A GENUINE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN TOURISM INDICATORS SYSTEM FOR SUSTAINABLE DESTINATIONS WITHIN BRASOV COUNTY

After several years of considerable research efforts, in 2013, the European Commission launched the first version of a European Tourism Indicator System Toolkit for Sustainable Destinations. It was created by European experts as a simple and easy to apply tool, composed of 67 indicators, specially conceived to offer support for European tourist destinations which are interested in developing in a sustainable way. It can be used both as an evaluation tool and as a benchmarking tool. In this context, this paper introduces the Research Project called Destination Intelligent Management for Sustainable Tourism (DIMAST) which was launched in Romania in 2014, aiming to implement the European Tourism Indicator System through a Business Intelligence application. Two qualitative research methods were used within the present paper: the case study and innovation. The first part of the article shortly introduces the information on the European Tourism Indicator System TOOLKIT for Sustainable Destinations. The paper than focuses on the above mentioned Pilot project which has as its main objective to support the local Destination Management Organization from Brasov County, one of the most famous tourist destinations in Romania, to develop in a sustainable way using an innovative Business Intelligence software based on the 67 indicators developed by the European Commission in 2013. The project groups seven partners from tourism research institutions, tourism industry, as well as an ICT software developer and it is actually in progress, a genuine set of indicators being already conceived based on Brasov's profile. Due to the fact that there was not available data for many European Indicators, the article presents how the European system has been genuinely adapted in the case of Brasov County. The main findings of this project can be used as best practice by other European destinations willing to develop in a sustainable way.