A Short Analysis Of The Forms Of Sustainable Tourism Present In Selected Central And Eastern European Countries

The tourism industry has become one of the most important components of the world economy. It generates significant incomes and it employs millions of individuals worldwide. However, in the last three decades, arguments were made for the negative impacts of the tourism industry in specific destinations. These negative impacts include: pollution, destruction of habitat, deforestation, financial leakages etc. Because of these, sustainable tourism emerged as an answer to these problems. Its principles are based on protecting the environment and local culture and spreading the wealth among all stakeholders. During this period of time, several forms of sustainable tourism began to take shape and became important promoters of sustainable tourism: ecotourism, volunteer tourism, slow tourism and many others. In the present paper we will take a look at how these forms of sustainable tourism are present in six central and eastern European countries: Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Of course, our main focus will be Romania, and the way it matches up with its neighbouring countries. Among others, we will try to identify the challenges and issues these forms of tourism face in these countries and also what are the opportunities for the near future. The shortcomings of the paper are related to the lack of statistical data on national and international websites.