The Tourism Context in the Danube Delta Region of Romania

The Danube Delta is situated where the river Danube flows into the Black Sea. It is the second largest river delta on the European continent and is still one of its best preserved wetland habitats. The area consists of a large number of freshwater lakes connected by narrow streams and rivers covering an area of nearly half a million hectares and is one of Europe’s richest locations for wetland wildlife and biodiversity. The Danube Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of Romania’s leading tourist attractions. It is also home to an extensive rural community which is rich in history, culture and heritage but economically underdeveloped with high levels of unemployment, poor road communications, limited water and sewage infrastructure and little access to capital or banking services.

Tourism has been a priority for the Romanian Government in the two decades, as it generates employment and fosters development; however the Danube Delta’s region is still loosely protected by legislation and at risk as it is dominated by poaching and unplanned rural development. Social entrepreneurs emerged in the area out of sense of rage with a system that does not protect its valuable environment and the local community. Orhei, Nandram, and Vinke (2015) portrays entrepreneurial Romania as a country with great opportunities due to challenges of legislation, policies, unemployment and influence of power. After the 1989 revolution (when the old regime was abolished), social enterprises emerged to address stringent social issues such as poverty, discrimination and illiteracy (Alvord, Brown, & Letts, 2004; Orhei et al., 2015).

Tourism is an industry which differs from all others in that it succeeds not by offering solely material products i.e. rooms, meals, transport, souvenirs etc., but rather it succeeds by providing positive experiences that are valued by the consumer of tourism. One of the prime experiences desired by tourists being the chance to exist in a new place, to see new things, to feel, smell and taste something different from the norm of the tourist’s home country and home-life. And in the Danube Delta the setting is paramount and is key to the experiential nature of this type of tourism. However, in addition to experiencing place, many modern tourism wish to know that they are not damaging what they are visiting, and that, ideally, they are protecting and enhancing the environment they are visiting. Traditional tourism businesses may think of the consumers as customers who consume a provided product but with experiential goods like ‘eco-tourism’ part of the value of seeing and experiencing the new is in the tourist’s knowledge that they are not damaging what they are experiencing; they are not consuming but rather they are protecting.

NGOs see consumers as beneficiaries, and social enterprises generate products and services that generate social value when consumed (Battilana, Lee, Walker, & Dorsey, 2012). Urban modern consumers are demanding a new era of ‘eco’ industries in which tourism can be at the forefront of the ‘real green revolution’ (Marsden, 2012, p. 265), and what could be more suited to such an aim than a social rather than a ‘for-profit’ business? ‘Rowmania’ is a tourism social enterprise that seeks to enjoy, protect and develop the environment in which it exists. It seeks also to provide a way for tourists to share in both the enjoyment but also the protection of the precious countryside they are visiting. At the same time, it sees giving economic and employment benefits to the local community a way of sustaining the community who then see benefit in protecting rather than exploiting the natural beauty around them.