Oltcultour certification mechanism - keeping the right balance between authenticity-traditions-creativity-novelty in the development of cultural tourism in Northern Oltenia Region of Romania

摘要

The paper is a result of the research project "Oltcultour", having the aim to support the catalysis of a cultural tourism market in Northern Oltenia Region of Romania. Tourism generally, and cultural tourism in particular has not performed well in the arena of authenticity and sustainability. This makes imperative the authentic development of tourism, not only for the sake of the tourists and market forces, but also for the integrity of the community and those who live that culture. Not only is it necessary to retain some of the features of the past that have created the culture in question but the recognition of transformational mechanisms that will eventually generate new forms and adaptations of that culture. Tourists will be interested in the dynamic properties of culture if it is revealed and presented to them in an authentic and meaningful way. Creative strategy designing must become as important as marketing. The paper starts from defining the concept and model of Regional Creative System as an extremis of the concept and model of Regional Innovation System. We show that effective and creative/creativity policies and actions should be in place to maximize the beneficial development impact of tourism and its deep linkages with the creative economy. This means to treat more carefully the concept of "emergent authenticity" which advocates that authenticity is historically and socially "emergent" rather than static: "a cultural product, or a trait thereof, which is at one point generally judged as contrived or inauthentic, may, in the course of time, become generally recognized as authentic, even by experts". But, how to manage emergencies, so to keep the right balance between authenticity-traditions-creativity-novelty? The answer is to create a regional self-regulation mechanism able to anticipate, to identify and to facilitate the emergencies and/or the trends favorable to the pursued balance Oltcultour certification mechanism is such an example of initiative aimed at institutionalization.