TOURISM – A PROMOTER OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

The concept of development has suffered major transformations in time, being not only a source of countless disputes among specialists, but also a representation of people’s level of knowledge, witnessing the passage from the satisfaction of primary needs to a focus on the principles of sustainability. Tourism represents nowadays one of the most dynamic economic sectors, which, despite all the crises and the unfortunate events of the past, but also in spite of the realities of the global economy nowadays, has demonstrated a tendency towards stable development and superior potential as far as sustainable and human development on the economic, social and environmental planes. On the background of debates concerning economic growth and development, tourism manifests itself as a motivating mechanism for the two processes, but also as a determining one for these, through the multiplicity of the effects that it generates at the level of national economies and of societies.