Rural Tourism in Marginimea Sibiului Area—A Possibility of Capitalizing on Local Resources

Abstract

The current research was motivated by observed particularities of local communities and the necessity of local rural economy diversification. Development through rural tourism is a possible sustainable response that can be implemented in many of Europe’s rural areas, including Marginimea Sibiului. Thus, the purpose of this research, and its main contribution, was to identify the specific features of the Marginimea Sibiului area and possible strategies for capitalizing on local resources through rural tourism activities. We also sought to understand the extent to which rural tourism is seen by the owners of tourist structures as a developmental possibility. We utilized a case study research method to address these questions. The research has major implications due to the questionnaires applied to the owners of rural tourism structures during August 2022, which allowed us to determine: the motivation of tourist structure owners to carry out tourism activity, the degree of development, aspects concerning the operation and management of the tourist structure, and future development and improvement of the owned products. Because the area is representative at the national level in terms of rural tourism activity, an X-ray was sketched after the conclusions were drawn, which issued some proposals for “mixing” the resources through rural tourist activities as a “presentation modality”, which may potentially have favorable future consequences.