Dark Tourism, Romania And Dracula. The Perceptions Of Potential American Tourists

From a touristic point of view, Romania is a country with an extraordinary potential. In terms of consumers of touristic products, the United States of America (USA) is a country with a tremendous potential. If analysing the actual tendencies in the film industry and a part of mass-media in the last years, it is possible to identify the interests of movie fans, but also of a certain market segment with its own characteristics, for vampires. Moreover, people have always shown a high interest in the mystic or dark aspects of life, namely related to death. Which could be the connection between these elements? The answer seems simple: Dracula. Transylvania is known as the land of vampires or, better said, the birthplace of Dracula, the most popular vampire of all times, and this reputation can be a touristic opportunity possible to exploit in the current trend on the USA market, the land with the most successful screen adaption of the vampire legend. The current paper presents the results of an empiric research, which aims to identity the degree of interest shown by Americans for a touristic product specific to "dark tourism" build around Dracula's myth. The study was conducted on a sample of 254 respondents from the U.S.A, using as data collection means the questionnaire. Results have shown that over 70% of the persons interviewed agree that Romania is the land of vampires and the home of Dracula. Almost the same percentage considers attractive or very attractive a holiday in Romania for exploring the local myths and legends, visiting the land of vampires, respectively Dracula's house. The current study offers a valuable perspective on the way in which dark tourism is perceived, on Romania and on a thematic tourism product build around the myth of Dracula. An important contribution to the research is brought by the main characteristics of such a package tour, from the American consumers' point of view, information that could be used by almost any operator or tourism organization on the local or American market.