SPATIAL ACCESSIBILTY TO WINE TOURISM DESTINATIONS INSIDE A PERIPHERAL TOURISTIC REGION. A STUDY CASE ON REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

Abstract

The results of previous studies regarding the relation between spatial accessibility and tourism development do not share a unanimous opinion by the side of the scientific community. In this context, the present paper approaches a particular case of the above mentioned relation: up to what extent the development of wine tourism destinations in the Republic of Moldova depends on geographical position and spatial accessibility? The research consisted in getting through three methodological steps: 1) a critical review of previous results; 2) a review of the enterprises responsible for wine production, followed by a selection of the 11 enterprises that provide wine tourism offers and the collection of official statistics concerning these types of offers (supplemented by conducting on-site interviews); 3) the interpretation of the relation between geographic accessibility towards the city of Chișinău and the variation of the annual tourist number and the prices demanded by each enterprises. The results prove that, in peripheral areas such as the Republic of Moldova, there is a significant impact of spatial accessibility on the way in which these enterprises are functioning. This influence affects firstly the annual number of visitors and secondly the prices they practice.