Revista de Turism: Studii si Cercetari in Turism (Dec 2011)
E-TOURISM AND HOW TO PROMOTE ACCOMMODATION SERVICES IN RURAL MARAMUREŞ
Abstract
There are few regions in Romania where ancestral traditions, costumes and ancient art are still preserved. Maramureş is indeed the zone where they have managed to stay unaltered by modern influences. Thus, the tourism in Maramureş is centred on the village and its folklore, exploited through rural tourism. The development of rural tourism in Maramureş is mainly based on its diversified potential, but it is directly dependent on the accommodation offer available and on the methods of promoting it. Under these circumstances, our study aims at undertaking a comprehensive analysis of the existing accommodation units, of their distribution, and of the various ways of promoting tourist offers.The online tourist market in Maramureş is rather developed and diversified in its product and service offer, due to the listing of accommodation units on many online portals. In order to help and guide users towards a well-defined goal through the chaos on the Internet, we suggest the implementation of expert systems within sites. Expert systems can bring many benefits to both consumers and tourist service providers.