Tourism and Dracula in Romania

Although part of the novel by Bram Stoker, Dracula, is set in a remote area of central Romania known as Transylvania, his descriptions of the area and of Castle Dracula were all largely taken from his imagination. Stoker had never visited Transylvania, yet it is his "description of Transylvania -- dark, wild, untouched by science and modernity -- that is the novel's most evocative achievement" (1). 

Romania's Political Motivation to Attract Tourists 

The levels of tourism in Romania began to increase exponentially with the release of film adaptations of Dracula in the 20th century, benefiting the country greatly. "Tourist numbers increased from just 5,000 in 1956 to 103,000 in 1960. By 1970, they had reached 2,300,000" (1). Romania was, at that time, still a communist state, allied to the Soviet Union since the Warsaw Pact of 1955. However, with tourism on the incline due to Stoker's Dracula, Romania "was eager to present itself to the West as an independent communist country and tourism was to play a role" in promoting friendly relations abroad (1). Since Romania was eager to attract western tourists in order to demonstrate its ideological achievements and independence from the Soviet Union, the state made travel easier for tourists with inexpensive visas, minimal border formalities, and fewer restrictions once the tourists were inside the country. In turn, the tourists would generate hard currency that would be used to import western technology.

Dracula Tourism in Romania and Romania's Response

Dracula tourism started to grow in Romania during the 1970s after the release of different film adaptations of Stoker's novel. Since the locations in the novel such as Castle Dracula were entirely of Stoker's imagination, tourists began to think of Bran Castle as Castle Dracula, even though the castle has no relation to the novel whatsoever. For the most part, the interest in Dracula tourism is diverse, with tourists visiting for many of their own different purposes. According to Candrea, "Some tourists could be identified as literary tourists, some as film tourists, some were looking for the supernatural roots of the Dracula myth and some were interested in the historical Dracula character, Vlad the Impaler" (2).

Unfortunately, the novel Dracula was not published in Romania until 1990 so many Romanians were naive to anything about the novel. Tourists had been coming to Romania seeking the Count for years only to be sorely disappointed upon discovering that most Romanians knew nothing about Dracula. When asked by tourists about vampires or for directions to Castle Dracula, most Romanians were bewildered. 

When Dracula tourism first began to increase in the 1970s, Romania's response to it "was tolerant but not encouraging" (2). Tourism which was based on something supernatural, such as vampires, was fundamentally at odds with "Romania's identity as a socialist state and was not something that the government wanted to endorse" (2). In 1972 a travel company called General Tours launched the first ever Dracula-themed tour, "Spotlight on Dracula" (1). Romanians were not ready for a tour such as this one, which advised its participants to stock up on garlic, so the tourism minister loan Cosma began a group to discuss how Romania should respond to the growing interest.

An image of Bran Castle taken from long distance showing the large castle with the orange tiled turrets that rise above the trees (3). 

In 1973, Romania's ministry of tourism developed its own tour, "Dracula: Legend and Truth" which was intended to "firmly draw a line between the historical Dracula and the fictional vampire" (1). Romania's official position was of tolerance but discouragement towards Dracula tourism until the communist regime collapsed in December 1989. This did not deter foreign tourists who, lacking a real Castle Dracula to visit, found what they were looking for in what was officially a museum of medieval art known as Bran Castle. Although it had no link to Stoker's novel, Bran Castle became known as Dracula's Castle in the 1960s.

Inside Bran Castle

Bran Castle is perched "dramatically on a hill in Transylvania, its burnt-orange-tiled turrets and steeples rising above a crown of trees in Romania's Carpathian Mountains" (3). It was once a castle inhabited by Queen Marie of Romania from 1920 to 1938.
Inside the castle, there are numerous rooms and even a secret stairway to a library. Bran Castle was converted by communist authorities into a museum in 1956. Today, Dracula tourism is still popular in Romania. According to Amy Alipio, "Tour companies often book Bran Castle for Halloween parties, complete with 'bloody' vodka shots and a DJ" (3).

 This is a video that provides great views of Bran Castle from the outside, as well as providing a brief tour through the rooms inside the castle (4).

Although Dracula's castle never truly existed in real life, many fans of Dracula still make the pilgrimage to Transylvania in order to feel closer to Bram Stoker's story. Their determination and ability to appreciate Bran Castle as if it is Dracula's castle shows the impact that this novel has had on the world, even generations later.

Works Cited

(1) Light, Duncan. "Romania's Problem with Dracula." History Today, vol. 67, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 

62-65. EBSCOhost, proxy-bloomu.klnpa.org/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=30h&AN=122332425&site=eds-live&scope=site.

(2) CANDREA, Adina Nicoleta, et al. "Marketing the Count's Way: How Dracula's Myth Can Revive Romanian Tourism." Bulletin of the Transilvania  University of Brasov. Series V: Economic Sciences, vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp/ 81-90. EBSCOhost, proxy-bloomu-klnpa.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bth&AN=121777847&site=eds-live&scope=site.

(3)  Alipio, Amy. "Inside the Fortress Known as 'Dracula's Castle'." National Geographic, 28 Sept. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/europe/romania/dracula-castle-things-to-do-brasov-transylvania/.

(4) http://www.bran-castle.com/index.html