The competitiveness of tourist destinations presents, from the perspective of sustainability, certain benefits in terms of local and regional development: the involvement of local authorities (city, local and county councils, population) in the conservation of tourist resources, the involvement of tourism agencies in the promotion of rural areas, the creation of brands for each tourist destination/region and the protection of cultural-historical heritage from degradation. Competitiveness, as a segment of sustainability, integrated in Romanian local communities, is necessary in order to offer tourists an unmistakable experience of the natural and anthropogenic tourism potential of destinations, to raise the population’s awareness, to preserve traditions, customs and habits and to practice tourism based on sustainability, awareness and without any pollution of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This study aims to highlight the image of Romania’s tourism competitiveness, which could support the tourism economy in the long term, by analysing the Global Tourism and Travel Competitiveness Index (TTCI) in Romania, compared to two other neighbouring countries, Bulgaria and Hungary. The Global Competitiveness Index provides an integrative picture of the main sub-indices that interfere in the formation of a country’s competitiveness, with insights on the 12 pillars that intervene in the sustainable development of tourist destinations worldwide.

The paper aims at adapting the knowledge regarding the capitalization of tourist resources to the method of tourist choremas in the Oltenia region, Romania, thus creating a tool for planning and organizing the geographical space for sustainable development. The tourism choremas method uses the graphic and cartographic modelling of the territory of the South-West Oltenia region, and in a post-COVID-19 period it is important that the research can help in increasing the productivity in tourism, which can lead to higher incomes for managers in the tourism sector and for the locals from different rural/disadvantaged area of the region. GIS (Geographical Information Systems) represents a key element for the future development of tourism in the virtual environment, given the fact that many travellers use virtual electronic systems to see the tourist destination, surroundings, protected areas, accommodation, tourist routes, recreation and entertainment areas (zoos, hunting areas), etc. Choremes of the Oltenia region were created using ArcGIS 10.1 software, showing different entities and a series of attributes (descriptive elements) marked on the created maps as follows: elements of the natural environment (landforms altimetry, hydrographic network, lakes, national parks and reserves, waterfalls); man-made environment (roads, landmarks—churches, monasteries, museums); or conventional delimitations (county boundary, the boundaries of the two areas—Northern and Southern Oltenia). Four successive stages were conducted in order to create the choremes using the GIS software: (1) creating the database for the analysis of the studied destination; (2) processing the statistical data for Northern and Southern Oltenia; (3) the interpretation of the data obtained in correlation with the specialized literature on the capitalization of tourism resources and forms of tourism existing in the region; and (4) cartographic representation. The chorematic maps are represented at the scale of the geographical territory where the study analysis is carried out. The representation of physico-geographical elements, but also of touristic elements, was represented by lines, points and polygons, using the vector and raster spatial data model. The chorematic method proves to be innovative and up-to-date especially for the organization of the tourist space, for the sustainable development of the region and for the tourism research activity in the area.

Vâlcea County in the South-West Oltenia Region, Romania, has a great diversity of tourist destinations and boasts an impressive number of monasteries, churches and places of worship. This research aims to comprehensively investigate how tourists perceive the main reasons for visiting religious settlements and the frequency in Vâlcea County, situated in the South-West Oltenia Region, by employing a two-stage methodology to understand the interplay of demographic variables, travel behaviors and individual motivations, while utilizing GIS and SPSS for spatial and quantitative analysis. The two stages are: (1) the analysis of the specialized literature to identify the motivations, beliefs and tourists’ perceptions regarding religious tourism and pilgrimage and (2) statistical analyses and interviews with internal stakeholders (residents), which present their tourist and religious perspective on Vâlcea County. The research questions aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the intricate interplay between demographic variables, travel behaviors and individual motivations within this distinctive context. The research significantly contributes to furthering our understanding of the behavior of participants in religious tourism and pilgrimage in Vâlcea County, highlighting that certain variables, such as gender, education level and occupation, may or may not significantly impact their preferences and choices. Geographical Information System (GIS) software was used to map the study area and, at the same time, the main places of worship that were visited by tourists. The SPSS (version 15.0) program was used to investigate and analyze the quantitative research data. The results reveal that, in Vâlcea County’s religious tourism and pilgrimage, gender, age and education level do not significantly impact travel choices or visit durations. However, occupation emerges as a crucial factor influencing transportation preferences, while respondents’ place of origin shows no significant association with the presence of accompanying individuals during religious visits. The current research was limited by its focus on a single case study of Vâlcea County in the South-West Oltenia Region and the scarcity of previous studies on religious tourism and pilgrimage in Vâlcea County.

Due to the global market competition, urban transformations affected most cities which wanted to attract more economic and social resources. The level of urban perceptions and their representations as mental images occupy a more important role in obtaining a successful city. In this way it is created a space that is interesting and enjoyable, being also exposed to all the changes that are taking place due to the advances in architecture and infrastructure. This paper will focus on urban image assessment at the cognitive level using an adaptation of the Lynch method, by identifying the five elements in the urban space: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks, leading to imageability and legibility characterization of the image. In this realm, the case study of Craiova city serves as a model of urban evaluation and will be explored. Interviews were conducted with residents of the city to quantify their perception about the urban image elements. The obtained results of the urban image perception are mapped and will be analyzed with aerial images in order to determine the type of urban fabric that is dominant in the city, the fine grain or the coarse grain layout. The results show that the five elements of the Lynch image of the city can be easily mapped and assessed and that a mixture between fine grain and coarse grain is the best solution identified for the city. The paper concludes by outlining the importance of urban image along with other geographical studies in the sustainable planning and development of cities.

The research presents the results of a survey carried on in Craiova, one of the largest Romanian cities, which contains numerous buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some of which were reconsolidated and brought back to use, while others are still decaying. The aim was to spatially investigate residents’ perceptions of the built heritage in the historical city center of Craiova based on questionnaires and mapping perceptions using the Emotional GIS (EGIS) methodology proposed by Wang (2021) and the extent to which this heritage could be a valuable asset for cultural tourism. The alteration of function as well as the context for part of the historical area of the city center testify to the musealization of the study area. The large number of buildings included on the heritage list outlines the characteristics of a living open-air museum, capitalizing on the heritage in situ.

This research study presents the spatio-temporal distribution of the main agricultural crops in Romania using a modern digitalisation technique, namely interactive GIS mapping. Interactive GIS mapping includes various features specific to the development of sustainable Romanian agriculture, including the arable area of Romania, information on the area (hectares) cultivated with corn, wheat, sunflower, and rape during the 1990–2018 period, the degree of mechanisation, the number of tractors, and information regarding the landforms, a natural factor in relation to cultivated surfaces. Agricultural land should be properly used based on its ability to meet the demands of consumers of traditional Romanian products with an ecological label, but also the needs of the local population, and, at the same time, to ensure the sustainability of the natural environment through the practice of ecological agriculture. The purpose of this research is to provide an overview of the current state of the main agricultural crops in Romania. From a theoretical but also practical point of view, this research presents, for the first time, a retrospective analysis of each county in Romania in terms of the geospatial distribution of major agricultural crops using interactive GIS mapping. Geospatial data were processed in ArcGIS Geographic Information System 10.7.2. The results of this study show that the most extensive cereal areas at the county level in Romania are corn and wheat. The largest areas cultivated with corn and wheat in 2018 were recorded in the Western Plain, the Romanian Plain, and the Moldavian Plateau. For wheat, increases were also recorded in the Dobrogea Plateau. The intensification of labour productivity and the promotion of the sustainability of the natural environment in Romania is presented through the main indicator (the number of tractors) of the degree of mechanisation of agriculture. The higher values of this indicator are in the counties of Bihor, Timiș, and Maramureș. Limitations in Romania’s agricultural data present substantial challenges to the sector’s development and sustainability. Addressing these challenges is essential for informed decision making, policy formulation, and effective resource allocation.