THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF TOURISTS ARRIVED IN ROMANIA'S DEVELOPMENT REGIONS AND THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT

At national level, the contribution of tourism to the formation of the Gross Domestic Product is quite significant, considering the year 2019, when the contribution of tourism was 6.1% (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2021). Thus, the connection between tourism and Gross Domestic Product is indisputable. The purpose of this study is to find out the influence of the number of tourists arriving in the development regions of Romania on the Gross Domestic Product. The regression method was applied for data processing, using the statistical program EViews. The highest increase in the Gross Domestic Product, depending on the increase in the number of tourists, is registered in the South-Muntenia Development Region, and the smallest increase is registered in the Bucharest-Ilfov Development Region. The results show that a large number of tourists does not necessarily mean generating a considerable increase in Gross Domestic Product.