The Role of Geomorphosites in the Local Economy Development of the Carpathian and Sub-Carpathian Area of Vrancea County, Romania

Abstract The development of geotourism already represents an element that must be taken into consideration by the Administrative Territorial Units (ATUs) in order to obtain a sustainable economy. This study was divided into three main stages. In the first part of the study, an assessment of geomorphosites from the Carpathian and Sub-Carpathian area of Vrancea County was done, resulting in the ranking of geomorphosites. The second stage focussed on an analysis of the local economies in the studied area at the level of each ATU and four-digit Classification of National Economic Activities (NACE) code for a period of 19 years (2000–2018) using four economic indicators to determine the share of the tourism sector in the economy of each ATU. The data was used to generate trend matrices and relevant cartographic materials about the contribution of tourism to each ATU's local economy in the analysed area. The last stage consisted in drawing a parallel between the concentration of geomorphosites in the analysed area, the score obtained by them in the evaluation and the tourism sector's share trend in local economies. This study shows how the ATUs with a positive share trend in the tourism sector of the economy are directly influenced by the presence of geomorphosites in their administrative territory or in their proximity. It also emphasises the significance of geomorphosites in increasing tourism complexity in the study area, as well as in the development of tourism and local economies.