Tourism and Public Health: an Integrated Model for Sustainable Community Development. Case Study of Romania (Turda)

Communities suffering from bankrupt industries often struggle in meeting the health needs of their population. In Romania, the older population still remains attached to the traditional spa tourism to meet their needs of relaxation and health cure. This paper uses Turda Salt Mine, a recently modernized site in Romania located in an area widely recognized for industrial pollution prior to '89. An exploratory, qualitative heuristic methodology was used to identify possible emerging patterns in the way post-communist local governments have engaged with the local social capital in designing sustainable integrated tourism planning and development.Findings suggest that the local population is neglected in the distribution of economic and health benefits, while carrying the environmental costs of increasing tourist numbers visiting the facility. In addition, there seems to be an overall pessimist view of the relationship between the local community and state representatives in terms of civil engagement and genuine interest to achieve one of the major objectives of the European investment: serve the public domain. The authors propose a model of integrated development based on four pillars (Academic, Health, Business and, Social, Cultural and Natural Heritage) to enhance the well-being of the local communities where resources are available.