Interest in the study of rural tourism and its contribution to the development of rural mountain communities has increased in recent decades. It is recognized that many factors are involved in tourism development, and that residents play a key role in ensuring its success at a local level.This study aims to investigate the perceptions of the inhabitants of the mountainous rural area in the North-East Region of Romania (MRA) towards rural tourism, and to verify whether the development of entrepreneurship in this area is consistent with the positive/negative perceptions identified. A total of 1277 questionnaires were collected from the inhabitants of 78 sampled municipalities, and their processing using statistical methods shows that the inhabitants of two counties have positive perceptions of the living conditions in their communities, the involvement of the authorities in the development of tourism, and the exploitation of tourist attractions. On the other hand, comparing the values of entrepreneurship development indicators shows that two counties concentrate 91% of all active businesses and 94% of newly created businesses in the food and accommodation sector at the level of the study area, and the rate of creation of new businesses and their density have much higher values in these counties than in the county where the analyzed aspects are perceived negatively. The information provided by the research is particularly useful for regional and local authorities to make decisions related to more consistent funding of rural mountain tourism.

<p>Rural tourism is an activity that protects the environment in comparison with the consumer industries, becoming an ally in the conservation of the environment. All of the rural areas of the country, the most consistent through potential is the mountain area, which is why we chose as a case study, the mountain region of Suceava county. Starting from the hypothesis that the tourist offer of the mountain area is attractive, the research aims at the degree of tourist satisfaction with the tourist offer of the rural area of ​​Suceava county.  </p><p>The methodology is based on the conducted survey on the basis of the questionnaire by the method of face-to-face interview, between September 1 and November 30, 2019.The questionnaire was anonymous in order to ensure the highest degree of sincerity of the answers and was applied to a number of 630 tourists from the mountain region of Suceava county. </p><p>The present study shows that most tourists who choose Suceava county as their destination, reside in neighboring counties, especially in the region of Moldova. An element of attractiveness is the lower prices compared to other tourist areas of the country. The economic facility of granting holiday vouchers and cards from the public domain in Romania, makes the tourist demand in non-polluting spaces increasing.   On the other hand, the statistical data confirm that the number of the agrotourism pensions in Suceava county are increasing from year to year; Suceava  is ranking in 2019 on the second place after Brasov county.The hypothesis confirms that rural tourism is a growing phenomenon, but the length of stay of tourists in the rural area is on average 1-3 days.</p><p>In conclusion, the following analysis of the results it is found that tourists are attracted by the beauty of the landscape of the existing cultural objectives, the local gastronomy, the hospitality of the hosts, all at a lower prices compared to areas of the great tourist interest in the country.</p><p><strong>Keywords:  Rural Tourism, Mountain area, tourists, Suceava County</strong></p>

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The mountain area of Suceava county has many unique and well-preserved tourist resources that give personality to this space through age, originality, traditional rural households and a generous number of accommodation places. The data of the National Institute of Statistics from 2018 on the capacity of tourist accommodation, places Suceava county on the third place, after Constanţa and Braşov counties. The present study follows the perception of the representatives of the public administration vis-à-vis rural tourism and its development in the mountain area of Suceava county. The research highlights the role of local authorities in the development of rural tourism and its promotion from the point of view of those in local management. The methodology is based on the survey conducted on the basis of the questionnaire by the method of face-to-face interview, between September 1 and November 30, 2019 in the mountain area of Suceava county. It is found that in all the localities in the mountain area, the interviewees are aware of the existing tourism potential and have responded to the requests made by the tour operators in the 36 studied communes. In conclusion, following the analysis of the results, it is found that rural tourism is an economic alternative for the inhabitants of the rural area of Suceava, with real possibilities of development, benefiting from the support of the local authorities.

The measures taken by the states of the world to limit the disease with the Sars Cov 2 virus imposed, in the first phase of the pandemic, numerous restrictions on mobility and physical distance, a situation that significantly changed the way tourism is carried out worldwide. In this context, some typologies of tourist activities were highlighted, which before the pandemic represented only a small segment of tourist flows and economic benefits. The natural areas with dispersed tourist objectives, with low population densities, the local villages, have entered the sphere of interest of some social categories of population that access the international tourism or the urban cultural areas. Virtual tourism has gained more and more ground, the circulation of tourist information in the online environment has intensified through photos showing the behavior of tourists in the circumstances of the pandemic. The study aims to measure, through a comparative and diachronic analysis (before and during the pandemic), the perception and representation of tourism through geocoded photography and assess how the attractiveness of tourist resources in two geographical areas (Suceava County and Maramures County) has changed. Among the existing web photo distribution platforms, we analyzed the geocoded photos on the Picasaweb platform, this platform being in direct contact with the web service and Google street viewing services, popular in Romania. The research aims at analyzing the photographic appearances of the localities from the two counties, Suceava and Maramures in the period February - August 2020. Research methods used: analysis of tourist areas, statistical recording of tourist flows during the pandemic, comparison of the two regions with the intensity of tourist traffic reflected in the attached photos online, cartographic method by presenting tourist information on territorial options. In conclusion, it is observed that the hostile period of the pandemic had a positive impact on the sustainability of tourism, especially of those territories that are of great interest and became overcrowded in the same period of previous years.