"A medium of revolutionary propaganda”: The state and tourism policy in the Romanian People’s Republic, 1947-1965.

Abstract

This paper contributes to recent analysis of tourism within socialist states by examining tourism policy in the Romanian People’s Republic, 1947 1965. It considers the development of tourism policy that was intended to support the broader political project of building socialism. Romania initially adopted the Soviet model of purposeful and collective outdoor recreation. It promoted domestic tourism to enhance the health of the working population and generate pride in the achievements of socialism. Romania also followed the Soviet Union in ‘opening’ to international tourism in the mid-1950s. However, after increasing tension with the Soviet Union Romania pursued a more independent course of socialist development from the late 1950s. This was reflected in tourism policy, particularly the vigorous encouragement of international tourism following the model of neighbouring Yugoslavia. This was a means to generate the foreign currency needed for an independent industrialisation programme and also enabled Romania to project its increasingly independent stance to foreign visitors (from both socialist and non-socialist countries). However, while tourism was an important part of state policy, many of the ways that the People’s Republic used tourism mirrored existing practices in capitalist states and there was limited success in developing a distinctly socialist form of tourism.