CONCERNS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECUMENICAL TOURISM IN BUCOVINA

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the possibilities of the ecumenical tourism in Northern Moldavian monasteries’ area. The monasteries of Putna, Sucevita, Moldovita, Humor and Voronet are great touristic attractions of the beautiful Bucovina lands and being visited by a large number of foreign and Romanian tourists. Ecumenical tourism is a matter that already exists for centuries. It keeps some of the characteristics of pilgrimage, but it has greatly evolved over years. Today, ecumenical tourism asks for a higher level of culture and conditions for tourists. Thus, if in this context the tourists could assure their own necessities, they would be able to appreciate all the cultural objectives as well as the architecture, constructions, values, spiritual connotation and art. There are only two programs in Romania for this kind of tourism: “Know Bucovina” and “Easter in Bucovina”, both promoted by ANAT and by the Council of Suceava County. The accommodation facilities for the monasteries’ visitors have been studied as well as transportation and advertising points of view in order to enlarge the sizes of the actual tourism which converge to a higher number of tourists. In order to improve the touristic activity it was developed a ten-question questionnaire which had been distributed to a sample of 200 tourists.