CHARACTERISTICS OF HOLIDAY VILLAGES IN ROMANIA – TOURISM AND TERRITORIAL IDENTITY ORIENTED APPROACHES

The concept of “holiday village” has recently turned fifty. Holiday villages are found in non-urban areas, rich in nature-based and human-made resources. By implementing the planning principles of this type of accommodation, Romania has also developed its tourism supply over the past years, currently providing twelve holiday villages which are spread throughout the country. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of these holiday villages both from a tourism analysis perspective and in relationship with territorial identity. In order to achieve this goal, a series of quantitative and qualitative methods were employed, starting with the analysis of statistical databases in parallel with the review of bibliographic materials, and the observation and analysis of the official websites of these accommodation structures, respectively. It turned out that three counties (Brașov, Suceava and Tulcea) hosted 50% of the existing holiday villages in Romania, confirming once again the importance of local tourism potential derived from geographic location and cultural heritage. Based on various tourist needs and preferences, a wide range of activities and services both basic (accommodation and catering) and additional ones (entertainment and leisure, business, etc.), which became available for different groups of guests were also identified. Eventually, a multicriterial analysis, including aspects related to architectural elements, landscape integration and links to local or regional traditional values highlighted five levels of authenticity according to which almost half of the examined units established a stronger connection with the territorial identity of the geographical-historical regions, which hosted these establishments.