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Procedia Economics and Finance 23 (2015) 1573 1577

2nd GLOBAL CONFERENCE on BUSINESS, ECONOMICS, MANAGEMENT and

TOURISM, 30-31 October 2014, Prague, Czech Republic

The Role of SPA Tourism in the Development of Local Economies

from Romania
Draghici Cristian-Constantina, Pintilii Radu-Daniela*, Peptenatu Daniela, Comanescu
Laura Georgiana a, Sirodoev Igorb
a

University of Bucharest-Faculty of Geography &CAIMT, 1, N. Balcescu Blvd., Bucharest, 010041, Romania

b
University of Bucharest - CICADIT, 4-12, Regina Elisabeta,Str., Bucharest, 030018, Romania

Abstract
The study aims to identify the SPA tourism contribution to the development of local economies in Romania, during 2000-2012, a
period in which Romanian tourism has seen a spectacular dynamic. Spa tourism has become today one of the major forms of the
international tourism, generating an increase in the local systems of functional complexity. The study aims also to examine the
importance of the SPA tourism in Romania territorial systems, which have been developed based on the SPA resources. The
study is based on analysis of a rich bibliography on the development of health tourism, as well as a quantification of this process,
for the period 1993-2012. The Spa tourism phenomenon was measured based on the evolution of the number of tickets issued
(National House of Health Insurances - CNAS), tourist traffic in the SPAs, and the evolution of the accommodation, made by
the National Institute of Statistics in Romania. A database of NACE (Classification of National Economic Activities) was built,
for the period 2000-2012, to analyze the evolution of the number of firms, number of employees and the annual growth business
and profit. The database was built for the SPAs and the total local economy also. The results confirm the working hypothesis of
the importance of the SPA tourism in the sustainable development of the local economies that have specific resources.

The Authors.
Authors.Published
Publishedby
byElsevier
ElsevierB.V.
B.V.
2014
2015 The
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Selection
and/ peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Selection and/ peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center
Keywords: territorial systems; SPA tourism; functional complexity; local economies;

Pintilii Radu-Daniel. Tel.: +4-021-305-3825

E-mail address: pinty_ro@yahoo.com

2212-5671 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Selection and/ peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center
doi:10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00400-1

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Draghici Cristian-Constantin et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 23 (2015) 1573 1577

1. Introduction
Tourism is now one of the most dynamic sectors of the global economy, as it registered a positive trend in recent
years. According to UNWTO, in 2012, the number of international arrivals for the first time exceeded the threshold
of one billion (UNWTO World Tourism Barometer). Moreover, many studies confirmed that this sector can bring
significant benefits in terms of economic (job creation, income growth, infrastructure development in general) and
social, increasing living standards (Jurowski et al. 1997; Ross 1992).
As the globalization process is present in tourism too, it becomes extremely as popular as the income increases and
the access to knowledge and technological innovation becomes easier (Cormany and Baloglu 2011). Analysis of spa
tourism in developing local economies is important because of the complex economic influences, manifested both
vertically and horizontally, in the economic system of local economic systems (Ianos et al. 2012; Peptenatu et al.
2012a; 2012b). Studying the role of health tourism in developing local economies becomes particularly important in
establishing sustainable management strategy on medium and long term, so that socio-economic benefits to be
evident in local communities. Thus, through an effective management policy to improve services, coupled with a
proper marketing policy of this type of tourism, it can bring significant economic benefits with positive impact on
these communities (Mueller and Kaufmann 2001).
2. Methodology
Quantifying the importance of spa tourism in developing local economies started with creating a comprehensive
database of all the spas in Romania. This database was realized at NACE (Classification of Economic Activities
National) level, for the period 2000-2012, and it represents an important start point for calculating the following
indicators: the evolution of the number of firms, number of employees, turnover and profit dynamics, all these by
for each spa, by reporting them to the total of local economy (Pintilii et al. 2014; Stoian et al. 2014).
3. Results
For all the spas in Romania, the evolution of the number of tourists was not the same with the evolution of the
number of tourist at national level, so that for the period under review, the number remains relatively constant,
around 10% of the total number of tourists registered in Romania (Fig. 1a). Analyzing national tourist traffic, can be
observed that the total number of tourists has decreased for the period 1994-2003. In this period the tourism sector is
marked by significant structural change. At the end of this period, the number of tourists begin to rise with slight
oscillations, peaking in 2008 with values slightly exceed 700,000 tourists (Fig. 1b).
Ratio of the number of nights and number of overnight stays in resorts show that the duration of stays for health
tourism is higher than the national level, for the period under review, ranging between 20 and 30% of total overnight
stays at the country level (Fig. 1c). Analysis of the total number of tickets and spa treatment tickets, by state
insurance, shows an overall upward trend, but it have been observed an oscillatory evolution, related to the socioeconomic aspect, in general (Fig 1d). The ratio of specific indicators for spa sectors (number of firms, number of
business, profit and number of employees) and the same indicators, show the increasing role of the spa sector in
developing local economies (Fig 2 a, b, c, d).
Analysis of turnover in spas activities, reported to the total turnover shows a fluctuant evolution, the overall
trend being downward. The trend is explained by the high values obtained by other economic sectors, but they are in
a deep connection with the spa activities (commercial activities) (Table 1).

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Draghici Cristian-Constantin et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 23 (2015) 1573 1577

10000000

16

No. of tourists in SPA resorts

10
8
6

7500000

overnights staying

no of tourists

12

Overnights staying - national

level
Overnights staying - SPA
resorts

30000000

Total no. of tourists

14

5000000

2500000

20000000

10000000

(a)

(b)

2011

(c)

100
90
80
70
60 %
50
40
30
20
10
0

450
400
350
number of tickets

2009

2007

2005

2003

2001

1999

1993

1997

2011

2009

2007

2005

2003

2001

1999

1997

1995

1993

2011

2009

2007

2005

2003

2001

1999

1997

1995

1993

1995

300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Tickets - granted by state insurance
Tickets - granted by state insurance - spa treatment(%)

Tickets - granted by state insurance - spa treatment

(d)
Fig.1. (a) Share of tourists from resorts in the total number of tourists; (b) The evolution number of tourists in resorts; (c) Evolution of the
number of overnight stays in health resorts (1993-2011); (d) The evolution of the number of tickets for leisure and spa treatment, granted by
state insurance.

1200000
turnover in spa sector

no of firms in spa sector

2500
2000
1500
1000
500

1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
0

0
0

5000

10000

15000
20000
total no of firms

25000

30000

5000000

10000000 15000000
total turnover

20000000

25000000

(b)

(a)

50000
employees in spa sector

profit in spa sector

100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
0

500000 total profit 1000000

1500000

40000
30000
20000
10000
0
0

50000

100000
total employees

150000

200000

(c)
(d)
Fig. 2. (a) number of firms in the spa/total number of firms; (b) turnover in spa/total turnover x 1000; (c) profit in spa/total profit; (d) employees
in spa/total number of employees.

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Draghici Cristian-Constantin et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 23 (2015) 1573 1577

Table 1. Share of turnover from spa sector in total turnover (%)

SPA \ Year
Amara
Bazna
Blteti
Bizusa
Borsec
Bora
Bughea
Buteni
Buzia
Calacea
ClimnetiCaciulata
Covasna
Eforie
Felix 1 Mai
Geoagiu
Herculane
Lacul Srat
Lipova
Moneasa
Monteoru
Nicolina
Ocna Sibiului
Ocna ugatag
Olneti
Predeal
Pucioasa
Scelu
Sinaia
Slanic Moldova
Slanic Prahova
Sovata
Soveja
Stna de Vale
Trgu Ocna
Tnad
Techirghiol
Tinca
Turda
Tunad
Vatra Dornei
Vlenii de
Munte
Voineasa

2000
4
3
1
6
3
8
1
30
24
0
57

2001
5
3
0
4
2
6
1
27
16
0
56

2002
4
3
0
3
2
6
0
22
18
0
50

2003
5
1
1
4
1
6
0
17
8
1
1

2004
5
0
1
7
1
7
0
16
6
1
54

2005
6
0
3
7
1
9
0
15
5
0
51

2006
8
0
3
6
1
8
1
15
4
0
50

2007
6
1
4
4
1
8
1
10
4
1
49

2008
7
2
4
3
0
8
1
9
3
1
44

2009
6
1
3
4
0
8
3
8
4
1
35

2010
5
1
2
3
1
5
1
4
4
0
33

2011
3
2
3
1
0
5
1
6
4
0
39

2012
3
2
2
2
0
5
1
8
4
0
47

11
50
31
35
48
1
2
12
6
2
2
0
23
41
4
19
12
7
73
19
4
43
9
5
10
2
4
75
7
1

12
54
33
40
47
1
2
9
6
2
2
0
22
39
4
18
12
5
65
16
4
17
6
6
9
21
4
77
8
1

9
43
30
34
53
2
3
7
5
1
3
0
28
28
2
36
12
21
54
13
8
12
3
7
8
20
3
67
8
0

11
38
30
34
52
3
5
35
5
1
2
0
1
29
2
49
14
7
73
11
1
9
4
6
10
17
4
64
7
0

10
32
28
25
41
2
4
30
2
1
3
1
42
32
2
56
15
20
61
15
8
3
3
6
7
19
4
65
8
0

9
23
26
24
56
2
4
35
3
2
1
1
52
44
3
45
18
25
52
13
2
3
4
6
7
7
4
64
8
0

9
22
23
20
32
1
5
9
2
2
1
7
45
31
3
52
18
37
51
14
4
2
4
6
6
6
3
64
7
0

9
21
24
22
25
1
3
23
3
2
2
11
42
26
3
19
19
59
55
14
2
2
5
5
8
7
3
61
9
0

12
17
26
27
18
1
3
24
3
2
1
9
40
26
4
8
20
42
59
15
1
3
5
4
8
6
3
52
8
0

11
19
25
24
11
1
3
26
3
2
11
9
48
26
8
20
18
21
66
15
8
8
6
4
7
6
2
47
9
0

11
16
23
22
14
1
3
34
2
2
20
5
50
29
10
15
23
40
63
16
3
11
7
4
2
4
3
36
8
0

11
14
24
21
12
1
2
30
1
2
7
7
41
38
12
6
26
67
63
18
1
13
8
3
1
3
2
42
7
0

13
12
8
17
18
1
2
19
2
3
3
10
45
41
2
10
37
44
65
18
3
14
7
2
1
2
2
48
7
0

Spa tourism is a fundamental part of the economic systems with tourism function, based on the exploitation of
specific resources. In these systems the spa tourism contributes to the development of other economic sectors,
developed due to the tourist flows of these spas.
Acknowledgements
The research activities were financed by the research project Territorial Management (UB/1365).
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