The Rebirth of the Colibiţa Resort Eduard SCHUSTER 1 , Nicolae BACIU 2 1 Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Geography, Bistriţa Branch, Bistriţa, ROMANIA 2 Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA E-mail: eschuster@geografie.ubbcluj.ro, nicolae.baciu@ubbcluj.ro K e y w o r d s: recreational resort, reservoir, tourism, planned development A B S T R A C T 1. INTRODUCTION The erection of a dam and the subsequent reservoir formation has a dramatic impact on every landscape, causing irreversible changes of the environment, infrastructure, local communities and economy. Even under such circumstances, the touristic and spa tradition of the old Colibiţa resort did not vanished but, after a decade-long drawback, it continued in form of a developing holiday village. The water body attracted more and more private investors who erected cottages, week-end homes, or B&B facilities around the lake. Although the old function of the climate resort is no longer present, as tourism focuses on leisure activities, local authorities claim to have a project to regenerate the climate resort. 2. THEORY AND METHODOLOGY The present paper contains two main subjects of study: historical geography and tourism geography. The first aims to show and explain the landscape changes from the first erected buildings in the area to the present-day tourist village bordering the reservoir from Colibiţa; the latter analyse how geography and tradition can preserve tourism activity in a location that suffered a dramatic landscape shift, from a small depression along a valley to a more than 3 km 2 wide water body. The preliminary research consisted in gathering information about the history and geographical features of Colibiţa, using former research material, bibliographical sources, and various maps. By means of field research and satellite imagery we completed the present-day layout of the region, thus being able to draw several map sketches in temporal sequence showing the main stages of the changes in the resort’s environment. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Colibiţa Reservoir - geographic features Centre for Research on Settlements and Urbanism Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning J o u r n a l h o m e p a g e: http://jssp.reviste.ubbcluj.ro The Colibiţa Depression is suggested to become a recreational resort area due to the increase in the number of lodging facilities in recent years on both sides of the Colibiţa Lake, but also thanks to the presence of several protected areas. After the former Colibiţa resort was flooded by the reservoir, tourism in the area recorded a decades-long drawback, and only several private weekend cottages were erected around the lake. Eventually, after the fall of the communist regime, the area surrounding the lake was purchased by individuals or entrepreneurs who gradually built up one side of the reservoir and erected several cottages on the other. Thus, the access to the body of water is widely restricted to tourists, except the cases where lodging and dining facilities were established. The local economy depends on the region’s natural resources, forestry, livestock breeding, milk processing, and traditional handicraft as the main activities. Therefore, a stronger tourist infrastructure (through a planned development of the future resort) is required to boost economy and to revitalise tourism in the region.