https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5285-090X
![Sample our Museum and Heritage Studies journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5945/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Museum-Heritage-Studies.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Romania owns a significant number of UNESCO listed heritage sites, but comparatively negligible tourist inflow. The information-seeking and the variety-seeking behavior of tourists among various types of heritage sites in Romania and associated peripheral attractions were explored from the TripAdvisor website and other resources. The travelers’ choice of heritage sites was clustered using a modified K-mean clustering technique, resulting in five clusters based on certain attributes of heritage sites, influencing the tourist’s choice of visit. Subsequently, a conjoint choice model is used to understand the role of heritage sites’ location along with their attributes and peripheral attractions that influences the choice of tourists. This study proposes strategies to the policymakers and tour operators to enhance Romanian tourism potential. The findings suggest that trips with low travel time and cost encourage the tourist decision. Policymakers should also develop peripheral attractions in most of the UNESCO heritage sites, which are remotely located. In addition, peripheral locations should promote the local culture and products with enhanced quality so as to attract more international as well as national travelers. Potential strategies to enhance tourist visits to various types of heritage sites viz religious, historic, and parks, in Romania have also been proposed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Romania’s masterplan for 2007–2026 (RMRDT, Citation2007) highlights the main national tourism attractions and the latest national tourism promotion campaign has also focused on natural resources (the Carpathians and the Danube Delta), rural life, spa resorts, churches, and castles (Stoleriu & Ibanescu, Citation2014).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Cristina Lupu
Cristina Lupu is a PhD student at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Department of Geography, Iasi, Romania. Her main research interests are tourism marketing, social media and tourism, volunteer geographic information, GIS science. During the PhD degree she co-author in papers published in Tourism Geographies, Journal of Sport & Tourism, Current Issues in Tourism.
Sidhartha S. Padhi
Sidhartha S. Padhi is an Associate Professor in the Quantitative Methods and Operations Management Group at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. Earlier, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Logistics Management at the ETH Zurich, and a Senior Lecturer in the Operations Management Group at the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India, where he taught business statistics, management science, decision making, and research methodology. He obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and also holds a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master Degree in Scientific Computing.
His interests are in the areas of operations and supply chain management, decision sciences, and purchasing and supply management – including e-procurement and auctioning. He has published several book chapters and articles in journals including Decision Sciences, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Tourism management Prospective, Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Production Research, Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management, International Journal of Project Management, and Operational Research: An International Journal.
Rupesh K. Pati
Rupesh K. Pati is an Associate Professor in the Quantitative Methods and Operations Management Group at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. Earlier, he was a scientist at ISRO India. He obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, and also holds a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master Degree in Industrial Engineering.
His interests are in the areas of operations and supply chain management, decision sciences, and purchasing and supply management – including sustainability and green supply chain. He has published several book chapters and articles in journals including Omega, International Journal of Production Economics, and Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management.
Oana Mihaela Stoleriu
Oana Mihaela Stoleriu is lecturer at the Faculty of Geography and Geology, University Alexandru Ioan Cuza of Iasi, Romania. The author has a PhD in Urban Geography and 10 years of teaching experience in the field of tourism geography. The main research areas are special forms of tourism, destination marketing, and sustainable development.