in vain if the measures are not implemented. Within the Sustainable Development Strategy of Calarasi County for the period 2021-2027, Calarasi County Council sets other directions of action, such as encouraging and stimulating the increase of investments regarding the tourist accommodation infrastructure and related services, rehabilitation and capitalization of heritage objectives, achievement tourism promotion of the county at national and European level [18]. At the same time, it is predicted that by implementing these directions of action there will be a 20% increase in the number of arrivals in 2026 compared to 2019, and the average stay will increase from 2.43 days to 3 days. Certainly, achieving these results consists in the professionalism that the county project managers will demonstrate.

Number of overnight stays per month in the period 2015- 2019

The number of overnight stays is one of the most important indicators of tourist traffic, because with its help you can calculate the average stay, and from the point of view of sustainable tourism, this indicator can be correlated with electricity consumption, water consumption or quantity of drained water. The number of overnight stays in the period 2015-2019 for Calarasi County is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Number of overnight stays per month in the period 2015-2019 (made by the authors based on data taken from National Institute of Statistics) [15].

The largest increase in the number of overnight stays is recorded in February 2018, compared to February 2016, the increase being by 7007 overnight stays, which means an increase of 4.86 times. Also, the largest decrease was registered in December 2019 compared to December 2018, the decrease being 1292 nights. Both the increase and the decrease in the number of overnight stays may be due to the higher or lower number of tourists. In terms of revenues, a higher number of tourists generates higher revenues, but it should not be overlooked that as the number of tourists increases, so do the costs.

Average length of stay in the period 2015-2019

Calculated as a ratio between the number of nights spent and the number of tourists, the average stay indicates the average number of days tourists spend in a given destination. Also, a large number of days spent in a destination generate income, but also tailor-made costs. When we talk about costs, we must not only consider the economic meaning of the notion of cost, but we must also look carefully at the social meaning of the notion of cost. Table 2 presents the values of the average stay for the period 2015- 2019.

Table 2: The average stay.

Because Calarasi County Council [18] expects that in 2026, the average stay will be 3 days, by applying the average increase method, the average number of days that tourists will spend in 2026 in Calarasi County will be forecast.

The average stay in the period 2015-2019 is 2.26 days. Absolute change from year to year, calculated by the formula

,where xn is the value of the average stay in the last year of the analyzed period, x1 is the value of the average stay in the first year of the analyzed period, and n is the total number of years in the analyzed period, it is 0.09 days per year. Average index of dynamics, calculated by the formula

, is 1.0407, and the relative average change, calculated with the Source: Made by the authors based on data taken from National Institute of Statistics [19].

formula R = (I-1)*100 is 4.07% per year. Thus, in the period 2015- 2019, the average stay increased by 0.09 days per year, which means an increase of 1,0407 times, that is at a rate of 4.07% per year [19].

According to the results in Table 3, the average stay in 2026 is expected to be 3.07 days, which means a higher value than that forecast by the Calarasi County Council. The growth rate of the average stay can indicate a steady increase in both the number of overnight stays and the number of tourists. A longer stay does not affect the tourist destination to the extent that local authorities take all necessary measures for the sustainable use of local resources and if tourists behave responsibly.

Table 3: Forecasting the average stay with the average increase method.

Occupancy rate of accommodation units

Sustainability is closely linked to efficiency, and economic principles say that an economic activity is efficient as long as maximum result is achieved with a minimum of effort. The occupancy rate of accommodation units is a very important indicator that indicates the efficiency of the use of accommodation capacity. The occupancy rate of accommodation units is calculated as the ratio between the numbers of nights spent and the accommodation capacity in operation. The occupancy rate of accommodation units for the period 2015-2019 is presented in Table 4.

Table 4: Occupancy rate of accommodation units for the period 2015- 2019.

The results in Table 4 show a rather low accommodation rate, and this means that the accommodation units in Calarasi County use the accommodation capacity inefficiently. More specifically, the importance of this indicator lies in the fact that, unlike the variable costs that occur with the occupancy of accommodation capacity, the fixed costs are also recorded when the accommodation capacity is occupied in proportion of 100% and when it is occupied in proportion of 13% or 23.69%.

Number of jobs in tourism, related to the activity of hotels and restaurants at the local level

Human resources are the driving force of any economic activity, especially in tourism, because "the basic economic function of tourism is the function of staff" [20]. Moreover, the field of tourism cannot be ranked among the most technological economic sectors, so in tourism, the labor factor has a higher share than in other economic sectors [21]. Also, the importance of human resources in tourism is due to the fact that most of the tourism staff works directly with tourists. Thus, the staff has the responsibility to make it possible for the tourist to return to the tourist destination. The distribution of human resources in local tourism, more precisely in restaurants and hotels is presented in Table 5.

Table 5: The labor resource of local tourism.

The lack of tourist activity in the county is also signaled by the low rate of employees in total human resources. The results in Table 4 show that the number of employees in the tourism sector does not exceed 1% of the total workforce. Moreover, it is observed that the total labor resource is dominated by men, but in terms of the tourism sector, women have a higher share than men. It should also be noted that in the analyzed period, the number of men employed in the tourism sector shows a fluctuating trend, while the number of women employed in the tourism sector shows an upward trend. At the same time, the difference between the number of female employees and the number of male employees fluctuates between 150 and 350 people. The analysis is not very comprehensive, as it omits employees from travel agencies and leisure units.

Number of tourists per 100 residents

The number of tourists is a basic indicator of tourist traffic and expresses the number of tourists arriving at a certain destination. The presence of tourists in a certain place not only brings benefits, but also brings economic disadvantages, such as rising prices for consumer goods, or social, such as congestion. The case of Vienna is well known for its overcrowding due to the large influx of tourists. As a result, the resident population began to become violent, at least on a declarative level. Some authors [22] have concluded that the tourist agglomeration is due to travel agencies and the number of stars that hotels have. Thus, there are two characteristics of tourists traveling to well-known and crowded destinations, namely that he prefers organized trips and that one of the reasons for the trip would be the degree of comfort offered by the accommodation units. Other authors [7] have concluded that the tourist agglomeration is correlated with foreign real estate investments. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the multiplier effect of tourism, in the sense that in addition to tourism, other related industries can be developed, which contributes to local development. It should not be forgotten that too many tourists can also contribute to the deterioration of the identity of the tourist destination and to the disturbance of the local population. The number of tourists in relation to the resident population of Calarasi County is presented in Table 6.

Table 6: Number of tourists per 100 residents.

The indicator number of tourists per 100 residents registered an upward trend due to continuous increases in the number of tourists and decrease in the number of resident population from 2017 to 2019. Compared to a single resident, the value of the indicator is subunit, which means that the county Calarasi is not crowded in terms of tourism and that local authorities and businesses do not make high efforts to manage the flow of tourists.

The volume of waste and wastewater discharged in Calarasi County

Waste and discharged wastewater are two indicators of sustainable tourism with an impact on the environment. The favorable situation for the environment is that these indicators have the lowest possible values, or that the waste goes through the recycling process, and the wastewater through the treatment process. These two indicators can be correlated with the degree of education of the inhabitants, but also with the specific infrastructure that the local authorities make available to the citizens. Moreover, the way of collecting waste can be a business card of the tourist destination, so as to become a reason for travel. The volume of household waste generated by the inhabitants of Calarasi County in the period 2014- 2018 is presented in Figure 2, and the volume of wastewater in the period 2015-2019 is presented in Table 7.

Table 7: The volume of wastewater discharged in Calarasi County

The volume of household waste generated by the inhabitants of Calarasi County registers a fluctuating trend in the period 2014- 2018, the maximum quantity being registered in 2018, that is 213 kilograms per inhabitant, and the minimum quantity was registered in 2015, that is 106 kilograms per inhabitant. Figure 2 shows that the volume of waste generated by the inhabitants of Calarasi County is below the national average, which has a constant of 253 kilograms per capita. Positioning below the national average is a positive aspect, as residents show responsibility for the environment.

Figure 2: The volume of household waste generated by the inhabitants of Calarasi County (made by the authors based on the data taken from [15].

As in the case of household waste, Calarasi County registers a fluctuating trend regarding the volume of wastewater. It is observed in Table 7 that in the period 2015-2019 the smallest amount of wastewater discharged was registered in 2016, that is 4258 thousand m³, where m³ is a unit of measurement and means cubic meter, and the largest amount in 2018, that is, 5448 thousand m3. Also, the share of wastewater discharged in Calarasi County in the total amount of wastewater and discharged in Romania is as follows: 0.28% in 2015, 0.22% in 2016, 0.28% in 2017, 0.29% in 2018 and 0.28 % in 2019. Reported to the total level of wastewater and wastewater, it is found that Calarasi County is not a large generator of wastewater and wastewater, given the weights previously calculated.

Existing accommodation capacity in Calarasi County

Existing accommodation capacity is an indicator that reveals the size of specific accommodation infrastructures, as it expresses the number of accommodation places. The lack of accommodation is an impediment for many areas with tourist potential, because those areas cannot be used by tourism and will benefit only hikers and not tourists, the difference being that hikers are temporary visitors, in the sense that they do not stay longer 24 hours in the visited locality [21]. Thus, accommodation capacity can be an important aspect in making the decision to visit one destination or another. The accommodation capacity in Calarasi County in the period 2015-2019 is presented in Table 8.

Table 8: Existing accommodation capacity in Calarasi County.

Based on Table 8, there is a slow increase in the number of accommodation places in Calarasi County during 2015-2019. Compared to the tourist potential in the county, the number of accommodation places is quite low, and the capitalization of the tourist potential cannot be achieved without a proper general infrastructure and especially without specific infrastructure.

Limitations of the Study

The main limitations of the present study are represented by the fact that not all the basic indicators regarding the sustainable management of the tourist destination were analyzed, so as to create the complete image of Calarasi County from the point of view of sustainable tourism. However, limits can become future directions of research.

Conclusion

Due to its riverside, Calarasi County has a special tourist potential. Moreover, the charm of the county is given by the multitude of monastic settlements and the possibility of carrying out activities specific to rural tourism, because the county has a predominantly rural and agricultural character. Thus, investments in tourism could be profitable and contribute to the socio-economic development of the county.

Regarding sustainable tourism, the local authorities have shown interest, at least in writing by developing the Development Plan of Calarasi County and by the Sustainable Development Strategy of Calarasi County. From the analysis of the two documents it seems that the local authorities encounter problems regarding the management of activities and the implementation of measures specific to tourism, and because of this what was planned was not achieved.

Compared to the accommodation capacity in operation, the average stay registers quite low values, and the occupancy rate of the accommodation units does not exceed 25%. The values of these indicators lead to the conclusion that the number of overnight stays is small compared to the number of tourists and the accommodation capacity in operation. Thus, it is found that Calarasi County, as a tourist destination, encounters problems regarding the persuasion of tourists to spend more time in the area. Also, the low occupancy rate leads to the fact that tourism activities in the area are inefficient rather than sustainable.

Regarding the number of jobs in local tourism and the gender distribution of workers, it is found that there are enough workers in tourism, compared to the number of tourists and the existing accommodation capacity. Moreover, an increase in the number of workers in tourism is profitable only if the other indicators of tourist traffic increase. It can also be seen that women have more jobs than men in local tourism, which can lead to the elimination of discrimination against women. Also in the sphere of socioeconomic indicators in tourism is the indicator the number of tourists per 100 residents. From the calculations it can be seen that it is not a crowded tourist destination, so the residents have no reason to invoke the fact that they feel irritated due to the tourist activity. Certainly, Calarasi County can preserve its local identity, because it is not affected by the tourist agglomeration that could produce certain changes in the local culture.

The local community in Calarasi County proves to be a responsible community, at least in terms of household waste produced per year and the volume of wastewater discharged. In this sense, we can consider that Calarasi County is susceptible to sustainable tourism, at least in terms of the indicators analyzed in this study, but provided that local authorities and tourist reception units invest in the development of tourism-specific infrastructure and find cost effective solutions. sustainable to succeed in attracting tourists to the area.

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