The importance of tourism in the development of local economy is a major concern of decision-makers, as well as the scientific world, tourism making a significant contribution to the sustainable development of the local economy. The study aims to identify adaptive patterns of tourist resorts from Romania, in accordance with the Decision no. 107 of 2018 approving the attestation of some localities or parts of localities as tourist resorts of national or local interest. The methodology consists of a series of statistical data analyzes for a period of 17 years, 2000-2016, which contains, at the level of territorial administrative unit, the evolution of two economic indicators considered relevant to the study, turnover and profit. This database was used in cartographic representations, to show the share of tourism from the two above-mentioned economic indicators, reported over the last year of analysis, as well as for graphical representations. The results obtained from the analyzes show different reporting patterns in which all tourist resorts from Romania fall, depending on the share of tourism in the development of the local economy.

Spa tourism has become a major sector of the international tourism market, which generates an increase in functional complexity at the level of local systems. Through an effective management policy and an appropriate marketing policy, this type of tourism can bring significant economic benefits with a positive impact on the territorial systems that have spa resources. Through the present study, we have proposed a diagnosis of the territorial systems that have important spa resources, at the level of the Romanian regions, based on statistical data offered by the National Institute of Statistics, National House of Public Pensions, as well as on economic data at territorial administrative unit level, with the main economic indicators. The methodology is based on the analysis of the two categories of statistical data on tourism, more specifically, those aimed on the evolution of available accommodation capacity, those targeting tourist flows (arrivals and overnight stays), data on the evolution of treatment tickets and data with the main economic indicators from the tourism sector. The obtained results show significant differences between spa resorts in Romania, differences determined by the level of investments made for both basic and tourist infrastructure.