Social media in the regional tourism development perspective.

Analyzing Challenges for the Black Sea countries

Gabriela Stnciulescu, PhD
gabriela.stanciulescu@com.ase.ro
gabriela_stanciulescu@yahoo.com
Elisabeta Molnar, PhD Candidate
remtours@yahoo.com
The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Romania
Abstract:
Efficiency is generally defined as the extent to which resources or effort is employed in order to achieve a
certain purpose or objective. As per an economic perspective, this term may also mean a minimum quantity of supplies
which can generate a maximum result. But can we talk about efficiency and economic growth from the tourism
perspective? This study aims to present tourism in the context of regional development policies as a main factor of
reducing economic difference between territories and consequently generating growth. The introductive part will present
some theoretical delimitation for the concepts presented in this study with reference to the European Union context. The
Romanian case is further illustrated in the first section of the study. A more particularized is presented in the following
two sections when speaking about Romanian economic background and three areas of growth when talking about
national tourism. The fourth part describes growth and challenges in the Romanian rural tourism industry with a
particularized case analysis on the White Villa Pension in Bran rural area. The conclusive section will resume the main
ideas on the tourism perspective for economic growth.

Keywords: economic growth, regional development, tourism.

Introduction:
Economic growth may be considered as the sum of the changes that can occur in an economy in a
certain period of time. This result is characterized by the following factors: gross quantitative
indicators of any analyzed period, structural and qualitative developments of the national economy
and surrounding environment. All these changes may present a real economic growth and a
consequent progress. The latter represents a long term improvement, where a country may enable
economic performances and well being status as a consequence of economic development. In this
context, another subject raised the interest of many authors (Shankar and Anwar, 2003; Pavlos
Dimitratos a,b, Ioanna Liouka, and Stephen Young, 2009; P. Mohl and T. Hagen, 2010): regional

development. This is a relative new concept that seeks to impel and diversify economic activities, to
stimulate investments in the private sector, and to have a major contribution to reducing
unemployment. Another objective is to improve social welfare. Regional development policy is now
one of the most important policies of the European Union as per its main objective to reduce social
and economic differences between the European regions.
The main objective of this policy is to action upon the eloquent domains for development like
economic growth and low and medium enterprises, transportation, education, gender equality,
tourism and other relevant fields. The regional development policy is based upon the principle of
financial solidarity, which stipulates retribution of one part of the European budget (based upon the
contribution of the member states) to the territories and social groups that had a lower rate of
development than the most successful economies in this Union.

In the context of the latest

economic crisis, the European Union (2010) reported that this situation hit regions specialized in
manufacturing, in particular.

Figure 1 Cohesion Policy spending by main theme, 2007-2013 % of total planned expenditure.
Source: Investing in Europes Future Fifth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion, Nov 2010.

The highest increases in unemployment, however, were in regions highly dependent on construction.
Regions specialized in tourism, most of them with a GDP per head below the EU average have not
yet been affected significantly. Regions specialized in financial and business services, most of them
capital city regions or metropolitan regions, have been affected to an average extent in terms of the
impact on GDP and employment. In general, more rapid recovery is projected to occur in industrial
regions specialized in manufacturing and those with a large share of financial and business services,

while those more dependent on tourism, construction and public administration are projected to
recover more slowly (Fith Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion, 2010).
As per regional inequalities, S. Barris and E. Strabol (2009) have pointed up that the
evolution of regional inequalities should follow a bell-shaped curve as national GDP per capita rises
since growth by its very nature is unlikely to appear everywhere at the same time.
Table 1: Relative level of national GDP per capita and regional inequalities in cohesion countries.

Source: S. Barris and E. Strabol (2009)

1. The Romanian Context:

Tourism is generally considered as a potential source for economic growth. In the past few years,
Romanian tourism presented a decrease in the number of tourists, both Romanian, but also foreign
tourists (by generally speaking in terms of hotel bookings and total expenditure). Romanian touristic
potential is based upon a cultural and unique legacy of the landscape. In an economic perspective,
one could say that tourism may have the ability to increase employment, an aspect that might
contribute to the regional well being. Restructuring the traditional industry of tourism would mean
major private investments, but also the alternative tourism (rural, cultural, fishing and hunting
tourism) because of its multiplication effects over regional and local economies than the one of
traditional tourism.
This idea is sustained by the argument that Romania is still a largely rural country. In 2007
the percentage of rural population still reached 45% of the total (National Institute of Statistics,
2008), a strikingly high level that clearly differentiates Romania from the rest of the European Union
(24%) and suggests the survival of a lively system of villages and small towns that continues to play
a major role in the socio-economic and cultural life of the country (Monica Iorio and Andrea
Corsale , 2010, p. 152).
3

The institutional framework, objectives, competences and instruments specific to regional

development in Romania is established by the Law on Regional Development (number 315/2004).

Regional development was defined in the Romanian context by PNADR or The National Romanian
Plan of Development, a strategy that seeks the optimum resource planning such as human, materials
or financial means, but also to optimize and reshape relevant activities for economic growth.
Romanians regional policy has the following major categories: I. Improving regional economical
structure; II Improving and developing regional and local infrastructure; III Human resources
development; IV- Tourism development; V Stimulating scientific research, technological
development and informational society; VI Rural pace development both from an economical and
social perspective (http://www.apdrp.ro/content.aspx?item=1891&lang=RO). The other framework
for tourism is POR/ ROP Romanian Operational Program with 5 main domains
(http://www.inforegio.ro/index.php?page=ABOUT_ROP_AXES) :
-

Axe number 1: The encouragement of urban sustainable development;

Axe number 2: Improvement of local and regional infrastructure of transportation;

Axe number 3: Improvement of social infrastructure;

Axe number 4: Support for local and regional business development;

Axe number 5: Sustainable development and tourism endorsement;

Axe number 6: Technical assistance.

The 2010 Catalog developed by the National Institute of Statistics presents information about the
geographical and administrative-territorial organization of the country and comprises the main
statistical data series, for the 2007-2009 period, defining tourism activity: capacity of tourists
accommodation, activity of tourists accommodation and travel agencies, tourism of Romania by
regions of development, as well as information about international trips registered at the borders of
Romania and tourism demand of residents (http://www.insse.ro/cms/rw/pages/statRegionale.ro.do).

2. The actual situation of the Romanian tourism industry

Tourism represents one of the fast-developing sectors in Europe. The economic, political and
demographic changes indicate that the proportion of common expenses for tourism is increasing fast,
but the political measures for promoting long-term tourism advance slowly. Some countries that used
to be little visited in the past, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, such as Romania, are
becoming more and more attractive due to their economic transition and opening of borders, which
provide them with huge potential for the development of tourism. An extremely generous sector and

a potential producer of substantial income, the Romanian tourism is struggling to win the battle in a
complex time of turmoil.
It is somewhat of a paradox the fact that, after 20 years, Romania has still a long way to go
until bringing the tourism sector to the same level as the countries in the European Union. The lack
of a clearly formulated investment plan in this area led Romania to the loss of potential tourists in the
favor of the neighboring countries, which have found better ways to encourage and sustain the
tourism development programs, as well as attracting foreign investments. While her neighbors keep
on offering more competitive prices and various attractive special offers, and struggle to develop new
ways of attracting tourists, Romania is still struggling to solve problems generated by unfair
exploitation of states resources and resorts, after the fall of the communist regime. Such problems
were accentuated by a defective management and a severe lack of coherence in the states policies in
this matter; the result after 20 years of democracy? Romania is falling more and more behind its
neighbors, at least as tourism is concerned.
According to the development strategy for tourism, a quarter of Romanias surface is
considered a tourist paradise, and a third has certain potential. As shown by another study of the
Research Institute for Tourism, over half of Romanias surface has tourist potential. According to the
final data, Romania is divided into three areas: areas of great value, with complete tourist potential,
areas with a high tourist potential and areas with reduced tourist attractiveness.
3. SWOT Analysis
A critical review of the actual state of Romanian tourism can be reviewed thorough a SWOT
perspective.

STRENGHTS
Geography
The biodiversity of the Danube Delta
which is a Reservation of the Biosphere included
in the World Heritage of UNESCO;
the diversity of the National Parks and
the natural protected areas which includes
forests, lakes, unpolluted rivers;
Culture and the cultural patrimony

WEAKNESSES
Geography
The industrial pollution;
Inactive industrial units who provide an
negative visual impact; c) the pollution of the
Black Sea, Danube Delta and rivers.
Culture and the cultural patrimony
Numerous monuments and buildings are
in an advance degradation state;
Infrastructure,
transport
and
communication: un-finalized trans-European
roads, reduced number of highways.

Medieval fortresses and villages which

are keeping alive the traditional way of living Human resources
where tourists can discover and enjoy the

Romanian traditions. E.g.: villages for

Maramures;
Musical and artistic festivals both
classical and modern like: George Enescu,
Cerbul de Aur;
Legends like Dracula.
Human resources
Romanians are warm and hearty people,
renowned for their hospitality to foreigners,
famous for their respect and good will toward
their guests and visitors;
Young population with linguistic abilities
which represents a big asset for the tourism
human resources.

Low incomes and the hard working

conditions play an important role in the work
force migration from the hotel industry;
Poor professional qualification in the
hotel sector which does not comply with the
employers needs;
Few opportunities to develop a
specialized carrier in the tourism industry
opposite to the definition of a professional
service - an art or a performance offered by a
qualified experienced individual (normally a
university graduate) accountable to a third party
which has a code of ethics, and is consequently
subject to high-quality control levels (Lapierre,
Filiatrault and Perrien, 1996, p.91).
Legal framework

Marketing

Poor incentives and support mechanism

for the investors in the tourism industry;
Very important advertising program
Exaggerated taxes make local investors in
outside Romania: ads, mass-media, fairs (a new tourism to pay 14 central taxes and 3 local ones,
initiative of Ministry of Tourism Explore the as a consequence the number of black market
Carpathian Garden http://www.turism.gov.ro); guest houses is growing;
Well-known brands: Dracula and
Transylvania.
Marketing
Master Plan developed by the Regional
Development and Tourism Ministry for the
Romanias image is not a strong, positive
following period: 2007-2026. This act is one for foreign tourists;
considered as a strategic framework in order to
insufficient marketing research in
sustain tourism development in a close context of necessity for tourism development;
relationship with the incoming structural funds
poor collaboration between the public and
from the European Union.
private sectors on marketing matters.
Initiatives of promoting Romanians
image abroad have been made by the Tourism
Ministry also in the EDEN project. This is the
acronym for the European Destinations for
Excellence - a project promoting sustainable
tourism development models across the
European Union. The project is based on national
competitions that take place every year and result
in the selection of a tourist destination of
excellence for each participating country.
In the earlier competitions, Romania had
the following assigned EDEN destinations
(http://www.turism.gov.ro/): Horezu for the
theme Intangible cultural legacy (in 2008) and
Apuseni Natural Park for the theme Tourism and
protected sites (in 2009).
Opportunities
Threats
The geopolitical position
Local competitors like Greece, Hungary,
6

Romania is located at the crossroads of

the most important trade routes of the continent:
midway between the northern and southern
Europe, and on the road linking Western Europe
to Asia.
This advantage can be developed in terms
of transit tourism, but also in terms of relaxation
tourism due to the relatively small distances
between Romania and the western countries;
Romania is a member of the European
Union and NATO. By being a member of the EU,
Romania has access to multiple programs and
funds for tourism development (e.g.: the National
Strategy of Tourism developed by Elena Udrea
under to logo of the Carpathian Garden).

Turkey, Bulgaria;
Global economical crisis: tourism is
especially vulnerable to economic uncertainty
and volatility for a simple reason;
In short, to medium term there is almost
certain to be a trend of travellers spending less on
travel. Those tourism and hospitality businesses
which can adapt to service travellers on a tighter
budget will do well;
The increase of the oil price: the tourism
will be affected as the Air carriers are suffering
because oil is the second largest expense for most
airlines (after labour).

When talking about the human resource and its abilities to interact with customers (tourists) in the
tourism industry, it is interesting to first analyze some theoretical facts about a prescribed script to
best interact with people in this business area. Organizations cannot be talked about without
considering the role that emotions play with a commercial purpose. Employees are required to
perform a pre-written role in order to ensure customer satisfaction and a message consistent with the
strategy and values of the company. Almost an obvious part of any personal framework, emotions
can hardly be considered in the organizational background as subject to a transaction. Working effort
is described either to be physical or intellectual. However, one can scarcely think that another
category can be added to this typology emotional effort. The wage received by an employee for his
work represents the exchange coin for the three types of effort (physical, intellectual and emotional).
Arlie Russell Hochschild (1983/2003) has first put the commercialization of feelings into
theory when she first analyzed the flight attendances work and their effort to maintain a continuous
smile even when passengers got angry or when the plane had difficulties during the flight. Personal
skills of the human resource were means to manage emotions but also subjects to commercialization.
In this context, emotional work can be defined as the process of feeling management so that a public
image can be displayed at a facial and bodily level; this work is sold in exchange for a wage and
therefore has exchange value (Hochschild, 1983/2003). The difference between emotional work and
other types of labor is made by the following characteristics (Wharton, 1993, p. 208):
-

Facial or verbal contact (face-to-face or voice-to-voice) within the social interaction;

The employee is required to induce a certain state of mind to the client or to the consumer;

It enables the employer the opportunity to control the emotional activities of the employees
(through training, policy and performance evaluation).
7

Our needs have diversified in a continuous technological development and it became more and more
difficult to satisfy them with the help of traditional means. The service sector is a contemporary field
for economic gain and satisfaction of needs. Whether we think of a restaurant or of a motel, the
physical work (the one of the cook or of the hotel maintenance personnel) is embedded by the
intellectual and emotional effort (waiter and the receptionist for instance). As for any other
merchandise, employees must perform, promote and trade services as efficient as possible in order to
gain economical advantage.
The element that best differentiates goods from services is represented by the fact that the
latter represent intangible activities, that are created and consumed simultaneously, being delivered
to the end customer through the social interaction between their supplier and the client (Hochschild,
1983; Zemke and Schaaf, 1989, apud Warthon, 1993, 206). On the other hand, there can be services
that imply scarcely no contact with the consumer. For instance, the IT programmer has no need to
interact with his companys clients in order to create the necessary software (Botone, 2007, 134). The
way workers manage tensioned situations, the impact that all this can have at an individual level and
the way people perceive an interaction with the client have been subjects of interest for many authors
(Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993; Fineman, 2003/2005; Hochschild, 1983/2003; Payne and Cooper,
2001/2004). Workers seem to regard their emotional expressions as a commodity that may be
exchanged for the best performance evaluations and pay checks.
This is a dual efficiency perspective: both at an individual and an organizational level.
Emotions are thought as resources for personal gain (the wage) and for organizational purposes
(customers satisfaction and competitive advantage). They are also subject to the companys control
through training and performance evaluation: employees are constantly monitored when interacting
with customers so that a desirable attitude is displayed. As a reverse factor, emotional effort can also
be subject to self-control demands on burnout, anxiety, and absenteeism (Diestel and Schmidt, 2010).
On the other hand, emotional dissonance partially mediates the relationships of negative affectivity
and intrinsic motivation with emotional exhaustion (Karatepe and Aleshinloye, 2009).
Smile is now etiquette of professionalism in many of the jobs where there is a direct
interaction with the client. Nevertheless, we live in a world where our choice for the place we would
like to work implies also our choice for the way we will feel (Rafaeli and Worline, 2001, p. 106).
Moreover, this is now a top ingredient for working with clients in customer service jobs, a domain
that can easily be defined as a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer
satisfaction the feeling that a product or service has met the customers expectations (Barlow,
2004).

Current organizations do not only call for workers to forget their family problems when they
enter the office. These requirements go even further by asking employees to display a certain mood
or attitude towards clients regardless of the emotions they truly feel. This process is called feeling
management and emotions are therefore subject to commercial transactions. It is not an altruistic
action as both parties have to gain: organizations enforce their knowledge and competitive advantage
and workers trade their emotions in exchange for a wage. The companies now know that a happy
client is a loyal customer. Therefore both the quality of the provided service and additional activities
would have a supreme purpose: sustaining knowledge and competitive advantage.

3. Romanian Economic Background and 2 Failed Areas of Growth

Highly criticized on its development over the past years, tourism is one of the main economic areas
that couldnt reach a significant potential even though natural resources like the Danube, the Black
Sea, and the mountains could have been of most of its help. The poor management of touristic
potential and the lack of efficient strategies have le to notable decline of attractiveness in what
regards the foreign investment. According to Info Pages, tourism should contribute at least 5% to the
Romanian GDP instead of just 1-2 % it now does.
In present, it is almost inexplicable how a country like Romania, with such an important
natural

and

historic

potential

attracts

so

few

travelers

(http://www.roconsulboston.com/Pages/InfoPages/Businesspages/Tourism.html). Some attempts to

sustain the Romanian tourism have been made by the government. With few success factors, but lots
of weak points which could be criticized, this section will describe the following stimulating
attempts: Ski in Romania, Predeal-Azuga Ski Area Project, and Dracula Park Project:
- PREDEAL-AZUGA SKI AREA Project (http://www.factbook.net/countryreports/ro/) - The
resort would have had to accommodate more than 4500 people, offering them many entertainment
possibilities. The development of the ski slope is a main concern, as it's important to keep the tourists
happy. The ski slope would have been expanded to reach approximately 53,8 ha. This area was
granted by the State Forest Administration, with the approval of the Ministry of Waters and
Environmental Protection. The final length of the slopes (Predeal + link with Azuga) would have
reached from 2000 m to 12,300 m. The cable transport would have accommodated from 600 skiers to
8,200 skiers. The snowmaking facility to be put in place would had to extend the ski season by one
month. This project was thought to bring about a lot of positive results among which, an increased
number of tourists, more jobs and the construction activity development. The estimated budget of

this project was: ski slopes (Euro 3,542,600), snow facility (Euro 6,610,800), and cable transport
(Euro 14,980,600), total (Euro 25,134,000).
- DRACULA LAND Project (http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/07/08) - This is a
project launched by the Romanian Ministry of Tourism. Fourteen major firms from Spain, Italy, the
United States of America, France, Germany and Belgium expressed their interest in the Dracula Land
project. The inauguration of the Dracula Land was planned to take place in the summer of 2002 and
the entire project would have needed funds of about $60 million. The project initially received 6
billion lei incentives from the state and more than 13.000 people subscribed to the capital of the
company. The stages of the Dracula Park can be synthesized as following (Edward Pastia, 2004):
- March 2001: the presentation of the project at the International Fair in Berlin;
- July 2001: the local administration approves the plan for

touristic development of

Sighisoara site; part of the funds where obtained by public subscription;

- November 2001: Dracula Park is officially launched by the Tourism Ministry;
- December 2001 March 2002: with the help of BCR (Romanian Commercial Bank) a
public offer for stocks is launched; 3 million dollars are raised;
- January 2002: UNESCO and Prince Charles of Great Britain contest this project;
- May 2002: the current president declares he is not a fan of this project;
- June 2002: the project relocates from Sighisoara;
- October 2002: PricewaterhouseCoopers launch a study for this relocation and Snagov is
designed as the main area of interest;
- February 2004: the formal documentation for the birth of the industrial park in Snagov is
raised at the Ministry of Internal Administration;
- June 2004: the latter rejects the project;
- September 2004: a Governmental Act is approved for the birth of the industrial and touristic
park in Snagov at Vlasiei ranch.
- December 2004: corruption accusations are raised and later on the company cannot be
subscribed to the Stock Market;
- February 2006: the project is stopped and the contract ends
4. Growth and challenges in the Romanian rural tourism industry
After the end of the communist regime, in 1989, the difficult transition from a planned to a market
economy caused the decline of the formerly dominant industrial sector, whose labor force was only
partially absorbed by the services sector. As a result, many unemployed workers had to return to an
10

agricultural life. Thus, Romania is still a largely rural country. In 2007 the percentage of rural
population still reached 45% of the total (National Institute of Statistics data, 2008), level that
differentiates Romania from the rest of the European Union (24%) and suggests the survival of a
lively system of villages and small towns that continues to play a major role in the socio-economic
and cultural life of the country.
Due to the difficulties undergone by the agricultural sector, many family farms have had to
look for new ways to survive and one solution found was to host tourists in the family property.
Over the last two decades, rural tourism contributed to reduction of emigration from rural areas and
generated benefits diversifying the economy, through the cultural exchange which developed
between urban and rural areas, and by adding new value to rural life.
The official rural accommodation structures, which are conceded significant tax reductions
by the national government as an encouraging measure, are: tourist pension (with a maximum of 10
rooms and 30 beds, from 1 to maximum 5 daisies of comfort) and agro-tourist pensions (with the
same size limit, but obliged to provide at least a part of meals from their own production; comfort
classification that ranges from a minimum of 1 daisy to a maximum of 4 daisies).
Figure 2: Distribution of rural accommodations structures in Romania

Source: Iorio M. and Corsale A. (2010)

11

Even before Romanias accession to EU, the European Union's SAPARD program, (Special
Accession Program for Agriculture and Rural Development), focused on directions like rural
infrastructure, farm modernization, increase in food processing capacity to revitalize the rural areas
in line with common beliefs and practices in several other European countries. Advantages sought by
rural tourism for our country could be summarized as follows: a) economic growth, diversification
and stabilization through employment creation in tourism business; b) provision of supplementary
income in farming, craft and service sector; c) opportunity to realize the economic value of specific,
quality-based production of food products, as well as of unused and abandoned buildings; d)
increment in social contacts, especially in breaking down the isolation of the most remote areas and
social groups; e) the opportunity to re-evaluate the heritage and its symbols, the environment and the
identity.
Conclusions:
Romania is still struggling to solve problems generated by unfair exploitation of states resources and
resorts, after the fall of the communist regime. Such problems have been accentuated by a defective
management and a severe lack of coherence in the states policies in this matter; the result being that
Romania is falling more and more behind its neighbors, at least as tourism is concerned. The
Romanian touristic services are still labeled as being of poor, doubtful or unacceptable quality a
situation which prevents all efforts for promoting the Romanian touristic product both in the
country and abroad from having the expected results, furthermore there is an acute lack of
operative training of the tourism staff. The main difference between Romania and its competitors is
that the latter have known a constant, linear growth in the tourism industry, without any major
obstacles in their development, while in Romania, the tourism policies led by the government have
had more negative effects, than positive ones, on the overall development; this is best reflected when
we look at Romanias strategy of attracting low cost tourism which is supposed to attract low and
medium-waged employees people from Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Republic of Moldavia, but highly
unlikely to boost the revenues to the state budget from tourism any time soon.
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on

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