Romania wants to sink its teeth into a new Dracula-themed amusement park

Romania could build a Dracula-themed amusement park in Transylvania. It would be the second attempt to build such a park, after a failed project in early 2000. Romanian tourism authorities are currently trying to convince the Government to support a public-private partnership for this project. The project could be called Tepes Park (The Impaler Park, after the name of famous rule Vlad the Impaler) - not to be confused with the failed Dracula Park from 15 years ago. “We want to develop a Dracula theme park, on the model of Dracula Park 15 years ago. That one went wrong, but meanwhile people have evolved, and things have changed,” said Simona Man, president of the Romanian Tourism Authority (ANT), quoted by Mediafax. She thinks that a Dracula-themed park would be a success, considering the myth’s worldwide popularity. She added that such a facility would bring new opportunities for Romanian mountain resorts, which currently fail to offer entertainment options for tourists. “We have to make these resorts livelier. This is why we should build this park between Sighisoara and Brasov,” she said. Sighisoara is probably Romania’s best-known medieval city while Brasov and its surroundings make the country’s top winter destination. The Bran Castle, located close to Brasov, is often associated with the myth of Dracula. Romanian authorities haven’t managed to exploit the myth of Dracula the vampire in promoting Romania as a tourist destination. The Dracula Park project, which started in November 2001, was abandoned. The state even launched a public offer, asking Romanians to buy shares in the project. Some 14,000 Romanians bought shares worth EUR 1 million in the project, at that time. Large private companies also contributed EUR 2 million. They never recovered the money. Tourism agency owner: Dracula can sell Romania as a tourism destination, nobody knows our national poet How others build on Romania’s most famous fictional character: New Dracula vampire movie hits the screens in fall Comment: Following Dracula or how a short piece of news can help Romanian tourism editor@romania-insider.com