Keynote Speakers 2024
Friday, 24th of May 2024
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Bucharest Time)
National Agency for Mountain Areas - ANZM
Aula Magna
Chair: Dr. Cristina Emanuela DASCÄ‚LU (Romania)
Gül ERKOL BAYRAM
Vice-Dean, Faculty of Tourism, Sinop University, Sinop, Türkiye
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Exploring Romania: Navigating New Tourism Roads amidst Challenges and Future Prospects
This presentation explores the evolving landscape of tourism in Romania, examining the interplay between challenges and opportunities as the country strives to redefine its position on the global tourism map. Romania boasts a rich tapestry of cultural heritage, breathtaking landscapes, and untapped potential, yet it grapples with infrastructural deficiencies, environmental concerns, and economic fluctuations. Against this backdrop, stakeholders are forging new paths in tourism, leveraging innovation, sustainability, and strategic planning to overcome obstacles and capitalize on emerging trends. This presentation offers a comprehensive analysis of the current state of Romanian tourism, identifying key challenges and outlining strategies for sustainable growth and development. By envisioning future prospects and navigating uncharted territories, this abstract aims to shed light on Romania's journey towards becoming a premier destination while addressing the complexities and opportunities inherent in its tourism industry.
Marco VALERI
Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, Niccolò Cusano University, Rome, Italy // Lecturer, Xenophon College, London, United Kingdom // Associate Researcher, Magellan Research Center, School of Management, Jean Moulin University, Lyon, France
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Digital Transformation and Sustainable Oriented Innovation
The presentation focuses on a bibliometric study that provides an overview of research related to digital transformation (DT) in the tourism industry from 2013 to 2023. The research goals are as follows: (1) to identify the development of academic papers related to DT in the tourism industry, (2) to analyze dominant research topics and the evolution of research interest and impact over time, and (3) to examine the change in research topics during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sunil KUMAR
Director of Academics, Institute of Hospitality, Management and Sciences, Kotdwar, Uttarakhand, India
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Rural Tourism Transformative Journeys into the Heart of the Rural Heritage
This research paper explores the multifaceted impact of rural tourism on preserving and promoting cultural heritage in Pauri Garhwal, an area located in the Himalayan foothills of India. Through a rigorous analysis of data collected from 200 tourists, we utilize various statistical methodologies including chi-square tests, t-tests, and regression analysis to assess the significant effects of rural tourism on both the local community and visiting tourists. Our findings indicate that rural tourism plays a pivotal role in driving economic development and preserving the cultural heritage of Pauri Garhwal. This study also sheds light on how rural tourism facilitates sustainable growth and heritage conservation in rural landscapes like Pauri Garhwal. Additionally, we examine how rural tourism facilitates meaningful interactions between tourists and locals, fostering cross-cultural understanding and community empowerment. By providing a nuanced examination, this research offers insights into the transformative potential of rural tourism as a catalyst for holistic development and cultural preservation in rural regions.
Ananya BHATTACHARYA
Co-Founder & Director, Banglanatak, Kolkata, West Bengal, India // Vice-President, International Cultural Tourism Committee of International Council on Monuments and Sites – ICOMOS, Paris, France
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Regenerative Rural Tourism Pivoting on Living Heritage
Regenerative rural tourism offers new possibilities of positive impact on destinations in a post pandemic world affected by climate change. Rural tourism has many challenges ranging from heritage preservation and management, inadequate infrastructure, accessibility, environmental impact, economic sustainability, marketing and promotion, pitfalls of heritage commercialization, etc. The ICOMOS International Charter for Cultural Heritage Tourism which supports a more responsible and sustainable tourism management will be presented. The charter recognizes heritage as a common resource. The governance and enjoyment of these commons are indeed shared rights and responsibilities. The charter addresses how communities and tourism stakeholders can create positive impact in destinations through participatory governance of heritage commons and take action to manage and mitigate climate impact, risks of disruption or intensification of use of tourism resources and leverage traditional knowledge to build resilience. Case stories from India where rural tourism is pivoted on intangible cultural heritage and the tradition bearers are the protagonists of the commercialization process will be shared. This approach has transformed underserved habitats to cultural destinations, revitalized local culture and fostered socio economic empowerment of the communities. Safeguarding of living heritage has resulted in strengthening community identity and pride and engaged women and youth in heritage tourism management. Key strategies have been capacity building of the tradition bearers for innovations enhancing visitor experiences, building public awareness using intellectual property based tools and digital storytelling.