Railway Accessibility as an Opportunity for Rural Tourism Sustainability in Romania

The close relationship between tourism and transportation in the context of sustainable mobility development and increased environmental and sustainability policies is widely debated in the scientific literature. The Romanian railway transport system may represent an ignored opportunity that is insufficiently considered and exploited for the growing rural tourism sector. This paper aims to analyze railway accessibility variables through empirical quantitative and cartographic mapping methods based on extensive documentation and statistic metadata, so as to propose a railway competitiveness index for rural tourism resorts in Romania. The main results show obvious discrepancies that are imposed mainly by the existence of a railway station for the resort and the number of trains stopping there during a day, as well as by the type of train and railway facilities that potential travelers to the destination could benefit from. Research findings may be of interest to both railway transport and tourism stakeholders and policymakers in attempts to find more sustainable ways for leisure mobility in Romania.