CULTURAL TOURISM IN ROMANIA – A GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

At the international and national level there is a strong connection between culture and tourism, tourism representing an important factor of the economic development by capitalizing the tourist potential of the cultural elements. Romania has a rich and valuable heritage potential with tourist attractions included on the map of European cultural routes. The challenge for Romania is the weak promotion of the cultural tourism due to the difficulties in developing a better infrastructure for a high accessibility to cultural attractions. The literature offers a wide range of definitions of cultural tourism which emphasize the complexity of this phenomenon. The Romanian literature lacks a thorough documentation on the cultural tourism as a whole, most of studies being concentrated on general approaches i.e. introduction to cultural tourism, analysis of the cultural tourism trends, sustainable development and perspectives, Romanian heritage, promoting strategies. Some papers are concentrated on specific areas of Romania such as Transylvania, with the medieval cities, fortresses and castles, Bucovina, with the painted monasteries and traditional artefacts, Maramureş, with the rural tourism and cultural heritage, as well as Black Sea Coast and Danube Delta. Other papers are related to cultural attractions like museums, orchestra performances, restaurants, hotels in some developed areas, and to traditional or religious rituals, popular art or folklore events in some less developed areas and how they could promote and revive the Romanian tourism or other areas with a low or medium level of capitalization of cultural attractions. Within this broader context, the paper aims to review and discuss the definitions and concepts of cultural tourism in Romania and identify the main types of cultural tourism practiced and addressed by the literature.