Overview on the Impact of Consumer Behavior Decisions on the Tourism Industry in Romania

The purpose of the research is to identify the changes that appear from the point of view of consumer behavior in the consumption of tourist services in the post-pandemic period with the analysis carried out on the number of tourist arrivals in Romania, the distribution of the number of tourists on tourist destinations, the capacity of tourist accommodation. and identifying the share of tourism in the Gross Domestic Product of Romania in the period 2008-2020. According to the research carried out, there is a significant decrease in the tourism industry in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a competitive return in 2021. The impact of the tourism industry on the economic development of Romania was felt at the national level. by decreasing the weight of the gross domestic product. and implicitly of the revenues received from the provision of services. Consumers notice that they are much more oriented towards digitization in the tourism industry, towards the discovery of new places to visit and with potential involvement in the sustainable development of industries. The analysis carried out suggests opportunities for investment and development of tourism in less popular areas, which can be discovered and promoted in the context of the new reality in order to increase visibility and explore the potential they hold. The tourist accommodation capacity is unevenly distributed among the tourist destinations in Romania, with most accommodation places being in seaside resorts, with the exception of Constanta, while the capacity in spa resorts and in the mountain area is lower. Thus, the need to preserve and capitalize on resources from lesser-known areas with potential is identified, in order to develop the necessary infrastructure, to increase accommodation capacities and to attract as many tourists as possible

Use of Fractal Analysis in the Evaluation of Deforested Areas in Romania

Spectacular spatial dynamics of forest areas is one of the biggest challenges for the scientific world, concerned with completing the methodologies devoted to new methodological approaches, to provide new information that is indispensable in assessing the impact of deforestation within the ecosystem. In this study, we analyzed the evolution of the deforested areas, using the fractal fragmentation index (FFI). The research is based on high-resolution satellite images of forest areas between 2000 and 2017. The use of fractal algorithms allowed the modeling of the grinding patterns, identifying obvious differences between compact and fragmented cuts. Information is needed especially in the evaluation of the areas cleared because of illegal actions. Research has shown spectacular increases in deforestation in the mountain area, the northern and central groups of the Eastern Carpathians being the most fragmented geographical regions in Romania. The study showed that deforestation led to the fragmentation of forests, which generates major natural changes. The results obtained can contribute to the identification of new approaches in national forest fund management policies by establishing a critical fragmentation threshold

Using fractal analysis in modeling the dynamics of forest areas and economic impact assessment:Maramureș County, Romania, as a case study

This study uses fractal analysis to quantify the spatial changes of forest resources caused by an increase of deforested areas. The method introduced contributes to the evaluation of forest resources being under significant pressure from anthropogenic activities. The pressure on the forest resources has been analyzed for Maramureș County, one of the most deforested counties in Romania. In order to evaluate this, the deforested areas were calculated for the period of 2001–2014, by using the Global Forest Change 2000–2014 database. The Fractal Fragmentation Index (FFI) and Fixed Grid 2D Lacunarity (FG2DL) were used to quantify the degree of fragmentation and dispersion of the forested areas, and thereby the extent to which a forest area is affected by deforestation. The process of quantifying the pressure on forested areas included the creation of a database for the period of 2000–2014 containing economic activities (turnover) related to woody recourses, important indicators of forest exploitation. Taken together, the results obtained indicate a dramatic increase in deforested areas (over 19,122 ha in total for the period of analysis), in Maramureș County

Educational fields of higher education graduates in European Union

The processes of automation and globalization are resizing workplaces through their changes. A picture of the labor market can be provided by the educational fields of the graduates. Thus, depending on the educational field, the situation regarding the distribution of bachelor’s graduates is analyzed in the article. The importance of the quality of the education and vocational training processes can be considered to be the basis of addressing the major challenges that are manifesting worldwide. Economic and social pressures influence the development of skills and competencies even for higher education. Training for the purpose of employment also contributes to increasing employability. The degree of access to jobs is higher when the level of education is higher. For the age group 15 to 64, this article presents the share of graduates having an education level between 5 and 8. Quality education can contribute to sustainable development. Thus, to identify solutions to problems that may arise in a community, the contribution of education can increase by increasing the life quality of the members from that community. In this context, for the 30–34 age group, at European level, the evolution of graduates with a tertiary level of education is analyzed. For employers, it is very important to know both the level of education and especially the fields in which they are trained. This is one of the reasons why the authors of the study carried out this analysis. Taking into account the classification of graduates according to the educational field, the research presents the situation for each of the five fields for which in 2020 there were the most numerous bachelor’s graduates

Energy Indicators in the Context of Globalization

Globalization leads to new challenges. There is a trend of growth of the population. At the same time, production processes are subject to changes. If the new technologies are based on environmental protection, then we can also be considered that the greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced. As energy requirements are rising, it is important to efficient use of natural resources. This, especially, as energy sources differ from one country to another. In this context, dependence on energy imports becomes important. From this point of view, for the countries of the European Union, the article analyzes the evolution of energy efficiency. In recent years, it trying to replace fossil fuels with renewable fuels. Analyzing the share of energy from renewable sources in total electricity allows us to observe the degree of decarbonisation of the European Union economy. The use of energy from renewable sources allows the development of green technologies and contributes to the protection of the environment. Producing of the energy in a region and transporting it to another region creates bridges and contributes to globalization. Thus, in the process of globalization, the role of energy is increasingly important. The article presents a European analysis of gross and net electricity production

Certain industry, big giving: modelling the correlation between SRI and industry risk

Today, tomorrow’s success has to be planned and evaluated according to the principles of two major theories: complexity theory and chaos theory. Concepts of globalization and sustainable development require new rules related to contemporary (investment) performance. The goal of this paper is to highlight a sustainability-based approach on investment decision optimization. The empirical study conducted in this area by estimating the parameters of a PANEL data regression model, provides that the relation between socially responsible investments (SRI) and company’s performance is based indirectly on risk opportunities

Management successors in tourism- leadership skills, competences and knowledge

A major challenge for any organization, which happens once in many years, is related to business succession. Given the specificity of the tourism industry, the takeover of a business depends on the managerial capacity of successor. Leadership is considered one of the key success factors in the businesses and therefore of their transformation. Leadership is also very important when we talk about the relationship between the members of the organization and motivating staff within them. This paper proposes to establish which are the appropriate leadership key skills, competence and knowledge for micro and small enterprises managers, for successfully taking over enterprises, within Europe’s tourism industry. For a clear picture about leadership competences, we considered the following key characteristics: management successors set an exemplary standard to co-workers and give directions both professionally and personally, management successors implement the necessary changes, management successors are open minded to new ideas and know how to assess risks, management successors check compliance of colleagues with professional, social and quality oriented standards, management successors are giving feedback and support personal development, management successors resolve conflict with and between co-workers. The secondary objective of the paper is to test correlation between leadership knowledge, skills and competences for successful business succession. To achieve these objectives, we analysed and interpreted partial results of a quantitative research, based on an online questionnaire. The results of this research can constitute a foundation to further policy papers for the business environment in European tourism

Determining forest fund evolution by fractal analysis (Suceava-Romania)

The main objective of this study is developing an analysis methodology for the forest fund dynamic. One of the most severe current issues which Romania faces is the extent of deforestation, under the pressure of economic activities, also affecting forest areas. The Global Forest Change 2000-2013 data, supplied by Maryland University, was used for the analyses conducted, being further subjected to a segmentation process, using the Colour Deconvolution plug-in of ImageJ 1.49s. The segmented images have been manually binarized, and based on the latter, the covered areas have been further calculated and expressed in km2. For this purpose, a macro was written, implemented in ImageJ 1.49s. The resulting binarized images have been fractal analyzed, using the software ImageJ 1.49s - FracLac 2015Mar6206 - Box-counting Fractal and Lacunarity Analysis. ArcGIS platform was used to draft the cartographic materials, justifying and supporting this study. The main results of this study comprise of the alarming increase in deforested areas and the large difference between official data and statistical data reported from the real field situation, which illustrates the high extent of illegal logging, reached lately. Coherent strategies for territorial management are highly required to reduce, halt and even fight against these illicit activities