DESTINATION IDENTITY – STARTING POINT IN CONSTRUCTING CULTURAL ECOTOURISM PRODUCTS. CASE STUDY: YOUNG PEOPLE’S OPINIONS REGARDING TARA HATEGULUI

References: 14th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2014, www.sgem.org, SGEM2014 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7105-18-6 / ISSN 1314-2704, June 19-25, 2014, Book 5, Vol. 2, 171-178 pp

ABSTRACT
The current universal trends attest the increased importance given to the measures of protection and effective management of natural and cultural heritage, and therefore, a propensity of potential tourists to assign a greater relative importance to the attributes regarding the responsibility for nature and culture, as ecotourism development premises. The task of marketing specialists is, therefore, in this situation, to transform the emerging trends in the marketing environment in opportunities for tourism development, in the attempt of constructing tourism products consistent with the responsible behaviours for the environmental conservation and local communities. Thus, a marketing quantitative research has been conducted in order to identify the opinions of young people on the cultural identity of the potential ecotourism destination Țara Haţegului, conducted on a sample of 236 people. Through this research the identification of preferences for cultural activities has been sought, as well as the the reasons for visiting the destination Țara Haţegului and the knowledge degree of the cultural resources fund having as focal point the knowledge of the cultural heritage material.

Keywords: opinions, ecotourism destination, tourism destination marketing, Țara
Hațegului.