Sociology, Political Sciences, International Relations INTERNATIONAL TOURISTIC FLOWS AND MULTICULTURALISM IN BISTRIȚA

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1 INTERNATIONAL TOURISTIC FLOWS AND MULTICULTURALISM IN BISTRIȚA Mircea Mureșianu, Assoc. Prof., PhD and Eduard Schuster, Teaching Assist., PhD, Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca Abstract: The touristic attractiveness of the city of Bistrița resides in in its medieval constructions (such as churches, fortifications, or old buildings) and its leisure opportunities; in addition, the presence of many economic companies generated a well-represented business tourism. The analysis of the origin of international tourists reveals a high percentage of tourists from several important EU countries, and thus the link between local and European tourism. Keywords: Bistrița Urban Area, touristic potential, international tourism, touristic flows, cultural tourism, business tourism Introductory approach Situated in a generous morphological-geographic site from the Bistrița Depression, on the homonymous river, in a region featuring the fan-shaped opening of the Livezile Bârgău depression corridor, Bistrița experienced a dramatic geo-demographical expansion, from inhabitants in the year 1930 to over nowadays (including the hinterland comprising Slătinița, Sigmir, Unirea, Ghinda, Viișoara, and Sărata). With an important location potential, Bistrița polarizes road transport, as the main freight and passengers flows are taking place on the route Bârgău Bistriţa, Bistriţa Sărăţel, continuing on the Dipșa Valley till Teaca, towards Reghin, and on the route Bistrița Năsăud, through the Dumitra Depression, concentrating the most intense passenger transportation. Tourist transportation, in particular, is carried out by bus and minibus, while an important part of international tourists benefit from the nearby airports from Tg. Mureș and Cluj-Napoca, using the plain. Regarding domestic tourist flows, the Bucovina Axis, over the Tihuța Pass, the Mureș Axis on the Dipșa Valley, and the Someș Axis crossing Năsăud or Beclean, are the ones most used by tourist buses or minibuses. 396

2 Methodological references The drafting and elaborating the present paper was based on the following distinct steps: - Inventorying the main natural and anthropical features; - Creating a database regarding the relation between the urban space of Bistrița, the tourism opportunities it comprises, and the domestic and international tourism flows; - Thoroughly studying the tourism flows situation from a leading hotel, Coroana de Aur, the most representative accommodation unit for cultural, recreational, polyvalent, and business tourism; - Elaborating and distributing special questionnaires to the administration of the abovementioned hotel, and graphical representing the statistics offered from this unit; - Analysing and interpreting the data, and formulating several conclusions regarding the realities and tendencies of tourism in Bistrița. Figure 2. Location of Bistrița inside national and county territory 397

3 Figure 3. Demographic evolution in the Bistrița Urban Area Touristic attractiveness features The touristic patrimony of Bistrița comprises mainly of numerous medieval anthropic touristic objectives, represented by the Evangelic Church, the former church of the Franciscan Monastery, the Cooper s Tower, the architectonic complex Sugălete, the Silversmith s House, the Andreas Beuchel House, also called the Ioan Zidaru House, the County Museal Complex, and, in addition, many leisure opportunities (baths, stadium, various sport facilities, playing rooms, SPA centers, etc.). 398

4 Figure 4. The Evangelic Church (14 th century) Figure 5. The church of the Franciscan Monastery (13 th century) The attractiveness of anthropic origin is strengthened by the presence of some original objectives nearby Bistrița, among which we mention: elements of Saxon culture on the axis Unirea Livezile (the evangelic churches and the Saxon House Museum), the impressive Romanesque church from Herina, dated back to the 13 th century, the roman castra from Ilișua and Orheiu Bistriței, Hotel Dracula near the Tihuța Pass, traditions and ethnographic activities from the Bârgău Valley, etc. Figure 6. Cooper s Tower Figure 7. The architectonic complex Sugălete (16 th century) In a stable, millennia-long symbiosis, the nature of the Bistrița Depression and the inhabitants of its historical-geographical space worked together to realize a material and 399

5 spiritual patrimony of high value and originality, which continuously attracts important flows of domestic and international tourists. Even if the German population, dominant for many centuries, emigrated almost entirely from Bistrița and its surrounding area, the remaining elements of their civilisation arouse even today the interest of foreign tourists, especially those coming from Germany (fig. 7). Thus, in the suburban space of Bistrița, on the Unirea Livezile axis, a former, representative Saxon building holding numerous artefacts of Saxon culture was transformed in a museum called The Saxon House. In the year 2013, for example, from the circa 30 thousand tourists visiting this location, were from Germany, many of them descendants of Saxons emigrated from Transylvania. In the same year, the Saxon House was visited by Romanians, Moldavians, 651 Ukrainians, 530 Russians, 207 Dutch, and several smaller groups of other nationalities. Figure 8. Chart showing the proportion of German tourists visiting the Saxon House from Unirea- Livezile in 2013 (Source: The Saxon House) Passenger traffic case study Hotel Coroana de Aur The entire touristic potential (attractive resources and infrastructure) represent the static element of the analysed phenomena. It sustains the motivation for the recreational activity, favours its realisation, but only in the presence of tourists, as dynamic element. Without the presence of humans to utilize the recreational features of resources, to use the services of the infrastructure, tourism as human activity is inconceivable. That s why touristic 400

6 flows are of major importance in Bistrita, too, as their intensity, frequency, and orientation determine the parameters of the process itself, as well as its linking to a wider area inside which passenger traffic is more or less intense. In order to observe to which extent Bistrița s tourism is integrated in European tourism, we choose for our case study the flagship hotel of the town and the county, Hotel Coroana de Aur (The Golden Crown), which represents a true mirror of the area s international tourism. Thus, for a 5-year interval ( ), the hotel provided some statistical data that we analysed and interpreted in order to formulate several conclusions regarding domestic and international touristic flows in Bistrița (table 1). Table 1. Tourist arrivals at Hotel Coroana de Aur (Bistrița) between 2009 and 2013 Nr. Country Arrivals / year Total 1. Romania Spain Germany Italy France Austria Holland Belgium Hungary Russia Other European countries Countries from other continents TOTAL, from which

7 - International tourists European tourists Source: statistical data provided by the Administration of Hotel Coroana de Aur The data are relevant for a relatively turbulent period of the last decade, when the years of economic growth at national level, mirrored in a significant growth at local level are marked by a positive trend in touristic flows, while in the years of the economic crisis, the regression of economic-financial activities is statistically observable in a clear decrease of touristic flows. Interesting is the year 2013, when, despite the deepening economic crisis, touristic flows record a modest increase compared to 2012 for domestic tourists and a quasistagnation for international tourists (fig. 8). Figure 9. Comparison chart between the evolution of domestic and international tourist arrivals at Hotel Coroana de Aur in the interval (Source: Hotel Coroana de Aur) If we conduct a comparative analysis of all international tourists vs. European tourists, we can observe that Europeans hold a solid majority (fig. 9). 402

8 Figure 10. The amount of European tourists compared to non-european tourists accommodated at Hotel Coroana de Aur in the interval (Source: Hotel Coroana de Aur) The presence of tourists from the main European countries is explained either by the visiting Saxon emigrants or their descendants, organised in big groups (Germany, Austria), or by the major interest shown by entrepreneurs whit strong links to Bistrița s economic milieu (Spain, Italy, France, Holland, etc.). Besides, if we analyse European touristic flows in the studied interval basing on the motivation or interest of tourists, we will observe that approx. 45% are business travellers; almost the same percent are practicing cultural and polyvalent tourism (with interest in culture, leisure, sport, etc.), while approx. 10% are just transiting (fig. 10). Figure 11. Proportion of various types of tourism practiced by European tourists accommodated at Hotel Coroana de Aur in the interval (Source: Hotel Coroana de Aur) The future of tourist flows seems positive (at least on short term), as the ascendant trend of arrivals in 2013, after their significant downfall in 2012, seems to continue in 2013, beyond harshening economic crisis. Thus, the number of tourists accommodated at Hotel 403

9 Coroana de Aur in the first six months of 2013 increased by approx. 15% comparative to the same interval of Regarding the tourists from Bistrița travelling abroad (and implicitly their multicultural and multi-linguistic contacts at tourist attractions, in different countries and with different nations), we turned to a very active, dynamic and performant travel agency from Bistrița, Sfara Tours, where we collected relevant statistical data for the past five years ( ). These data did allow us to perform the following analysis on the matter in hand. There are two main travel tendencies among tourists from Bistrița: a) One, represented by a relatively large number of tourists, towards summer sea resorts in for major regions: the Turkish Mediterranean seaside, where the resorts in Antalya lies at the top of tourist s preferences (246 tourists, between 2010 and 2014, representing 35,6% of tourists from Bistrița seeking this type of tourism); the Greek Aegean and Aegean-Mediterranean region, with 62 tourists (9%) from Bistrița in the above-mentioned timeframe; the Egyptian Red Sea region, with 288 tourists between 2010 and 2014 (41,6%); and the Tunisian Mediterranean seaside, with 95 tourists from Bistrița in the analysed time period, representing 13,8% of the total. Questionnaires completed by tourists from Bistrița visiting sea resorts in the above-mentioned regions and dealing with the actual motives of the vacation revealed that a majority (484 tourists, approx. 70%) also sought cultural attractions of the respective nations (regardless if in Antalya, Turkey; Heraklion, Rhodes, and Corfu in Greece; Hurghada in Egypt; or Tunis and Monastir in Tunisia). b) Tourists from Bistrița preferring winter sports chose in the same time period ( ) mainly two Alpine resorts; Kaprun, in the Austrian Alps, and Les Deux Alpes, in France. In the case of the alpine resort of Kaprun, the majority of Bistrița tourist arrivals were due to them attending the celebrations held there for the National Day of Romania ( each year), with tourist numbers rising in the first two years (over 600 in 2010 and over 1000 in 2011), but falling back afterwards (600 tourists in 2012, over 400 in 2013, and approx. 350 in 2014). The French ski resort Les Deux Alpes was visited by tourists from Bistrița mainly at the end of March beginning of April each year, as in that period a Romanianorganised snow festival is held there, and tourist numbers increased each year in 404

10 the analysed timeframe (45 tourists in 2010, 300 in 2011, over 800 in 2012, over 1200 in 2013, and circa 1700 in 2014). Figure 12. Comparison chart showing the evolution of tourists from Bistrița visiting the Alpine ski resorts Kaprun (Austria) and Les Deux Alpes (France) between 2010 and 2014 Figure 13. Tourists from Bistrița in Kaprun, Austria, in the year

11 The travel experiences shared online by tourists from Bistrița who visited the abovementioned ski resorts regarding the multicultural and multilinguistic milieu they encountered and the festivities they attended there were most insightful, underlining the beneficial role of traveling abroad for intercultural exchanges. Conclusions The existence of medieval touristic attractions, of many leisure opportunities, and numerous businesses offering products valued abroad support Bistrița as an interesting and attractive tourist destination. The analysis of statistical data from the flagship hotel Coroana de Aur (The Golden Crown) allows us to conclude that from the significant number of international tourists benefiting from the accommodation services offered by the hotel, the majority are Europeans, among which most of them are EU citizens. If we study the typology of tourism activities practiced by international tourists accommodated at Hotel Coroana de Aur, we can observe that bussines tourism, besides cultural and polyvalent tourism, cover each approx. 45%, while transiting tourists represent 10%. Twinning with towns from other European countries (Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, etc.), featuring valuable tourist attractions and housing important businesses and companies, Bistrița became also by means of international tourist flows a town linked to present-day European passenger traffic. Bibliography Cocean, P. (2004), Geografia turismului, ed. Focul Viu, Cluj-Napoca Cocean, P. (2011), Patrimoniul turistic al României, Presa Universitară Clujeană, Cluj- Napoca Seleuşan, M. et al. (2007), Bistriţa-Năsăud. Ghid turistic, Graden Design, Cluj-Napoca *** (2014), Statistical data from the Administration of the Coroana de Aur Hotel, Bistriţa *** (2015), Statistical data from the Sfara Tours travel agency administration 406