Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, Vol 10, No 5 (2014)

Abstract

Tourism represents an economic activity with a special growth potential and rate that, managed in a proper way, can represent an important means for ensuring a sustainable development and to promote and sustain local communities. During the past period, the development of tourism raised awareness among policy makers, local governments, tourists, etc. about the effect of tourism on the environment, this way the development of a sustainable tourism being a necessity.  The present paper aims to outline a series of implications at communities' level that the relationship between tourism and sustainable development may generate, focusing on one of the most representative and important components of sustainable tourism, respectively ecotourism and its particular forms of rural and agrotourism.