Rural tourism started to emerge in Szeklerland (Romania) after the regime change in the early 1990s, developing at a relatively rapid pace and providing supplementary income for many in precarious financial circumstances. Like all industries, it was not immune to change. My study seeks to illustrate these changes by conducting interview research in a settlement with a long history of tourism. Initial organisation and networking was followed by a process of decline and individualisation. With the emergence of rural tourism, many people started to host guests and the number of hosts increased rapidly, but has now declined again. There are several reasons for this, which stem from the transformation of rural tourism, such as the reduction in the size of tourist groups and the changing needs of the tourists who visit.
Keywords: tourism, rural tourism, network, transformation, Szeklerland
