Heritage tourism and authenticity: the case of Voroneț

Culture is an essential component that adds to the attractiveness of a destination and contributes to the authenticity of an area through its ‘unique imprint on the cultural landscape’ Timothy, 2011, p. 58). To capitalize on this, cultural tourism has been proposed in many destinations as a path to economic prosperity, better job opportunities for locals and increased tax revenues. This study focuses on heritage tourism, a popular choice among visitors and an area of research that has recently attracted increased attention from academics. Heritage is seen as one of the main tourism drivers for many regions, helping destinations to differentiate between one another in a very competitive environment. The literature on this form of tourism has expanded rapidly since the initial debates in the late ‘80s, with the topic being included by Cohen and Cohen (2012) among the current issues deserving further attention from researchers. Additionally, the present work looks at the role that authenticity plays in tourist destinations, ‘an important attribute of heritage tourism […] or at least the perception of it’(Chhabra et al., 2003). While there is a wealth of research on authenticity and its applicability,this is mostly focused on Western countries. This research therefore contributes to filling this gap by exploring the applicability of the concept in a non-Western context, which it does by looking at the importance of the cultural landscape and traditional houses for the sustainable development of tourism in a heritage site from a former communist country in Eastern Europe. Specifically, the study focuses on objective authenticity and looks at the importance of preserving the built environment (i.e. traditional houses) for the sustainable development of tourism in the Voroneț area in Romania. Situated in the North-East of Romania, Voroneț is considered to be one of the main tourist attractions in the region of Bucovina, and one of the most important destinations for cultural, heritage and religious tourism in the country