TOURISM – A STIMULUS FOR THE SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF MĂGURELE TOWN

The town of Măgurele is a satellite town of the Municipality of Bucharest being situated in its south-western part. In the past years the town of Măgurele has undergone an extensive transformation process, fact which attracted a numerous population. Our study aims at emphasizing the peculiarity of Măgurele development in the context of highlighting the polarizing role of Bucharest Municipality. Moreover, the research has the objective of presenting the causes and the socio-economic consequences of the residential area expansion in Măgurele town. The research methodology had as a first step the application and analysis of questionnaire on a sample of 220 people who moved to Măgurele town between 2008 and 2020 in order to identify the causes which led to this. A second step was represented by the analysis of statistic data referring to the residential space and identification on site of the newly-built districts. Results show that the considerable expansion of Măgurele residential area was carried out by the movement of a relatively high number of young population (under 40 years old) coming from Bucharest Municipality. The causes which led to this situation are multiple ranging from Bucharest overcrowding to people s wish to live in a cleaner air environment. Furthermore, the status of scientific centre that Măgurele has received in the past years was also identified as a cause of residential area expansion. Our research is only in the beginning phase but we aim to observe in the future the phenomenon and its socio-economic implications.