Towards Sustainable Tourism Development in Urban Areas: Case Study on Bucharest as Tourist Destination

Abstract

The issues of tourism sustainability and urban development have become major priorities for public policy makers across the globe. Today, maybe more than ever, there is a need for managing sustainable tourism development, and this cannot be attained without taking into account environmental problems and their global dimension. Various problems and requirements of society and of the development of urban areas may be solved by transforming the cities into attractive tourist destinations. Therefore, this study explores how sustainable tourism development in urban areas can be basically achieved and managed. The paper discloses some success factors for managing sustainable tourism development in urban areas and emphasizes a case study regarding Bucharest, the capital of Romania, as a tourist destination. The originality and value of this study consist of identifying the main ways of developing sustainable tourism in Bucharest based upon empirical research conducted with the aid of a survey. The findings of this study may be helpful for upcoming research in the area of managing sustainable urban tourism development.