Sustainable tourism is gaining importance in national agendas to encourage economic growth, social inclusion, and the protection of cultural and natural assets. More than 13 million tourists (10.6 mil. Romanians and 2.6 mil. foreigners) visited Romania in 2019, the fifth consecutive year of growth for the tourism sector. The authors have selected 10 statistical indicators to highlight the main components for tourism sustainability by using the principal component analysis (PCA). The current patterns of sustainable development of tourism and the territorial inequalities at a micro-scale were assessed based on a sustainable tourism index (STI). In addition, to observe the way indicators interact and determine each other and to analyze the territorial disparities, the hierarchical ascending classification was used. The study was performed using the statistical data available at NUTS5/LAU level provided by the National Institute of Statistics. In addition, various data and information extracted from documents published by the UNWTO, National Institute for Research and Development in Tourism, the World Bank, EUROSTAT, etc., were also used. By applying an STI, the authors were able to assess the tourism development level at a national scale in Romania, delineating the most advantaged/disadvantaged areas. The analysis of sustainable tourism in Romania shows that tourism performance is more consolidated in the big cities, the Black Sea coast, the Danube Delta and the Carpathian Mountains. Studies such as the present one are meant to provide a methodological framework that will be useful to perform a quantitative assessment of the sustainable level of tourism development in terms of economic, social and environmental performance.

The assessment and identification of risk/vulnerable groups and risk factors are vital elements that can help quantify the pandemic potential of the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus in order to plan prevention and treatment measures. The aim of the study is to identify a methodological approach of population vulnerability to the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus infection. The study identifies reliable data sources and sets up a unitary database with statistical variables, quantitative and qualitative indicators with potential for being updated and improved. The analysis takes into account a number of variables/indicators (e.g., elderly persons, population without physician care, number of people suffering from cardiovascular diseases, number of people suffering from respiratory diseases, dwellings not connected to the public water supply network, no. of medical staff, number of COVID‐19 hospitals, PCR testing laboratories, number of vaccinated persons) grouped into the key vulnerability components: exposure, sensitivity, coping capacity and adaptive capacity. They allowed the computation of the final Index of Population Vulnerability to the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus infection and the mapping of different dimensions of vulnerability. The study was performed using the statistical data available at NUTS3/County level provided by different institutions (e.g., the Ministry of Health, the National Institute of Public Health, the Strategic Communication Group, and the National Institute of Statistics). The mapping of the different degrees of vulnerability could solve a problem of visibility for possible areas with vulnerable population, but also a problem of communication between different institutional health and administrative levels, as well as between all of them and the local communities and/or professionals.

Infrastructure, particularly technical one, is basis of economic activities both in urban and rural areas. The Romanian sector of the Danube Valley covers a large area, in which the life of resident communities is shaped by the River (1,075 km long). At present, 266 local administrative units (LAU2) in the Romanian Danube Valley number 238 communes, 28 municipia and towns and a population of 1.7 million inhabitants. The study relies on the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics, the results of the Population and Housing Census (2011) and TEMPO Online Database (Internet 1). Hierarchizing LAU2 in terms of the technical-urbanistic infrastructure was made by the Hierarchical Ascending Classification (HAC). The aim was to group together territorial-administrative units by their parametric variables. There are many Danube Valley communities still unconnected to local drinking-water and sewerage systems, a restrictive factor in drawing potential investments into local economies. The study points out that the large Danubian port-cities also have the longest water and natural gas supply networks, as well as the greatest proportion of dwelling-houses connected to these systems. A fairly good situation have also some rural settlements lying close to big municipia or to tourist towns (in Danube Gorge and Danube Delta).