Bihor County has a long tradition in the therapeutic use of thermal waters. Except for the established spa resorts Felix, 1 Mai and Tinca, the study focuses on capitalizing on the spa potential in the country side. The objective of this study is to highlight the evolution and the therapeutic and recreational valorization of the spa factor in rural localities, not included in the state balneo-tourism management plan before 1989, nor in the network of the relevant ministry from the years after this date. The paper inventories the sources of geothermal water at the scale of Bihor county that were the object of individual or collective local valorization, at the level of villages or communes. The geological prospecting works and the special drillings carried out in the period 1960-1970 with the aim of identifying oil or natural gas deposits, sometimes highlighted important geothermal resources, many of them, being interpreted and exploited ad hoc by the rural population for the purpose spa. The paper analyzes how the phenomenon of therapeutic valorization of thermal waters in Bihoren villages developed and evolved, as well as the impact on the social-economic environment. It also assesses the rural development forecasts presented in the strategic development projects at the level of some communes, regarding the exploitation of geothermal waters.

This study aims to analyse the development of the balneological phenomenon in Bihor County generated by its administration, consequent of which, a classification of rural settlements and new tourist resorts has been made. The objective is to identify the current trend in the exploitation of the balneological potential of the localities in Bihor County. A comparative analysis has also been carried out between the influence of the political regimes on the exploitation of geothermal water sources at the level of rural settlements and new tourist resorts during the last five decades. The comparative analysis has revealed that the development of the balneological phenomenon has been carried out sequentially. This sequence has been influenced by the political environment and the administrative factor from the period before and after the Revolution. In the period before the Revolution, all balneological sources were managed by the public administrative factor; they were maintained and kept functional, until the Revolution of 1989, against the background of a stable political environment. In the post-Revolution period, when the decision and involvement was sometimes undertaken on a small scale (private administration), and where the interest in development was focused exclusively on the valorisation of the balneological resources, it can be said that capitalist policy favourably influenced the evolution of the balneological phenomenon at the level of rural settlements and new tourist resorts. We have concluded that the capitalist period has been favourable because, when the thermal baths were found to be unanimously managed by the public administration, they were functional in greater numbers at the rural level as compared to the post-revolutionary period. We have not analysed any “policy” documents in order to make this statement.