The North-West Development Region benefits from a complex of morphological, climatic, hydrographic and biogeographic tourism factors with special attractive value, their profile being similar to that of urban areas. The problems faced by the tourism sector, but also the objectives of cultural and material heritage in the urban environment are equally found in the rural environment. Moreover, the lack of connectivity is an additional obstacle, more pronounced than in the case of objectives in the urban environment.

The sustainable valorization of the rural environment through tourism requires investment in resources that will allow authentic, attractive and competitive experiences in relation to rural destinations known on a European level.

At the same time, the many resources in the region with the potential to become new attractions or niche tourist destinations are taken into account (such as mountain tourism, speotourism, unconventional niche tourism, nautical tourism, wine tourism, winter sports, ecumenical tourism, recreational tourism etc.).

The integrated approach to the development of rural areas in the North-West Development Region envisages sustainable rural development, sectoral, spatial and territorial integration, multi-level governance and partnership approach. Thus, the projects submitted in this call must have an integrated character, targeting the social/economic/cultural components.

In particular, the spa sector is considered one of the areas with the highest potential, both from the perspective of the exploitation of resources and the favorable trends manifested worldwide, regarding "wellness" tourism.

Public tourism infrastructure is still poor. Despite the investments made in previous programming periods, the needs for the modernization of reception capacities and leisure facilities remain high. The building infrastructure of the resorts is in an advanced state of decay: traffic routes, parking lots, green and recreational spaces, building facades.

The action supported in this call for projects is Development of infrastructure for spa and balneoclimatic tourism, including improving access to resources and tourist attractions and can be achieved through:

• creation, expansion, modernization, endowment of leisure infrastructure (such as theme/amusement/adventure parks, water parks, etc.);
• construction, rehabilitation, modernization of treatment bases, spa centers and physiotherapy bases with integrated services (health and maintenance services, spa, recreation activities, sports activities, etc.);
• construction, rehabilitation, modernization of catchment and/or transport networks of mineral and saline springs with therapeutic potential;
• rehabilitation of mineral water supply facilities from sources to treatment bases;
• the utilities necessary for the operation of the investment objective that are found/are proposed on its site;
• complementary activities necessary to ensure the functionality of the interventions carried out.

It will be considered that the investments do not produce negative effects on the natural areas in the vicinity (protected natural areas, forests, valuable meadows, wetlands, etc.). The arrangement of green spaces within the areas with leisure infrastructure will be done with native species. The future investments will be made on areas of land with a reduced construction regime (reduced POT), so as to avoid recurring negative effects on biodiversity during the operation stage of the investments. Natural factors will be exploited without creating pressure on biodiversity.

The interventions will take into account the interdependence of the actions and the development of the ecosystem as a whole, the long-term results and benefits, the needs and challenges of the areas as a whole, the encouragement of the civic spirit, but also of the collaboration between the public and the private environment.

The interventions proposed to be carried out through this call for projects fall under the state aid rules, in accordance with the applicable scheme.

Funding applications can be submitted through the MySMIS 2021/2021+ IT system during: May 13, 2024, 10:00 a.m. – July 8, 2024, 10:00 a.m.

In the next period, an event will be organized to present the Applicant's Guide, and during it the Guide's developers will be at the disposal of those interested for a question and answer session. If you want to participate in this event, we invite you to send us an e-mail at the address regio@nord-vest.ro to express your interest in participating in this event.

We invite you to actively contribute and submit your observations/comments/questions/requests regarding the content of the Applicant Guide and its annexes to regio@nord-vest.ro .

This call contributes to the fulfillment of policy objective 2 "A Europe closer to citizens, by promoting the sustainable and integrated development of all types of territories and local initiatives", priority 7 "An attractive region", specific objective 5.1 "Promoting integrated local development and inclusive in the social, economic and environmental fields, as well as culture, natural heritage, sustainable tourism and security in areas other than urban areas", action c) "Infrastructure development for spa and balneoclimatic tourism, including improving access to resources and tourist attractions" within the North-West Regional Program 2021-2027.

The North-West Regional Program 2021-2027 proposes interventions for the development of research, development, innovation and digitization capacity, increasing the energy performance of the existing public and residential building fund, capitalizing on degraded spaces at the city level, sustainable urban mobility, investments in the network of county roads and in the educational infrastructure, as well as actions to capitalize on the cultural, touristic and spa potential.

In the financial year 2021-2027, public authorities and institutions, the business environment, the academic and research environment and NGOs can obtain funding.

The Northwest Regional Program benefits from a total allocation of 1,437,252,471 euros.

• Priority 1: A competitive region through innovation, digitization and dynamic enterprises - total value: 327,904,956 euros
• Priority 2: A region with smart localities - total value: 60,332,872 euros
• Priority 3: A region with environmentally friendly localities - total value: 210,666,112 euros
• Priority 4: A region with sustainable multimodal urban mobility – total value: 305,155,751 euros
• Priority 5: An accessible region - total value: 184,978,708 euros
• Priority 6: An educated region - total value: 77,386,100 euros
• Priority 7: An attractive region - total value: 210,363,134 euros
• Technical assistance – total value: 60,464,838 euros

More information about the Northwest Regional Program for 2021-2027 is available here, and the program can be consulted here.