CULTURAL-HISTORICAL TOURISM OR FICTION TOURISM IN ROMANIA? CASE STUDY: VLAD THE IMPALER OR DRACULA.

Historical literature and numerous medieval fortresses offer great premises for the development of cultural-historical tourism in Romania. Fiction tourism also fits into the general picture of tourism consumption. The phenomenon seems to lure ever more tourists that are interested in legends and myths. The tighter/closer the connection between the myth and the historical character, the stronger the attraction seems to be. The methodology of the paper is based on the determination of historical truth by a thorough analysis of authentic historical documents found at the National Archives of Romania and statistical data regarding tourism flows. The study aims to make a clear difference between the historical reality and the legend, while offering the image of tourism consumption. This study may represent an early form of understanding the relationship between the cultural-historical components and the possibilities for their tourist capitalization, as well as a pleading for a larger set of criteria used to analyse the evolution of cultural tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]