INTERACTIONS IN ROMANIAN AGRITOURISMS USING A NETWORK ANALYSIS

N. Galluzzo

Abstract: Romanian countryside is characterized by small rural villages where a new generation of young farmers is able to deal with the out migration from the rural space by the agritourism. Since 2001 to 2015 there has been a significant increase of farmers diversifying their production and specialization throughout the agritourism even if this typology of tourist accommodation is unfortunately centred in few Romanian counties stand out by a significant endowment of attractions or by previous specific investments in order to implement the role and function of tourism as a stimulus of socio-economic development in Romanian
rural areas. Using a quantitative approach this paper has assessed by the Social Network Analysis (SNA) the main relationships between diffusion of agritourism in Romania, specifically in 41 administrative counties, and tourism growth over 15 year time. Findings have pointed out as over the time agritourisms have arose their diffusion and rootedness in some Romanian administrative counties where arrivals and tourist accommodations are increased as a consequence of investments in human and social capital in one side and by financial supports allocated by the European Union in the other side. Nowadays, Romanian agritourisms are able to be a good change for farmers due to a rediscover of traditional food even if one of the main bottlenecks is a poor endowment of infrastructures in some scattered rural villages.

Keywords: agritourism; rural development; rural villages; Social Network Analysis

Date published: 2017-08-28