TOURISM AND PROTECTED AREAS: POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF THE RURAL TOURISM IN ROMANIAN DANUBE DELTA

Alexandru IORGA

Abstract


In this paper I discuss how tourism takes various shapes in a rural protected area from Romania (one of the typical, most vulnerable of the post-socialist period). Though tourism is advocated by Romanian officials and economists as a powerful tool, which provides economic and community development in rural, deindustrialized and protected areas, ethnographic examples presented in this paper show that ‘real tourism’, still regarded as a panacea, is far from fulfilling the locals’ needs and expectances (in terms of economic and social development in the Danube Delta). By using a political ecology perspective I will emphasize various local practices regarding tourism, demonstrating that there are several political layers of legality that do affect the perception and the tourism practice.

Keywords


development, protected areas, Romanian Danube Delta, rural tourism, Romania

References


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