In 1998 eight development regions were set up in Romania (North-West, North-East, South-West, South-East,
South, West, Center, Bucharest and Ilfov), with a view to efficiently absorb the EU funds, in order to reduce the
socio-economic development disparities. Tourism is an important sector of the world economy and also of the
development regions, contributing to economic growth in less developed areas, which yet have a high tourism
potential. The main aim of the present paper is the analysis of development disparities of tourism in Romania, by
tracking the changes that have taken place since the moment of creation of the development regions, in the
periods of pre-accession and post-accession of Romania to the EU. The research comprises a cluster analysis
based on tourism supply and demand indicators in the regions and counties of Romania; the main hypothesis of
the study is that the development differences of Romanian tourism have diminished after the accession, as within
the regions there are counties with greater tourism activity, that may turn into engines of regional economic
growth
