BEHAVIORAL TENDENCIES OF ROMANIAN TOURISTS IN THE CONTEMPORARY ERA. A CLUSTER ANALYSIS

Tourism is an evolving phenomenon that integrates economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions, enabling a country's economic progress and cultural exchange. Also, how people behave when they travel and how they do it can represent useful information for both government agencies and the business environment. The purpose of this research is to observe the preferences of Romanian tourists regarding the trips they make on the national territory, considering the specifics and trends characteristic of the practices of each category they belong to. To fulfill the purpose of the research, the answers of 254 travelers from Romania with various levels of education, income and preferences were analyzed through a Two-Step Cluster. The results of the study showed that there are two distinct categories of travelers in Romania, young travelers, and mature travelers, who have both distinct and similar preferences regarding the way they travel, the type of tourist destinations and what are the expectations from a tourist unit. The implications of the study can be both theoretical and practical. From a theoretical point of view, a gap in the Romanian specialized literature regarding the behavior of travelers from Romania is filled, while the practical implications are represented by the information that can be considered valuable for the management of tourist services.