Spatiotemporal evolution of tourist resorts in Romania: trends and regional disparities

Abstract Knowing the temporal and spatial evolution trends of tourist resorts is a key premise in the stability of the strategic directions of tourism in each area. In this context, we aimed to analyze the tourist resorts in Romania in time and space to highlight the evolutionary trends at local, county, regional and national levels. The methods of ranking, classification, weighting and kernel density at the resort, county and development region levels were used, depending on the number of resorts, the year of certification and their type. The results showed a discontinuous tourism evolution in time and an uneven distribution of tourist resorts across the Romanian territory. Most resorts are concentrated in the north-west and central regions. At the local level, tourism is concentrated in six complex tourist regions, namely, Maramureș, Bucovina, the Apuseni Mountains, the Southern Carpathians, the Prahova Valley and the Black Sea coast. The tourist resorts' evolution was marked by three distinct time intervals, with a substantial increase during 2016–2024 from 84 to 216 resorts. Knowledge of this evolution can inform tourism planning and development strategies by local and central public authorities.