CACTUS - Journal of tourism for research, education, culture, and soul

7

Authors: VIRGIL NICULA, SIMONA SPÂNU, CHRISTIAN HELL

This paper presents some opportunities for developing a new way to capitalize local resources through gastronomic tourism. Gastronomic tourism products incorporate environmental values, landscape, parts of the local culture, traditions, local cuisine, traditional costumes, local food and the rituals associated with the gastronomic experience - how foods are served and presented, ingredients, preparation methods. Identification of the culinary landscape tourist destination is one of the challenges of creating tourism products, in which an important role have the agritourist pensions from the five micro regions of Sibiu County. Gastronomy plays an indispensable role in promoting tourism at a regional and local level. Therefore, the creation of gastronomic tourism products is seen as a priority tourist destination that can offer experiences in this regard. Motivations of choosing tourist destination "Sibiu - European gastronomic region" are related to cultural and natural attractions, special events and festivals, food experiences in each microregion, gourmet connections, social interaction and emotional, but also other opportunities for recreation and entertainment. In order to organize and promote the gastronomic tourism in the rural areas of Sibiu, it is necessary the establishment of partnerships among tourism providers (households / farmers in the rural community), local authorities, other economic providers of tourism related services, travel agencies etc. Only by working together they can solve the major problems of development and promotion of this form of tourism in the context of socio-economic development of rural communities, with beneficial effects on local tourism. Without a general infrastructure development and tourist facilities, one cannot speak of a competitive tourism in either micro-regions or localities.

10

Authors: GRAZIA CALABRÒ, SIMONE VIERI

Thanks to its important naturalistic, historical, cultural and artistic heritage, Italy is one of the countries with the greatest tourist vocation in the world. Consequently, tourism is the most important productive sector in the Italian economy, with an impact just below 12% on GDP. During the long period of economic crisis that affected the major world economies, between 2008 and 2014, some parts of the Italian tourism, including seaside for example, declined. This decline, at an aggregate level, has been however balanced by the development of cultural tourism. About 37% of external demand is attributed to expenditures for holidays in art heritage cities, representing the most dynamic part of Italian tourism. Although with more modest absolute values, agritourism and food and wine tourism are dynamic parts of the Italian tourism too and, sometimes, they are linked with cultural tourism. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the development of cultural tourism, agritourism and food and wine tourism can be a single goal of economic policy aimed at creating new growth strategies in order to overcome the effects of the economic crisis. Organizing as a single economic system the different parts of Italian tourism can be the most coherent action in order to cope with the different development needs and potentialities of Italy, whose economic system is traditionally linked to the territorial values.

14

Authors: DIANA IONCICĂ, MARIA IONCICĂ, EVA-CRISTINA PETRESCU, ANCA ATANASE

The current paper tackles the thorny issue of cultural tourism in Romania, trying to ascertain whether there is an actual chance of promoting it successfully in our country, without further damage to an already endangered national cultural patrimony. The question is whether we were facing a dilemma with little chances of being solved to our advantage – namely, if the promotion of cultural tourism would pose a threat or present an opportunity to a domain in which, unfortunately, very little has been done in recent years. The goal of the paper is twofold – it is meant, on the one hand, as a strong alarm signal, a wake-up call as to the necessity of a coherent, well-funded strategy regarding the promotion of cultural tourism in Romania, and on the other hand as a cautionary tale – one that could envisage what might happen if such a strategy were incorrectly devised and applied. Some hints in that direction are unfortunately already at hand, amply visible when considering the current situation of some essential sites to our cultural and national identity. Some of the case studies we discussed include The Danube Delta, Dacian sites, Bucovina Monasteries, or the Old Town area in our capital, Bucharest.

6-13

Authors: HUGUES SERAPHIN, MARCO PLATANIA, MANUELA PILATO

In the tourist industry destinations are competing against each other to attract visitors. In this race to seduce visitors, cultural tourism (based on heritage and identity) appears as a very popular form of tourism used by destinations. Because branding plays a major role in attracting visitors, this paper therefore examines the slogan of 139 destinations around the world. Findings reveal that slogans tend not to use heritage but instead adopt a neutral position, this is to be explained by the fact that destinations want to appeal to maximum of visitors and also because they appeal to the emotions (as opposed to a cognitive strategy).

23-31

Authors: LIVIU DEDIU, OLIMPIA STATE

Tourism service providers cannot satisfy all the demands they receive with their own resources. Sustainability comes from being part of a structure. Thus, networks with a certain degree of specialization are created and operated, in which the structural factor is intertwined with the technological one. Yet, in tourism industry, a large part of the employees joins the labour force without formal vocational training, acquiring knowledge and skills while working. More specifically, to be effective the staff of a travel agency need to use specialized working tools. Identifying a local research gap in the form of the mismatch between the capacity of specialized training in the context of the new technologies and the contemporary context of communication, this paper addresses the impact of the use of tools developed through modern information technologies and the way these new tools are ready to provide support for learning. The employee in tourism should not be formed to compete with the specialized integrated system, but to exploit it and come with added value in the provision of services.

39-48

Authors: MANUELA LILIANA MURESAN, RALUCA GEORGIANA STOIAN

Business tourism has proven to be an important part of the hospitality industry in terms of both travel volumes and generated revenue. This type of activity, far from being a novelty, has expanded and seems destined to continue to grow at a higher rate every year. Growth is particularly marked by international events that bring important financial gains to host cities, generated not only by these activities, but also by the multiplier effect of all tourism activities. The motivation for the chosen theme results from the fact that in the hospitality industry, business tourism is a segment in which a variety of events can be organized, such as: local, regional and national conferences and meetings - organized by associations and corporations, congresses and conventions, international courses, trainings and induction courses, fairs, exhibitions, product launches, motivation tourism, exchanges addressed to students and teachers, travel of government employees, etc., with major economic impact both at national and international level for the development of society. The evolution of business tourism in Bucharest provides a strengthening of business relations, investments, more efficient use of hotel structures and obvious increases in revenues. The starting point of this research is represented by an analysis of the current context of the evolution of business tourism and the identification of its potential at the level of the Capital of Romania. Our analysis shows that there is a correlation between the hotel sector specific to events organizing services and the development of the business tourism segment. The case study on the Novotel Hotel in Bucharest brings to light the following striking themes in the field of tourism: the organization of business events as an engine for economic growth and the attraction of new tourists, as well as the impact of events in the MICE industry on the reduction of seasonality in the Capital. Research based solely on the processing of secondary data does not present issues related to the subjectivity of tourists nor does it present the point of view of the providers. Thus, the analysis of the events organized at the Novotel Hotel in Bucharest during the period 2012-2016 reflects that the business tourism is specific to the area of events, conferences, business meetings, etc., and may have an effect in reducing the seasonality in Bucharest, but also in increasing the economic profit for the hotel industry.