Mitrica BIANCA, Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Romania
Serban PAUL, Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Romania
Grigorescu INES, Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Romania
Damian NICOLETA, Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Romania
Mocanu IRENA, Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Romania
Dumitrascu MONICA, Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Romania
Dumitrica CRISTINA, Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, Romania
It is estimated that cultural tourism accounts for 40% of all European tourism (European Commission, 2021). Europe has a rich history of cultural heritage and well-developed tourist attractions, but some areas are still underdeveloped and unrecognised. It is also the case of Buzau Carpathians and Subcarpathians, a predominantly rural area with a high tourist potential, both natural and anthropic ensuing from the complexity and diversity of natural landscapes and local historical background. The current study is trying to provide an overall image of the challenges of local cultural tourism development by understanding the behavior and experience of tourists and their interest related to cultural tourism. The research is developed in connection with the main tourist attractions in the area. The survey relies on two field campaigns carried out in August and September 2020 when 161 questionnaires were applied to tourists in 22 LAUs. The study revealed that nature/landscape and the local traditions are the main motivation of tourists to visit the study area, but also identified some drawbacks of tourist development in the area, i.e., the lack of proper infrastructure and public transport, the poor information and communication for tourists. However, there are also some economic benefits from the cultural tourism, mainly for the local development of local communities. An important component of the study is the assessment of COVID-19 pandemic impact on tourists’ travelling preferences and sentiment (e.g. safer destination choices, risk perception, travel motivation and confidence, chosen transport means, attitude to local/foreign travel) which influence the development of the local communities.
The current study was performed within the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under grant agreement no. 870644 - Social and innovative Platform on Cultural Tourism and its potential towards deepening Europeanisation (SPOT).
Keywords: cultural tourism|local development|tourists perception|Buzau Carpathians and Subcarpathians|Romania
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