OANA MIHAELA STOLERIU RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND CITY IMAGE IN IASI, ROMANIA

Transcription

1 RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND CITY IMAGE IN IASI, ROMANIA Published in IIIrd International Conference, The Role of Tourism in Territorial Development, Presa Universitara Clujeana, 2010, p Abstract. Based on field observations and a survey conducted in 2009, on 119 tourists attending the annual St Parascheva s pilgrimage in Iasi, this study is focused on the spatial and social effects of religious tourism on the city. Motivations, territorial use, expectations and practices differentiate tourists, separating pilgrims from other types of visitors. Their differences and specific perceptions of the city are analyzed in relation with their social background and spatial experience in Iasi. The general image of Iasi delivered by the survey is that of a beautiful, clean and crowded place, mostly associated with religion and history but less to university life. After 1990, the combined efforts and pride of Iasi City Hall and the Mitropoly of Moldova and Bucovina were invested in restarting a tradition from the inter-war period (the pilgrimage to St Parascheva s relics) and upgrading it to a national and even international level. In a few years, the pilgrimage became a national event, changing the life and the aspect of the city and transforming it, for one week, into the spiritual centre of Romania. Based on field observations along the years and a survey applied in 2009, on 119 participants at the festivities, the study is aiming to analyze the spatial and social practices of different categories of users attending this event, the tourism impact of the religious phenomenon, as well as the visitors perceptions of the city (their mental image and the vectors of perceptions, in relation with the tourists social coordinates). Pilgrimage and tourism. Even since Antiquity, the sacred places began to polarize large territories and to lure huge masses of people. Nowadays, according to the World Tourism Organization, the religious tourism is estimated to gather every year about millions of people, from all over the world. For a long time, besides the cultural contacts, the pilgrimages became also important sources of income for cities and local entrepreneurs (sustaining the development of cities, arts, handicrafts and even relics trade). The routes to sacred places reorganized the territory, favoring the apparition of shelters for pilgrims, and, later, of the first written guides (itineris). Their complex economic and social impact, as well as the creation of an infrastructure very similar to the present tourism one, were reasons for including pilgrimages into the research area of geographical and tourism studies. Even if often associated and sharing the same large area of interest (culture, spirituality), religious tourism (pilgrimage) and cultural tourism are differentiated in the scientific literature. The main arguments are the specific

2 RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND CITY IMAGE IN IASI, ROMANIA practices and the intensity of the spiritual motivation displayed by religious tourists. The experience of pilgrims is mainly centered on soul salvation, divine mercy, accomplishment of wishes, communion with God, all reached through specific rituals. Therefore, the whole travel organization - timing, activities, guide s discourse, typology of tourists, services used, is different from an ordinary tourism package. Even from the beginning of the 20 th century, during the annual pilgrimage, both cultural and religious visitors were present in Iasi, all receiving a special attention from the organizers (entertainment, spatial distribution, guides). Further more, in terms of local policies, the tourism aspect of the event was very efficient in the inter-war period: at the time, the city hall published a very professional tourist guide (even better than the present ones) and was luring visitors to Iasi by reducing their travel costs with 50 %. Pilgrimage sites and sacred geographies. Based on pilgrimage, different types of sacred places were created in the world: international specialized centers (like Lourdes or Mekka), where religion and religious tourism is organizing most of the city s activities (accommodation, transport, tourism); international complex centers, where pilgrimage still has a very important role, in association with other types of activities (the example of Czestochowa, in Poland); national pilgrimage centers, where the religious function is only complementary (the case of Iasi, for example) and small regional or local pilgrimage centers (like Suceava). The sacred places are constructed around natural elements (rivers, springs, mountains) but more usually on artificial landscapes and objects: cities, temples/cathedrals, graves, statues, icons or relics. The whole organization of pilgrimage sites is generally meant to impress and to seduce, enhancing the feelings of ecstasy and transcendence by their dimensions (large cathedrals or temples), architecture, decorations (paintings, famous sculptures) and position (on heights, or central the case of most cities cathedrals). Headquarter for the Mitropoly of Moldova and Bucovina, Iasi is one of the most famous pilgrimage centers in Romania. The effect of this image exceeds the city s traditional area of polarization (Moldova), bringing together, every year, thousands of people from all over Romania (though, never the 1 million pilgrims repetitively pre-announced every year in media, by the local authorities). Even if known as the city of churches (more of these also attracting tourists), the most popular remains the large city cathedral sheltering the Saint Parascheva s relics. The building was open to the public in 1887, and the relics of Saint Parascheva were brought here in Besides its spiritual and administrative functions, the tourism attraction of this place is enhanced by its historical value: in the same yard there is also the older city cathedral, a building from the eighteenth century, with beautiful and precious paintings inside, and also sheltering the relics at the present, because of the consolidation works on the main building. The cathedral is situated in the city centre, near the most important tourism symbols of Iasi: the City Hall, the Palace of Culture, the National Theatre and the

3 Union Square. The height and the importance of the building are emphasized by a park and a square surrounded by beautiful old buildings, and the boulevard in front of the cathedral becomes a pedestrian street during weekends and city s festivities. The aspect of fortress of the cathedral is enhanced by high surrounding walls, fences and other auxiliary buildings symbolizing the church s power centre at regional level. The fences also delimitate categories of spaces (profane and sacred) and users/ tourists, as well as two major actors involved in the organization and promotion of the pilgrimage: the church and the City Hall. Two different points of view on the urban and social insertion of this sacred place are displayed: the church is more focused on the inside walls experience (there are no benches on the large inner park surrounding the cathedral), while the vision of the City Hall seems to be more oriented to social (profane) experiences and to esthetic aims: a large recreation green area, in front of the cathedral, with a plenty of benches, fountains and artists. Fig. l. Space functionality and objectives visited during the pilgrimage: a. zoom on city centre; b. cultural and religious tourism objectives in Iasi. During the week of festivities, a large area of the city centre is completely transformed, gaining specific functionalities, new facilities, decorations and users fig.1. The sacred space within the cathedral s fences is extended to the small streets behind the cathedral (for the pilgrims queue, reducing the distance to the railway station) and to a close square, allocated to the religious objects fair. The main boulevard is appropriated by the religious procession only one day (the 14 th of October), being a walking and artists area for the rest of the week. For about 6 years, the food and refreshments were moved from this boulevard and added to the

4 RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND CITY IMAGE IN IASI, ROMANIA wine festival area (previously placed on Independence Square), now a very popular and crowded space - the Central Market square. The artisans fair is concentrated in a high positively rated place - the Palace of Culture square, and it is completed along the near main street, by a more diversified area and extremely crowded area (with merchants and handicrafts, not necessarily associated with authenticity). Another constant functional space allocated to the festivities is the leather men s fair, situated behind the Central Market, near the wine s fair. This is a place appropriated and almost reconstructed by the handicrafts during the event. Concerts, arts and sport contests are organized on the other central squares and parks, but also in some peripheral public spaces, adding those, for a few hours, to the city s festivity feeling. Pilgrimage routes. The pilgrimage flows have organized and given new significance to territory and places, sustaining, in time, the development of an organized network of routes crossing cities, countries and sometimes continents. These routes have achieved a special status in the authorities perspective (being visibly distinguished from profane communication axes 1 ) but also in people s mind, being considered sacred 2, not only for the destination but also for the specific rituals and spiritual experiences they provided to pilgrims. Nowadays a part of them are included in the tourism itineraries, the national and European authorities sustaining the use of ancient routes and of traditional means of transportation. The nowadays transport network guiding tourists to Iasi becomes crowded every year, in October, getting the authorities and transport firms to supplement the number of trains and buses. The pilgrims usually come by train and personal cars, except from the organized groups (mostly gathered around local churches), arriving in Iasi by bus. The choice of transport means depends also on their economic level, their origin (rural or urban) and the distance to Iasi. The regional buses and trains network is more used by the people situated around a hours journey from Iasi, especially from rural places. The polarization area is generally overlapping the old province of Moldova, having Iasi as a major economic and administrative centre. Outside these limits as well as in most of the cities, the personal cars are preferred, from reasons of comfort and flexibility of travel. The train is used more for long distances, being chosen especially by pilgrims coming from south-eastern and central Romania: the lower expenses and the special prices for retired people (well represented among the visitors) being the main reasons. A large part of initiated tourists (People of the church, students in theology, groups gathered by local churches, well fed with information about the religious objectives ) use to come by rented (mini)buses. 1 By symbols like the yellow flesh and the pilgrim s shell, marking the routes to Santiago de Compostela. 2 Like the medieval routes to Santiago de Compostela, the so-called routes of paradise to Mont Saint Michel or the stairs descending to the Hindu worshiped rivers (the ghat).

5 Inside the city, the trajectory from railway and bus station is not specifically marked, the pilgrims being forced to ask for directions or simply fallow the wave of people going to the city cathedral on two main itineraries: directly to the queue or through the city centre. The only modern symbols orienting the pilgrims within the city are the fences bordering the queue to the relics..enforced by the guardians surveillance. Categories of tourists. Both the route and the sacred place of destination are sources of new, specific experiences for tourists. From the beginning, they are extracted from their ordinary life, not only by the trajectory, the spaces crossed or visited, but also by the spiritual experiences implied. Still, there are major differences among tourists gathered by religious events, highlighted even since the Middle Age by their appearance (wearing certain symbols, like the traditional blessed handrails and water holders) and meant to ensure to pilgrims a privileged status. This was reinforced along the years by the church and profane authorities 3. After reaching the destination point and performing the requested rituals, the pilgrim s social status in the departure community changes, gaining admiration and respect 4. Today, the appearance can still differentiate pilgrims from occasional tourists. The first ones are easily recognizable by their dark clothes, the head dresses (rarely seen otherwise in urban places), the flowers in their hands (part of the sacred ritual at the relics) and large bags containing warm clothes and chairs required by the long hours (nights) spent in cold, at the queue. They also bring objects for the short ritual performed at the relics: offerings and things to be blessed. A specific category among pilgrims is represented by the people of church, distinguished by their black traditional clothes and the special status they enjoy within the sacred places (usually a faster access to the relics and sometimes guiding a group of people). The other categories of tourists gathered in Iasi during the festivities, are also easily distinguished by their appearance: A. the occasional visitors (a lot of young people from neighboring cities and villages) are mostly attracted by the parallel social events and the occasion to see their friends and relatives. They are wearing modern clothes and they visit all the space allocated to the event (even if from curiosity only), but usually not entering the sacred place (they do not attend the religious procession and the ritual church service). B) the artisans, a very static category, are usually wearing traditional folk costumes, meant to attract customers and convince them of the functionality and authenticity of their products. A similar strategy, added to a higher opening to bargaining, is approached by the other 3 In the eleventh century, the authorities introduced official punishments for those hurting or abusing pilgrims; the pilgrim passport, entitled travelers to Santiago de Compostela to nearly free lodging along the way, exemption of taxes and special blessings upon arrival. 4 Like the hagi status, after the pilgrimage to Mekka, or the official certificate given by the church to the Caministas.

6 RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND CITY IMAGE IN IASI, ROMANIA category of handicraftsmen: the merchants of leather and fur clothes (C). These ones come from all over the country and have a higher sense of territoriality: they bring with them all the elements needed to build the tents where they expose their merchandise. Even more static, they usually do not leave these tents, for economic reasons, during the day, and for security reasons, during the night. Unlike the second category, they communicate more with their customers, a certain sense of communality also being manifested among them: they provide each other help for building the tents or guarding the merchandise. Their dialogues are mostly oriented to economic subjects, like the cost of the rented place and the evolution of the market in their business. Other two groups, spatially separated, and more diversified, is mixing handicraftsmen and merchants: D) the sellers of diversified products (hand made souvenirs, rarely pastry and refreshments) and E) a compact nucleus of food, beverages and sweets sellers. Another category attracted by the festivities includes the entertainers (F): dancers, singers, organizers but also politicians. They do not directly interfere with the public and their stay in Iasi usually does not exceed much their public performance, meant to generate specific reactions and emotions from the participants. Still, the politicians practices differ by their spatial behaviour: their show is performed within the sacred place, receiving the special attention of local authorities and sometimes the negative reaction of pilgrims (because of temporarily cutting them the access to the relics or church service). Even if not directly generating financial benefits to the city, due to their short stay, this category is required for image purposes: higher their names, higher the crowd gathered by their show and more quotations of the event in the media. The spatial guides (G) are represented by the guardians supervising the queue and by two tourist information points, not so efficiently placed just near the cathedral. In fact most of the guiding is done by local residents, asked by pilgrims for directions. Even if concentrated in Moldova (44.53 % of the visitors interviewed), the origin area of tourists is well extended to south-east (13.50 % came from Bucarest, 12 % from Constanta) and less to west (polarizing people mostly from Eastern Transylvania - Harghita and Bistrita Nasaud), being related to the transport accessibility factor. Tourist practices: sacred rituals and profane experiences. The pilgrim s journey from profane to sacred is usually marked by a temporary sensation of human commonality, transcending the daily social differences and stimulating the communication between people. It is also associated with specific rituals, more or less conserved nowadays but granting to pilgrims a special spiritual achievement: offerings, prayers and sacrifices (like the difficulties and duration of journey, sometimes self-inflicted suffering and penitential pain). Even if performed within an urban nowadays landscape, a part of the old rituals are conserved and even enriched during the pilgrimage to Iasi. A few days before the October 14, pilgrims start arriving in Iasi. A long queue is formed at the relics, extended up to two kilometers. Despite the long hours of waiting in the cold (up to hours

7 and more), the pilgrims are still eagerly making this sacrifice every year, because it gives them the feeling of being entitled to the afterward blessings. More than 70 % of pilgrims are women of different ages (mostly over 30 years old 70 %), coming in small groups (of two or three persons) from outside the city (most of the locals residents use to see the relics before the festivities, in order to avoid the crowded period). They come directly to the queue from the railway or bus station. While waiting, people communicate with each other, the subjects of their discussions (positive spiritual experiences, miracles) having the role to enforce their efforts. This role is sometimes taken by displays of miraculous instant experiences enhanced by the relics: healings, divine communion, all of them seducing more people every year and getting fast to the front titles of the news. At the end of their waiting, the pilgrims reach their highest spiritual experience, by touching the relics with their hands and personal things, by giving offerings, taking some holy objects, saying their prayers and getting the blessing. For reasons of efficiency, this part is actually encouraged to be very short, lasting about 5 minutes. Another public ritual gathering tourists and local residents is the impressive religious procession held on the city s central street, on October 14. The number of priests performing the ceremony is increasing every year (like from 12, in 2008, at 50, in 2009) and loudly preannounced in the media, in order to attract more pilgrims. The audience is crowding for blessings by touching the priests clothes, meant to insure them protection during the year. Every year, new relics from different countries are brought and displayed during this procession, together with those of St. Parascheva, in the effort of organizers to upgrade the event to an international level (but achieved only in creating a new tradition and new expectations for tourists and local residents). Profane festivities. Over the years, the sacred festivities were doubled by profane ones. The larger development of the second ones has in fact begun in the inter-war period: the famous so-called Month of Iasi added to St. Parascheva s pilgrimage important exhibitions gathering people from all over Romania. After 1990, the festivities were restarted, the number of days increasing every year, as well as the activities attached to the event and the allocated space. The present festivities last one week and include a large palette of activities mainly focused on culture (but not necessarily religion): arts (exhibitions, cultural conferences, contests), sports, leisure (concerts, spectacles, parades) and trade. However, the most popular remain the more pragmatic ones: the traditional leather men, artisans and sacred objects fairs and the wine festival. These are always very crowded, polarizing a diversified public of residents and tourists. Another ritual created and carefully kept by the City Hall are the tea and meal for the pilgrims, their increasing quantity being proudly announced every year in the media, before and during the events 5. 5 the number of stuffed cabbage increasing from in 2007, to , in 2009; the bear increased from 300 l to 500 l; the wine remained at 500l etc.

8 RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND CITY IMAGE IN IASI, ROMANIA Pilgrimage and city image. The religious tourism is able to create a strong city image and a very large area of polarization. That s why, along the years, communities used pilgrimage for gaining economic profit and political power. At the same time, besides enhancing a positive place image in people s mind, the protection of a specific saint creates specific expectations among tourists, influencing their practices and itineraries. The tourists perception of Iasi was studied by the words they associate with the city. These words were analyzed in relation with the social coordinates and the main factors creating or influencing this image. Tourists perceptions of Iasi. First, there is a strong correlation (p-value for the chi-square test) between gender and tourists perception of the city Fig. 2. The first impression of the city (their first words associated to Iasi) is mostly a positive one and strongly focused on its aspect (beautiful, mentioned by 54 % of women and 50 % of men). In generally, women used a higher number of words and more nuances for the same theme (like 4 words related to religion). Unlike men, their image of the city is more centered on feelings (7 words) and personal experiences/needs related to: security (crowded is the second most important word - 6,90 %, completed by big), shopping activities (expensive), memories (little Wienna, city of loves, romance) and faith (4 words). They also tend to quote more some usual labels associated to Iasi - history, university life and culture. On the other side, men give more practical appreciations (clean %), including more dominant or administrative terms (capital of Moldova %), less words related to feelings and totally omitting the leit-motif of culture. Fig.2. Top of the first words associated to Iasi, by gender.

9 This time, there is also a very strong correlation between the education level and the city image (p-value <0.0001, for chi-square test) fig.3. The number of words quoted increases with the education level (from 5, for people with secondary school, to 19, for those with medium studies and 22, for those with superior education). Beautiful is again the most used first word for all the categories, but especially for the people with secondary school (73.91 % of them). Mostly coming from rural areas, their image is related to a more impressive contact with a different type of space: big (13.4 % of quotations), very crowded (4.35 %), but also clean (4.35%). The vision of people with a medium education level is more nuanced and focused on a generally positive perception (wonderful, pleasant, superb, clean), history (capital of Moldova 3.39 %) and faith. Culture is used as a first association only by the visitors with superior studies (5.56 % of them) but history is surprisingly underrepresented. They develop more the religion theme (religious centre, sacred city, spiritual, religion etc) but also other ones more related to a personal use/perspective of the city s space (like the university and the romance themes). 100% 80% 60% (very) crowded big faith of our ancestors, pretty,extraordinary history, superbe,young, tradition, not as expected capital of Moldova quiet,wonderful pleasant clean (very) crowded (very) crowded, religious centre sacred city,faith,special, touching, erudite, impressive, interesting big little Wienna wonder city of loves religion 40% 5 clean culture 20% very/the most beautiful very/the most beautiful very/the most beautiful 1 0% secondary school medium superior Fig.3. First words associated with Iasi, by tourists education level. The travel motivation and the words associated to Iasi are also strongly correlated (p-value <0.0001, for chi-square test). Even if dominant for all, the theme of beauty distinguishes the visitors coming mostly for festivities, in general (more than 50 % quoting this word) and less the pilgrims (about %), who are more impressed by the crowd, the dimensions (big) and the difference (extraordinary) from their every day life. The impressions prove to be closely related to their spatial experience: crowded defines in fact the pilgrims travel to Iasi, the trajectory within the city and the queue at the relics.

10 RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND CITY IMAGE IN IASI, ROMANIA Vectors of representations. From the external sources of information mentioned by tourists, the main vectors of their representations seem to be the media (mentioned by % of the sample), fallowed by: church (10.92 %), school/faculty (9.24%) and personal experience of the place (5.88 % living near Iasi or, temporarily, in the city). The media promotion plays the role of a seducing instrument, well used by the organizers every year. It is interesting that the front titles of the newsare less focused on the sacred part of the festivities (excepting the miraculous healings), but more on the quantity of meal and beverages offered to pilgrims, the number of victims benefiting from medical assistance or the difficult weather conditions 6. The educational background proves also to be important in creating the tourists expectations and practices: the words they associate to Iasi are correlated with their level of education (p-value 0.004, for chi-square test). For those with superior studies, media is the most important source of information, the school/faculty or general culture being, surprisingly, under represented. They are though the main vector for the visitors with medium education (high school), together with the church and the friends (all the other sources being under represented for this category). As for the people with secondary studies (mostly older and/or coming from villages), the main sources of knowledge are the close social and spatial environment (family, home in the proximity of Iasi) and what they know from local residents. Fig.4. Vectors of information about Iasi festivities and tourism objectives visited, by the place of survey. 6 Titles like Night and cold do not skear the pilgrims..; They slept under the clear sky waiting to touch the relics..; Plenty of faintings while waiting to touch the relics ;, Terrible end for a priest went on pilgrimage to St Parascheva.. (Pro TV news, October 2009); stuffed cabbage, pilgrims and euros for fireworks (Gandul, October 2009) etc.

11 Experiencing the urban space. The vectors of representations are strongly related to the tourists spatial experience (position) within the city, as the chi-square test shows (p-value <0.0001) fig.4. The media seduction seems to be generally less powerful among the most initiated religious tourists (also more spatially connected to the sacred), being outbalanced by church, school and previous experience in Iasi (they live near Iasi, they ve been at this event before or they have lived or temporarily live in Iasi). The people interviewed near the cathedral or while visiting other churches, know about the event from school (20 % of those interviewed at Hadambu Monastery), church (40 % of those interviewed at Hadambu Monastery and % of those near the cathedral), but also from tourism guides (the organized religious trips have a specialized itinerary including other religious objectives besides the city cathedral). The people waiting at the queue know the city mostly from their friends (23.90 %) and their previous experience in Iasi (19.05 %), though 19 % of them are still influenced by the media promotion. As for the tourists present in the profane spaces (the artisans fairs around the Palace of Culture), their knowledge about this event is mainly from media (50 %), fallowed by school and information from local residents. Another factor that proved to be very important in construction of city image was represented by the other tourism objectives visited in Iasi (p-value <0.0001, chi-square test). It is even more interesting because it highlights how the other cultural objectives of Iasi actually benefit from the annual pilgrimage. Well, the answer proved to be generally negative, because, except from a few famous churches, only 7 other cultural objectives are mentioned by tourists as visited: 3 museums ( the Palace of Culture being seen by % of tourists), the Copou park (38.66 % of tourists), the botanical garden (18.49 %), the City Hall (21.85 % - visting actually meaning seeing it in most of the cases) and the Al. I. Cuza university (only 0.84 %). Regarding the weight of answers, we can conclude that the choice of visited objectives was not the distance to the city cathedral but their fame and intersection with tourists trajectories and personal area of interest. The answers also permit a finer distinction between the categories of cultural and religious tourists. Thus, it is interesting that for the tourists who have visited other important churches in Iasi (Three Ierarchs, Golia, Cetatuia, Galata), themes like university, culture and even faith are under represented in their first image attached to the city, which is also not a very positive one. A different vision belongs to more initiated religious tourists (organized and informed by a professional guide/priest): they visit churches less famous (from the city s periphery St. Nectarie, Vladiceni Monastery) or less accessible (Hadambu Monastery) and associate the city more with the idea of religion, culture, history, capital of Moldova, special, cleanness. A similar distinction separates the image of initiated cultural tourists, visiting more distant objectives (like the house of I. Creanga) and associating the city more with culture, university, religion/faith, and those who visit only the city centre (the Union Museum, City Hall), being more impressed by that specific image of Iasi during the pilgrimage: crowded, religion and students. The perception of tourists who have visited museums is more related to culture: even if the old symbol of

12 RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND CITY IMAGE IN IASI, ROMANIA Iasi, the Palace of Culture seems to mostly disappoint visitors (being closed for visitors because of the rehabilitation works), their image of Iasi remains closely associated with tradition and very rarely with sacred. Beauty seems to be a common theme among the tourists who visited the Copou Hill. Though, surprisingly, not all of them associate Iasi with university (like those who visited the Copou Park), but only the young people who have visited the university and the botanical garden. As expected, the image of tourists who mentioned Iulius Mall (1.68 % of all) is a lot less related to culture, history, university or religion, but more to beauty and big (reasons, in fact, for shopping tourism in Iasi). Conclusions. The St Parascheva s annual pilgrimage proves to be a very interesting social and tourism phenomenon increasing every year its impact on the city s space, life and image. A first conclusion derived from the study is the spatial and social distinction between categories of tourists attending this event. Motivations, territorial use, expectations and practices separate pilgrims from other types of tourists. The distinction is reinforced through the spatial and promotion policies conducted by the church and local authorities. The pilgrimage s polarization area grows every year, exceeding the limits of Moldova to the southeast of Romania and east of Transylvania. Interesting observations were highlighted by the analysis of the relation between the tourists perception of the city and their social coordinates. The main means building the city image in people s minds proved to be the media, fallowed by church, school and personal experience of the place, but their importance varies according to the tourists educational background. The gender, the spatial practices (tourism objectives visited, trajectories followed) and the travel motivation also strongly influence their perception of the city and the choice of words describing it. The general picture of Iasi, from the tourists perspective (all words included), seems to be that of a beautiful (mentioned by 75 % of the sample), clean (26 %) and crowded (10 %) place, mostly related to religion (17 %) and history (11%) and very lightly to university life (2.52 %, less than romance! %). Bibliography 1. ANGELES R. G., JAVIER DE ESTEBAN C. (2008) Religious Events as Special Interest Tourism. A Spanish Experience, Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, vol. 6, n 3, págs: , 2. BOGDAN, N. A. (1915) - Oraşul Iaşi - Monografie istorică şi socială ilustrată (ed. a IIa, ), 3. BOYER M. (1996) L invention de tourisme, Gallimard, Paris, 4. CAZES G. (1992) Fondements pour une géographie de tourisme et de loisirs, Boréal, Paris, 5. CIANGĂ N. (2001) România geografia turismului, Presa Universitară Clujeană, partea I, Cluj-Napoca, 6. GHERASIM T., GHERASIM D. (1999) Marketing turistic, Ed. Economică, Bucureşti, 1999, 7. ***(2000)- Pelerin în Iaşi ghid pentru vizitatori, Mitropolia Moldovei şi Bucovinei, Tipografia Trinitas, Iaşi,

13 7. MITICAN I. (2006)- Urcând Copoul cu gândul la Podul Verde, Ed. Tehnopress, Iaşi, 8. MUNTELE I., IAŢU C. (2006) Geografia Turismului.Concepte, metode, şi forme de manifestare spaţio temporală, Ed. Sedcom Libris, Iaşi, STOLERIU O.M.(2008) Evolutia uman-geografica si urbanistica a orasului Iasi in perioada postbelica, Edit. Tehnopress, Iasi.