ABSTRACT
This book focuses on the development of ‘Dracula tourism’ in Romania and the responses of the Romanian authorities to this form of tourism However, before examining the whole Dracula phenomenon and the travel that it has generated, this chapter provides an academic contextualization of the key concepts and issues that will be explored in later chapters. The first section examines the relationship between tourism and identity, with particular reference to the ways that tourism is implicated in the construction and projection of national identities. The discussion also considers the role of the state in tourism development to establish a context for considering the Romanian’s state’s responses to Dracula tourism. The second section examines the nature of literary and film-induced tourism, focusing on the myths about places that are created and diffused through literature and cinema. This provides a framework for understanding Dracula tourism as a form of literary or screen tourism.
