Literary tourism as a promoter of cultural heritage

Abstract

In the recent past, Government interest toward conserving and promoting Romanian cultural heritage has visibly increased. National authorities are trying to uphold it as a single entity through different measures like cultural events and touristic activities. The drawback to this otherwise positive course of action is that this process cannot oversee or offer an efficient degree of protection and an even exposure to all types of cultural objectives. None the less, promoting cultural heritage holds top priority, but at the same time it is equally important that there are no hasty measures taken and an appropriate exposure of all its facets is granted. A more fitting solution for accomplishing the task at hand would be to first divide Romania’s cultural objectives in distinct groups, in this case literature, and attach a suitable form of tourism dedicated to its requirements. In order to meet these terms a series of conditions must be taken into consideration. Literature’s relationship with tourism has already been consecrated through Literary Tourism, but this marriage of worlds has yet to be described from a geographical perspective. In order to validate this point of view Romania’s literary icons have been brought up because of their crucial role in shaping the country’s image and people. This study would be responsible of drawing attention to a new form of tourism for Romania; one which focuses on promoting aspects and personalities form the literary world. Working with specialised forms of tourism represents a mature and efficient approach toward the sustainable promotion of a destination’s cultural heritage.