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.

Rural tourism is characterized as a form of self-initiated tourism, which has, in the foreground, the involvement of the local population, which helps considerably in supporting and promoting traditions, crafts, and customs. The methodology of this research is based on the study of the specialized literature by investigating a case study regarding the tourist activity of rural tourism in Vâlcea County. The research hypotheses forecast and serve the general objective of the study, namely presenting that rural tourism can be a realistic solution for the sustainable socio-economic development of Vâlcea County. This work aims to identify the main development areas of Vâlcea County where the trends of development and practice of rural tourism are significantly important for the Oltenia Region as a first step towards unique research for promotion, sustainability, and socio-economic development in rural areas.

Sohodol Gorges has become a location of interest for tourists looking for ecological experiences and outdoor activities. The main purpose of the present study is to evaluate the attitudes of Romanian tourists toward the development of geotourism in this region following the COVID-19 pandemic. In conjunction with the research questions, hypotheses, variables, and research methodology, the following research objectives were emphasized in this study of the Oltenia region: (1) to investigate how certain socio-demographic variables, such as age, gender, level of education, and occupation, influence tourists' perceptions of the various aspects of geotourism development in the Sohodol Gorges; (2) to analyze the different dimensions of geotourism, including its economic, ecological, and socio-cultural impacts, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of how geotourism is perceived in the study area in the post-pandemic context. For data processing and analysis, EViews software version 12.0 was used, enabling complex statistical analyses such as multiple regressions and correlation coefficient determination. These techniques were essential for identifying and interpreting the relationships between demographic variables and tourist perceptions. The results of this research provide a detailed picture of the influence of demographic and behavioral factors on tourists' perceptions in the context of post-COVID-19 geotourism development in the Sohodol Gorges of the Romania. Education level and age play a significant role in shaping economic and environmental perceptions, indicating that tourists with higher education levels are more aware of the economic and ecological impact of tourism.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) complicates academic integrity by blurring the boundary between assistance and authorship, enabling cognitive delegation, and introducing algorithmic mediation into assessment and institutional decisions. This article presents a critical conceptual synthesis, not a systematic review. A purposive corpus of 64 academic and policy sources was examined through comparative coding, negative-case analysis, source-to-concept tracing, and normative interpretation. The synthesis distinguishes integrity of academic work, integrity of assessment, and institutional procedural integrity. It proposes an integrated governance framework connecting preventive governance, ethical AI literacy, governed verification, restorative accountability, and proportionate discipline. The framework argues that policy clarity must reach the assessed task; AI literacy supports judgement but cannot neutralize strategic misconduct; automated indicators require corroboration, competent human review, reasons, and appeal; and restorative processes are appropriate only when harm, affected parties, voluntary participation, responsibility, repair, and reintegration are substantively addressed. Its principal contribution is a case-to-governance feedback mechanism through which integrity cases generate institutional learning and trigger revision of policy, assessment design, literacy provision, and technology oversight. Seven testable conceptual propositions, a response-selection pathway, role-specific duties, staged implementation responsibilities, and evaluation indicators are provided. The framework remains a normative and empirically testable proposal rather than a validated intervention or universally effective solution.

Wine tourism model is an industry with great prospects for economic development in the rural areas of the Oltenia Region. This study develops a conceptual framework of wine tourism model through a review of the relevant literature and an exploratory study of the Oltenia region. Although it has a wine industry with development prospects, the region is well positioned to market new tourism products after the COVID-19 pandemics, which contain the wine experience and product based on a unique regional identity in Romania.The maps made in this exploratory study can thus be integrated with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) databases to better understand the environmental exploration and defining elements of Romanian vineyards.For the map with defining elements of vineyards in Romania (for the tourism model), focused on the Oltenia region exploratory study, the data were downloaded from National Institute of Statistics (NIS), for the year 2023.In conclusion, we believe that it is necessary to develop new wine products after the COVID-19 pandemic, containing the wineries and vineyards of the South-West Oltenia region, but also the organization of wine festivals, because they can provide a favorable environment for the development of new collaborative partnerships and investments between wine producers and stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality industry.

The Sohodol Gorges has become a location of interest for tourists seeking ecological experiences and outdoor activities. The main purpose of the present study is to evaluate the attitudes of Romanian tourists toward the development of geotourism in this region following the COVID-19 pandemic. In conjunction with the research questions, hypotheses, variables, and research methodology, the following research objectives were emphasized in this study of the Oltenia region: (1) investigate how certain socio-demographic variables, such as age, gender, level of education, and occupation, influence tourists’ perceptions of the various aspects of geotourism development in the Sohodol Gorges; (2) analyze the different dimensions of geotourism, including its economic, ecological, and socio-cultural impacts, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of how geotourism is perceived in the study area in the post-pandemic context. For a qualitative evaluation of the information presented in this study, the authors used a qualitative survey with open questions and closed questions as a data collection method. For data processing and analysis, the EViews version 12.0 software package was used, enabling complex statistical analyses such as multiple regressions and correlation coefficient determination. These techniques were essential for identifying and interpreting the relationships between demographic variables and tourist perceptions. The research results provide a detailed picture of the influence that demographic and behavioral factors have on tourists’ perceptions in the context of post-COVID-19 geotourism development in the Sohodol Gorges of Romania. Education level and age play a significant role in shaping economic and environmental perceptions, indicating that tourists with higher education levels are more aware of the economic and ecological impact of tourism.