COMMUNICATION MIGHT BOOST THE EUROPEAN CULTURAL
         CAPITAL PROGRAM – CASE STUDY SIBIU 2007

                      Rotariu Ilie, senior lecturer, ilie.rotariu@ulbsibiu.ro
                              “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu


         Abstract: This paper is a case study: the town of Sibiu – Transylvania – Romania. There
is no doubt that Sibiu area has already gathered the critical mass of its development capable to
satisfy the requests of the tourists in order to be considered as a tourist destination according to
Gunn’ criterion. A good communication is compulsory to boost a tourist destination for the both
major actors: the organizers and the population – the potential tourists. We argue that the
destination has started to communicate with the world and is learning how to improve its
capabilities of dialogue. But the world has also begun to communicate with Sibiu, and at the end
of the line with Romania, after knowing what it is and who its inhabitants are. And more
important, the natives started to talk one another according the nowadays global custom. The
European Cultural Capital has boosted the communication of a new discovered tourist
destination according to the current global routine.

       Key words: communication, tourist destination, potential tourists
       JEL code: M31