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Journalism of Courage
The Romanian Tourism Ministry is betting big on the idea that a Disney-style theme park complete with special effects, eerie music and a modern version of an ancient castle — all based on the Dracula myth — will give the tourism industry the jump-start it needs.
The government is finalising plans for the $ 32 million park that will include restaurants, hotels, an 18-hole golf course, a children’s zoo and, of course, the obligatory castle with spooky effects.
No word yet on whether it will also include a B-movie actor wearing white makeup and a cape who jumps out from a behind a wall to exclaim, ‘‘I want to suck your blood!’’ but Romanian Tourism officials promise they will stay clear of cliches as the park is developed.
‘‘Many of the details are still being developed, but we want this to be a quality operation,’’ a ministry official said. The extent to which that will be possible is not yet clear — after all, the park is based on the life of a fictional character, the protagonist in the 1897 novel Dracula, authored by Bram Stoker.
The book is said to be based on the life of Romanian Prince Vlad the Impaler, and the 520-acre site is being developed north of Bucharest, near lake Snagov, the site of an ancient monastery where Vlad the Impaler is thought to be buried.
Though some Romanian history books treat Vlad the Impaler as a savage hero for winning an epic battle against invading Turks and impaling captured soldiers on stakes in public places — a practice that earned him his nickname — it is Stoker’s fictional version of the figure who will be celebrated by the park.
There was a great deal of debate over the last year about whether to locate the theme park near Bucharest, the Romanian capital, or at Sighisoara, in Transylvania, closer to where the novel is set.
The Romanian government, which will own and operate the park, commissioned a study on the subject from business consultants Price Waterhouse Coopers and was told that while the Transylvanian park would draw an estimated 600,000 visitors a year, a location nearer to the capital would likely draw 1 million tourists.
That translated to an estimated $ 11 million per year in profits, a figure that was music to the ears of a cash-strapped government trying to pay for modernisation efforts it hopes will result in European Union membership in 2007.
‘‘In the end, the decision to base the park close to Bucharest was an economic one,’’ the ministry official said. ‘‘The location near Bucharest means it would be easier for many people to get to the park.’’
Conservationists were another factor in forcing the change in venue. They charged that the transylvanian site would have damaged a historic citadel in Sighisoara and could have hurt a protected virgin oak forest nearby.
Now some of the same people are unsure whether it is wise to bet the country’s future as a tourist attraction on a sharp-toothed fictional character best known for murdering victims and sucking blood from their necks. (UPI)
