Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
one manifestation of a long-established discourse
about South-East Europe that Todorova (1997)
has labelled 'Balkanism'. Todorova argues that the
Balkanist discourse in the West has constructed
South-East Europe as somewhere ambiguous,
'in between' and only partly European. It is a
region that is Europe's 'other', but at the same
time it is the 'other within' (Todorova, 1997,
p. 188). The West has long viewed Romania in
such terms. As one Romanian historian notes,
while 'the West defines itself as an ordered and
predictable world, Romania belongs, on the
contrary, to a vague and unpredictable space'
(Boia, 2001, p. 185). Events in Romania after
1989 - of which the orphans issue is just the
best-publicized - have contributed to keeping
Balkanist 'ways of seeing' Romania alive.
Nevertheless, in recent years Romania's
international reputation has ameliorated con-
siderably. Civil unrest has largely disappeared
and ethnic tension between Romanians and
Hungarians decreased significantly after 1996
from which time Romania's governments have
stressed partnership rather than conflict with
Hungary. The nationalist Right, while still active
in Romanian politics, is a much diminished force.
Romania's orphan 'problem' has received con-
certed attention by both Romanian and Western
NGOs, with EU support. Since 2000, the country
has achieved political and economic stability,
and this was recognized by both the EU (which
invited Romania to begin accession negotiations)
and by NATO (which Romania joined in 2004).
Indeed, in recent years there is evidence
that Romanian tourism has started to enter a
period of recovery (see Fig. 20.2). In 2004,
Romania attracted 6.6m foreign visitors, a 38%
increase on 2002 (INS, 2005b). Although citi-
zens of neighbouring states still accounted for
the majority of visitors in 2004, the proportion
arriving from EU countries (which now included
Hungary) had risen to 39% (INS, 2005b), much
arising from business tourism generated by
Romania's increasingly close ties with the EU. In
2003, the contribution of tourism to Romania's
GDP had risen slightly to 3.5% (Andrei, 2004)
although this figure was much lower than in
neighbouring Bulgaria. Nevertheless, tourism
remains a low priority for the Romanian gov-
ernment: in 2005 the budget for tourism pro-
motion was just
€
3.7m, less than a quarter of
that of neighbouring Hungary (Anon, 2005).
Romania's tourism planners continue to
prioritize mass tourism (particularly at coastal,
winter and spa resorts) as playing a central role in
the relaunch of Romanian tourism (Fig. 20.1).
Yet, while mass tourism has not recovered from
the decline of the late socialist period, Romania
has emerged during the late 20th and early 21st
century as a destination for both independent
travellers and for various forms of niche (or
post-mass) tourism (Hall, 1998; Hughes and
Allen, 2005). This includes cultural and heritage
tourism (particularly in Transylvania) and rural
tourism (in Maramure
s
and Bucovina). The
development of such tourism is due more to
promotion by Romanian NGOs or independent
Western travel agencies than to initiatives by
the Romanian tourism authorities. Although
Romania has considerable potential for eco-
tourism (particularly in the Carpathian Moun-
tains and Danube Delta) the country has been
slow to promote this potential and it was not
until 2004 that the National Tourism Author-
ity prepared a national ecotourism strategy
(Dumbr
d
veanu, 2004), something that was itself
stimulated by the imperative of EU accession.
The enlargement of the European Union in
May 2004 had an unexpected (if highly local-
ized) impact on tourism in Romania. The acces-
sion of neighbouring Hungary meant that for
the first time Romania shared a border with an
EU state. There was subsequently a significant
increase in the number of Hungarians visiting
the western region of Romania for the purposes
of cross-border shopping, since the prices of
basic foodstuffs (such as sugar, flour, rice and
oil), petrol and building materials were lower
in Romania. The total number of Hungarian
visitors to Romania in the first 6 months of
2004 was 51% higher than in the same period
in 2003, while between April and May 2004 the
number of Hungarian visitors increased by 71%
(INS, 2003b, 2004b).
Tourism Promotion and European
Integration
Romania and Europe: a brief history
For much of the past three centuries Romania
has had an ambivalent relationship with Europe.
