Culture in Romanian and in English hospitality

“Culture is not a characteristic of individuals but a collection of individuals sharing common concerns that may include values, beliefs, ideas and rituals”

 (Clarke and Chen, 2007, p. 28).

This is why I believe culture determines a person’s behavior in society (Walker, 2004, p.532) and because the hospitality industry relies on its local human resource it inadvertently changes the aspect and modus operandi of the industry. This became very clear to me when I moved to the UK from Romania as the two countries have quite different cultural backgrounds: while Romania focuses on the rural side of the industry, the UK promotes its urban areas.

Firstly, due to its rural character Romania is rich in destinations for those interested in “nature tourism” (FOX News Network, 2012) because essentially any village can be a destination for this type of tourism. These are some examples of the more popular areas: Maramures, Apuseni Mountains, Transylvania or the Danube Delta.

  

 

This type of tourism offers people an escape to nature from their day to day lives. Hosts accommodate their guests in rural homes, guest-houses and pensions instead of hotels; they offer them traditional food and show them the local customs, practically making them part of the community. One of the many people who find Romanian hospitality enticing is Prince Charles of Wales (Squidoo, 2012).

The following video of him holds the essence of what rural tourism is and how local traditions and customs can change a person’s experience in Romania (I recommend watching from 00:30 to 1:00):

 

              Pictures of a few Romanian dishes:

 

                And some of the sights to see:

                                              The Danube River

                                         
                                         Rural houses

                                          The Happy Cemetery

                                          The highest wooden church in the world

                On the other hand, the UK offers people a completely different experience through its urban beauty, architecture and history. For example, the top UK destination, London (Trip Advisor, 2012 ) offers over a 1000 hotels to choose from (Booking, 2012) which creates a wide enough variety to cater to the needs of all market segments no matter the experience they are looking for (Clarke & Chen, 2007, p.65).

                Here are a few pictures of some of the places tourists seek in London:

 

                To sum it all up, I believe the local culture is an important factor for the hospitality industry, as it results from the two examples I gave. Depending on the culture, the customs and traditions of the region or the country, the industry will have specific characteristics, appealing to one or multiple market segments.
    
              
               Reference list:

Books:

Clarke, A. & Chen, W. (2007), International Hospitality Management: concepts and cases, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Walker, J.R. (2004) Introduction to Hospitality Management, London; Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Sites:

Booking (2012) Available here (Accessed: 15 October 2012).

FOX News Network (2012) Fox News. Available here (Accessed: 16 October 2012).

Pan Travel Romania (no date) Map of Romania [Online]. Available here (Accessed: 16 October 2012).

Squidoo (2012) Available here (Accessed: 16 October 2012).

TripAdvisor (2012) Available here (Accessed: 15 October 2012).

TranSSilvanius (2008) Prince Charles Romania Transylvania Romanian People. Available here (Accessed: 14 October 2012).