{"id":116340,"date":"2023-02-02T18:59:15","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T16:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/baile-tusnad-and-surroundings-the-7th-ecotourism-destination\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:52:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T11:52:25","slug":"baile-tusnad-and-surroundings-the-7th-ecotourism-destination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/baile-tusnad-and-surroundings-the-7th-ecotourism-destination\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;B\u0103ile Tu\u0219nad and Surroundings&#8221;: The 7th Ecotourism Destination"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The &#8220;B\u0103ile Tu\u0219nad and Surroundings&#8221; area, consisting of the administrative-territorial units (ATU) of B\u0103ile Tu\u0219nad, Cozmeni, S\u00e2ncr\u0103ieni, S\u00e2nsimion, S\u00e2ntimbru, and Tu\u0219nad (Harghita County), represents Romania&#8217;s 7th ecotourism destination recognized by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism (MAT).<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;Ecotourism Destination&#8221; concept has been developed since 2012 by the central public authority for tourism, in partnership with representative national institutions and organizations (the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, the National Institute for Research and Development in Tourism, and the Association of Ecotourism in Romania), based on the National Ecotourism Strategy, the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC), and the European Ecotourism Standard (EETLS). At that time, Romania was the first country in Europe to launch such a recognition system for ecotourism destinations.<\/p>\n<p>In previous years, the commission for designating ecotourism destinations in Romania, composed of representatives from the four institutions mentioned above, evaluated the fulfillment of criteria and granted ecotourism destination status to the following areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Transylvanian Hills (Colinele Transilvaniei), an ecotourism destination consisting of 39 ATUs in Bra\u0219ov, Mure\u0219, and Sibiu counties (status obtained in 2022 for a 3-year period);<\/li>\n<li>Retezat &#8211; Ha\u021beg Country (\u021aara Ha\u021begului), an ecotourism destination consisting of 9 ATUs in Hunedoara County (status obtained in 2016 for a 3-year period; extended in 2019 and 2021 for 18 months and 3 years, respectively);<\/li>\n<li>Dorna Country (\u021aara Dornelor), an ecotourism destination consisting of 10 ATUs in Suceava County (status obtained in 2019 for a 3-year period);<\/li>\n<li>Mara &#8211; Cos\u0103u &#8211; Rooster\u2019s Crest (Creasta Coco\u0219ului), an ecotourism destination consisting of 4 ATUs in Maramure\u0219 County (status obtained in 2014 for a 3-year period; extended in 2017 for 3 years);<\/li>\n<li>Bison Land (\u021ainutul Zimbrului), an ecotourism destination consisting of 5 ATUs in Neam\u021b County (status obtained in 2016 for 3 years);<\/li>\n<li>Z\u0103rne\u0219ti &#8211; Piatra Craiului, an ecotourism destination consisting of the Z\u0103rne\u0219ti ATU, Bra\u0219ov County (status obtained in 2014 for 3 years).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n<p><strong>What criteria define an ecotourism destination in Romania?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Destinations are evaluated based on the National Ecotourism Strategy, Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC), and the European Ecotourism Standard (EETLS).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Which municipalities are included in the B\u0103ile Tu\u0219nad destination?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The area includes the administrative units of B\u0103ile Tu\u0219nad, Cozmeni, S\u00e2ncr\u0103ieni, S\u00e2nsimion, S\u00e2ntimbru, and Tu\u0219nad in Harghita County.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Was Romania a pioneer in ecotourism recognition?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes, Romania was the first European country to launch a formal recognition system for ecotourism destinations starting in 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The &#8220;B\u0103ile Tu\u0219nad and Surroundings&#8221; area, consisting of the administrative-territorial units (ATU) of B\u0103ile Tu\u0219nad, Cozmeni, S\u00e2ncr\u0103ieni, S\u00e2nsimion, S\u00e2ntimbru, and Tu\u0219nad (Harghita County), represents Romania&#8217;s 7th ecotourism destination recognized by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism (MAT). The &#8220;Ecotourism Destination&#8221; concept has been developed since 2012 by the central public authority for tourism, in partnership&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":90912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2858],"tags":[1329],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-116340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tourism","tag-destinatie-ecoturistica"],"article_style_override":"on","post-style":"style2","post_via":"","post-top-image":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/turism-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116340"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=116340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}