Sustainable development – a priority for the Romanian tourism strategy

Tourism represents a rapidly growing sector and has become one of the largest industries in the world. It`s impact is extremely varied, because it plays an important and certainly positive role in the socio-economic and political development in destination countries and it contributes to a broader cultural understanding.. On the other hand, as a tool to create jobs, it has not fulfilled its expectations. At the same time, complaints from tourist destinations concerning massive negative impacts upon environment, culture and residents’ ways of life have given rise to a demand for a more sustainable development in tourism. Different parties will have to be involved in the process of developing sustainable tourism. This paper focuses on what the tourism industry itself can do in order to increase its sustainability and and suggests possible tourism initiatives to help solve these problems.