Governance and Development of Tourism in Rural Areas through the Lens of Media in South Bukovina (Romania)

Abstract

Agritourism and rural tourism represent an essential growing sector in certain EU regions, particularly in restructured and rebranded Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) like Romania that display important rural areas and face important societal and economic changes. The rapid growth of rural tourism activities in the South Bukovina region (historically overlapping most of Suceava County) led, in the new legislative frame, to the establishment of the first regional Destination Management Organization (DMO) in Romania. By an exploratory qualitative, mixed-method case study approach, this study underscores important factors for tourism development in the region, outlining rural and agritourism variables integrated into the public authorities’ discourse. The paper innovatively focuses on the semantic analysis of online newspaper media texts and videos, complementarily analyzed by appropriate software solutions. The main results emphasize the factors for tourism development in the area through a dual cluster centered around the multilevel governance and tourism management structures represented by public authorities on the one hand and the projects, investments, and EU funding on the other. Key stakeholders’ opinion underscored public–private partnerships, supportive administrative structures, tourism events and various natural and cultural resources as sustainable elements that contribute to the successful development of tourism in the region.

1. Introduction

Rural tourism and agritourism represent a broad topic debated nowadays from different perspectives concerned with tourism resources and management in rural environments and tourism development policies in light of rapidly transforming villages facing numerous challenges induced by current societal and economic transitions (e.g., digital, green, low-carbon). Originating in farm stays and tourists moving during their holidays to the countryside, the concept of agritourism gradually integrated multiple tourism products related to rural areas. It provided numerous opportunities for small-scale business development and multiple stakeholders and co-producers in the dedicated supply chain [1,2]. According to the EU Parliament, “a large share of tourism in the European Union takes place in rural areas” [3]. In light of the European “new rural economy paradigm” focusing on an “endogenous and cohesive process of economic growth” and considering the pre-accession and, afterwards, the EU financial support, Romania encouraged private–public initiatives and entrepreneurship projects for rural tourism as part of its post-communist profound socio-economic transformations that occurred after 1990 [4]. Tourism was an important rebranding tool in the substantial political, economic, and social restructuring process that took place in the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) and helped reshape, in some cases, national images and identities [5]. Romania was one of the recently integrated EU countries for which heritage overlaps identity and that identified natural and particularly cultural resources as drivers of sustainable development, obviously determining agritourism and business growth in rural areas [6,7]. Based on well-preserved specific traditions and advertising numerous unique tourist attractions, such as the UNESCO painted monasteries, specific crafts, and authentic culinary products displayed within scenic mountainous landscapes, Bucovina (Bukovina) represents a kind of celebrity holiday destination for agritourism and cultural tourism in Romania, displaying a particular positive perception among domestic consumers at the national level [8,9,10]. Recent national legislative initiatives determined regional and local authorities in Suceava County, integrating most parts of the region of South Bukovina (Romania), to develop a best practice model for governance in tourism, which was further recognized and rewarded at the national level. The recently founded regional Destination Management Organization (DMO) structure and administrative initiatives in Suceava County are meant to have an essential influence on the tourism product design and marketing activities of local destinations in the region, integrating agritourism products and mainly focusing on rural settlements as resource providers for the unique and authentic tourism offer of South Bukovina (Romania). Media shows on folkloric and gastronomic topics have also contributed in the last few years to promoting resources in this region that are essentially perceived as traditional and authentic.

Television remains the most significant source of information for daily news in many households [11]. TV channels with high ratings and prime-time shows wield significant influence over consumers’ purchasing behavior, thereby affecting not only the retail industry [12] but also holiday brands. ANTENA 3, an exclusive news channel in Romania, has successfully leveraged its partnership with the CNN brand [13]. With significant influence and consistently claiming audience leadership at the national level on various occasions [14,15], it has been airing the renowned TV show “Romania Inteligenta” (Smart Romania) since 2021. This program, presented by well-known media broadcasters, focuses on current, impactful topics [16]. The recent episode featuring Bucovina’s (Romania) outstanding tourism achievements [10], broadcast as a live national conference, serves as a perfect example of a media influencer marketing event [12]. Furthermore, it offers an extraordinary research opportunity to analyze the authorities’ discourse on the significant issues involved in the tourism development of the Romanian region of Bucovina.

Having experienced various administrative periods throughout history from medieval times to the present, the Bucovina (Bukovina) region is illustrative of multicultural, peaceful, and harmonious cohabitation par excellence [17]. Today, it serves as a possible good practice model for other regions in the world that rely on tourism branding based on ancient tangible and intangible cultural heritage elements and various scenic natural landscapes [18] and implementing organizational and administrative restructuring policies for tourism development. Therefore, the case study focused on in our paper can be a research pattern for scholars and an inspiring example with practical implications for political stakeholders.

This study aims to emphasize the main elements found essential by governance for tourism development in this region, mainly relying on agritourism and rural products as the main part of its original offer and core branding strategy. The research seeks, consequently, to answer two key questions, namely as follows:

RQ1. Is governance one of the main factors that supported tourism development and, consequently, the establishment of the regional DMO structure in the case of South Bukovina (Suceava County, Romania)?

RQ2. How are rural and agritourism elements integrated into the DMO authorities’ media discourse as key decision-making stakeholders for tourism planning and development in the region?

2. Literature Review and Research Context

2.1. Rural Tourism, Agritourism, and Their Particularities in CEECs

Both rural tourism and agritourism are interconnected concepts used by scholars focusing on different aspects and segments of holidays centered on rural environments and are particularly interesting and interconnected for the research region focused on in this study. Rural tourism is considered by reference study [5] to be particularly appropriate as a development factor in Romania, a region with a dominant rural character. The same author [19] emphasizes rural tourism as a crucial market for Southeastern Europe in general. This region displays countries that have undergone profound socio-economic transitions during the post-communist period, seeking sustainability and reshaping successful branding policies in a highly competitive market.

Agritourism, encompassing various services related to farm-based recreational activities, has benefited from growing interest worldwide among scholars and has displayed an evolutionary trend from a socio-economic sustainability perspective.

Focusing on activities closely connected to the farming environment located in rural areas and allowing farmers extra activities and revenues centered on the farm, the latest scientific studies primarily connect agritourism issues to the sustainability paradigm as a domain pertaining to the conservation of natural resources and preservation of traditional landscapes [20,21,22].

The rural environment has ideally been associated with tourism activities, as villages and especially farm-based hospitality reflect ancestral, peaceful patterns of daily life and/or habits, offering a more relaxed alternative to a contemporary urban busy life. Consequently, rural tourism, farm stays, and holiday breaks in rural areas have expanded as a natural reaction to congested mass tourism destinations [23].

Economically focusing on agriculture as the primary source of income for most rural dwellers, tourism in rural areas, particularly agritourism, developed from the need to diversify activities and sources of income for rural inhabitants [24]. Agritourism encompasses a wide range of holiday types in rural areas and is differently perceived and defined in different regions of the globe, involving tourists visiting a working farm for education or recreation [25], tourists in the activity of the farms, or tourists just attending specific agricultural activities [26]. It can also involve decentralized, local policy approaches encouraging triggers of rural development in disadvantaged inland remote areas [24] or represent innovative and creative private entrepreneur initiatives, highlighting the multifunctionality of the agricultural sector and counterbalancing overwhelming state-led development policies [27]. Compared to rural tourism or tourism in rural areas, agritourism is more focused on the relationship between the two economic sectors: tourism and agriculture [28]. Profound transformations of the typical centralized agricultural activities in Poland, Romania, and other CEECs have led to agritourism being seen as a real alternative to the revival of agricultural activities, which in these regions are strongly affected by the rising costs of agricultural production and farm closures [29].

In the quest to advertise competitive national rebranded tourism images, as tourism was considered part of the profound restructuring process in CEECs [30], agriculture also became a source of culturally authentic tourism products for different types of tourists [31]. Discovering authentic values through rural tourism and tourists’ involvement in the craft of preparing certain dishes specific to each geographical area can also be included as an activity in agritourism [32], exploiting feelings of nostalgia for certain participants [32,33]. Moreover, the consumption of organic food and of the farm-to-fork model is one of the major attractions of the countryside, particularly in CEECs, encouraging a direct relationship between farmers and local tourism entrepreneurship [32] and representing a promoting resource for local authorities [31], which is also advertised in the media discourse, as in the case of Albania [34].

2.2. The Role of Governance in Developing Agritourism and Rural Tourism, Particularly in South Bukovina (Romania)

Rural governance was defined by the latest studies “as a new, negotiated, multi-stakeholder process and a collaborative system of decision design and decision making” [35] (p. 5), obviously encompassing an important participatory component and registering in the last decades a shift towards a bottom-up approach, in which the local population plays an important part [36].

Rural tourism and agritourism have particularly developed as a result of the spontaneous initiatives of local entrepreneurs who also determine the quality of on-farm hospitality products. However, agritourism’s local and regional offers and products, such as theme routes, landscapes, or cultural products’ preservation and variety, are the result of collective actions [37]. In Romania and South Bukovina, the prevalence of small agricultural plots and small-scale family farms has led to the development of agritourism through family business initiatives. Farm accommodations are typically offered within or adjacent to the owner’s house, often involving agricultural activities that can enhance tourism assets. The role of governance in rural tourism is, therefore, vital in establishing a series of strategic decisions and mainly in coordinating actors from various fields of activity and civil society at the local community level, as for this domain in particular, stakeholder collaboration is a crucial element for success [38].

Within the EU context, stakeholder governance was greatly encouraged through programs such as LEADER (Liaison entre actions de développement de l’économie rurale), which contributed to the formation of the Local Action Groups (LAGs) and the definition of local development strategies, wherein local communities play an increasingly important role [39]. As in other marginalized rural EU regions, under European rural development principles, the neo-endogenous rural development perspective and social innovation elements [40] are increasingly embraced in governance at a local level in Southeastern Europe, including for rural areas in Romania. An important orientation to diversity in local economies, a strong actor orientation emphasizing both individual and collective actors, an awareness of contemporary rural area dynamics and their evolving limits, and a recognized increased importance of culture’s role in rural economies are major issues identified for current governance patterns affecting the tourism domain in rural areas, which also characterize the countryside in Romania [41].

The role of multilevel governance, also focused on in our study, should not be neglected, especially in countries that have undergone major socio-economic changes, such as post-communist ones, facing transitions from centralized economies and being confronted with a severe lack of tourism-specific entrepreneurial culture [42], which is found to be vital for rural tourism destinations [43]. Additionally, aspects and levels of governance were considered essential in countries confronted with the disappearance of cultural elements, consequently leading to important changes or even the loss of authentic tourism products, resources, and landscapes under the continuous pressure of globalization and modern society [44], as is also the case in South Bukovina (Romania) [45]. Post-socialist restructuring of the tourism domain was a long, controversial process for different segments of this complex industry involving many types of products [46], and “the development practice in urban planning in the 1990s relied to a great extent on highly individualized ad hoc decisions by local politicians” [47] (p. 125). In addition to the transformations of the already existing destinations, in many regions with a predominant natural and rural character (e.g., Romanian Carpathians), the emerging tourism trends and especially the quest for new, off-the-beaten-path, and also sustainable destinations redefined new tourist attractions and products [5]. Consequently, rural traditional areas comprising lesser-known routes, relying on natural and cultural resources, and enriching both visitors and communities are integrated into the new leisure trends, as many tourists are nowadays in search of secluded places in their attempt to escape cities and the pressure of globalization [48]. The unique experiences offered by rural, culturally different destinations and lived by visitors in genuine agricultural productionscapes and the promoted “product geographies” offer an important added value to tourism and agritourism destinations and define to a great extent the authenticity of the tourism offer [49]. Promoting tourism in a rural environment and agritourism at an international level has become a growing trend, with an increase in the competitiveness of rural areas that offer products that satisfy current “new demands for food safety, environmental protection and recreational needs” [50] (p. 907). Multicultural regions like the one in South Bukovina (Romania), displaying obvious ethnic and cultural differences, particularly advertise ethnoscapes as spectacles that gradually become attractive exotic places of consumption [51]. This region, located in the northeast of Romania, is one of the few places where transhumance is still practiced and displays a varied and rich culture of crafts and gastronomy connected to farming and home environments. These aspects individualize it as a cultural endemism and a region of great tourist interest and cultural research analysis.

2.3. Governance Synergies for Rural Tourism Development in Bucovina (Romania) and the Role of Media

Because of the lack of well-coordinated operational national institutional strategies developed in the post-communist period, one of the most important roles in shaping and promoting tourism destinations in Romania was played by public authorities (in charge of general territorial planning, including tourism destinations if important tourism resources and attractions overlapped their administrative unit). Their role is further accentuated in light of the envisaged local and regional DMOs, such as in the case of Bucovina (Romania), a tourism destination overlapping the county of Suceava (NUTS 2 region). Therefore, political factors and governance have been playing a central role in management and marketing policies for local destinations and for the regional destination of Romania. Similar to other regions in the country or abroad, in the case of Bucovina (Romania), governance factors played significant roles, as listed below (Figure 1):

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The identification of locally available resources and stakeholders;

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The design of tourism management and associative structures, encouraging public–private partnerships and entrepreneurial initiatives with a direct or indirect effect on tourism;

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The connection and coordination of local and regional stakeholders and further promotion through important local events (e.g., festivals, fairs) [32,37];

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Shaping and enforcing sonorous regional brands (e.g., the illustrative example of Hai in Bucovina/Let’s go to Bucovina or Produs in Bucovina/Made in Bucovina) and further identifying and exploiting their marketing opportunities [52].

The reference literature has remarked on a shift in the current role of DMOs, which exist mainly for public enhancement and play a main role in the coordination of various types of stakeholders, encouraging partnerships rather than being involved in tourism destination management [53]. The role of DMOs changed from the pattern of public administration to one of public–private partnerships, involving public administration and economic agents [53] and displaying a collaborative approach to destination marketing rather than centralized views and actions [54]. The identification of natural and cultural tourism resources and products was helped in Bucovina’s case (Romania) by the orientation of branding policies around its historical name as a natural systematic practice among public authorities and economic agents (especially food producers) that generated a range of available products for rural and agritourism activities in the area. The great number of farmhouses, their associated accommodation capacity, and the availability of cultural products and agricultural activities associated with them gradually made Suceava County and the northeast region of Romania a perfect nurturing area for agritourism and rural tourism activities [55]. Despite the critical natural and cultural resources mainly located in rural areas, the establishment of destination management and destination marketing organizations is confirmed as a complex process that is difficult to achieve in the context of rural tourism [56]. In the case of Bucovina (Romania), the region relied on its geo-cultural landscape and its famous cultural traditions preserved in rural areas for tourism development [57]. Both the existing regional brand, derived from the historical name of Bukovina, and the small urban areas—resorts of national interest—were important factors supporting governance and politicians in shaping the first of the eight regional DMOs projected by the recent legislative amendments. Narratives about Bucovina (Romania), largely broadcast by media shows, have contributed in the last few decades to shaping a regional cultural identity while integrating elements of commercial nationalism, particularly connected to markets and consumption, in the post-communist process of destination rebranding [58]. Most recent legislative initiatives helped stakeholders in both rural and urban settlements in the tourism region of Bucovina (Suceava County, Romania) to concentrate and display brand commitment under the coordination of governance actors as an essential element for DMO establishment [59]. Suceava County established the first regional DMO in Romania among the eight promised by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and consequently, the event was highly advertised by national media channels and TV shows throughout 2023.

Research interest in news media as a main source of data is confirmed by other reference studies focusing on particular discourses about specific topics in tourism, which confirm the persuasive role of media as a trustworthy, powerful source of information with an obvious role in the construction and validation of specific institutions [60]. Media discourses play an essential role in revealing certain phenomena, identifying rising markets, shaping public attitudes about holiday destinations they describe, and affecting overall tourism development, therefore representing an essential topic for critical discourse analysis [61], particularly in certain contexts such as the one discussed in our study.

Television is the primary source of information for families regarding their daily lives and important news, “recognized as one of the most influential mass media developed to date” [11] (p. 2). At the same time, TV channels with the highest ratings wield significant influence over consumers’ purchasing behavior, affecting retail brands, leisure products, and holiday destinations.

The broadcasters’ leadership in constructing and maintaining audience loyalty is noteworthy nowadays, as evidenced by their active roles on live-streaming platforms [62], as seen in the case of the platform RO 3.0 advertised by the ANTENA 3 CNN channel. This platform was conceived to gather, promote, and build projects for the future in Romania, featuring “ideas and solutions from entrepreneurs, top managers and academics for Romania 2030” [63].

2.4. Research Context for Bukovina’s Geographical and Historical Background

The South Bukovina region is now mostly integrated into Suceava County in the northern part of Romania and displays a crucial multiethnic heritage, advertising authentic occupations and culinary traditions strongly related to the natural and cultural environment and heritage of the region [64]. Bukovina, spelled in Romanian as Bucovina, represents a historical province that emerged in 1775 when Habsburg Austria occupied the northern part of Moldavia (a Romanian province, particularly marked by Byzantine and oriental cultural influences) and named it Bukovina due to the extensive beech forests [65]. Recognized by the reference literature as the northwestern extension of Moldavia (Romanian territory) into Poland and Russia [66], the territory underwent complex metamorphoses and was economically and demographically reformed during the 144 years of Austrian occupation, during which significant colonization and historical emigrations from overpopulated regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially from Galitia, took place [65,67]. Under the influence of a general mass unionist movement, the province of Bukovina/Bucovina was officially reintegrated into the Kingdom of Romania [68] at the end of World War I. This territory was therefore, by excellence, a complex border region and became itself a province marked by a border because of the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact and external diplomatic maneuvers [69,70]. At the end of World War II, Bukovina was divided between Romania and the Soviet Union into southern Bukovina/Bucovina (belonging to Romania) and northern Bukovina (now belonging to Ukraine) (Figure 2).

Economic and tourism development were historically emphasized for the Bukovina region in relation to important natural and cultural tourist attractions already officially promoted through reference publications such as Skrehunetz’s Illustrated Travel Guide for Bukovina and Czernowitz/Cernăuţi, originally entitled Illustrierter Führer durch die Bukowina und Czernowitz/Ghid pentru Bucovina şi Cernăuţi [71].

Consequently we are going to keep in this study the Romanian spelling—Bucovina, (for the Romanian tourism region, its leisure products, and its organizations) and northern Bukovina (Ukraine) or South Bukovina/southern Bukovina (Romania), when making reference to the historical province.

Mixing complex identity nuances and agritourism genuine products, values, and symbols within destination branding strategies was an obvious successful formula in the case of Bucovina (Romania), which, according to authorities’ public declarations and relying on recent statistics, became the fourth tourism region in Romania after Bucharest, the Constanţa region (including Romanian litoral), and the Prahova-Braşov region [72].

Similarly to many other CEECs, Romania as an overall destination and its regions set out to attract incoming tourists and therefore tried to define their uniqueness and competitive advantages by reshaping post-communist images and identities with respect to tourism [73].

Consequently, based on the current trends of tourism planning and operationalization in Romania, the first of the eight envisaged destination management organizations to be established was the one in Bucovina (on the territory of a single county, Suceava, in Romania) [74].

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Research Methods—Selection Rationale

Due to the aim of our study and the exploratory qualitative analysis focusing on political discourse concerning tourism achievements in Suceava County, which currently overlaps with the newly established tourism region of Bucovina (Romania), the terms “rural tourism” and “agritourism”, obviously interconnected, were used in conjunction. The purpose of our study is not theoretical or conceptual, as the article does not aim to distinguish theoretical and practical nuances in how they manifest in this particular case.

Addressing the research questions formulated above, our study adopted an exploratory qualitative approach, generally highly congruent with social studies [75].

The case study approach was also found particularly useful for exploratory studies focusing on contemporary events, not necessitating control of behavioral events (at least at this stage) and answering research questions like “how” and “why” [76]. This study innovatively exploits the media discourse and authorities’ interviews publicly available on the occasion of recent legislative achievements and regional initiatives, which led to the foundation of the Bucovina DMO, with the help of semantic analysis software as part of its qualitative mixed-method exploratory perspective. This approach is perfectly adapted to the type of analyzed data and corresponds to current research paradigms dedicated to phenomenology in the social sciences [77].

A brief quantitative analysis of the main tourism indices, characterizing tourism industry performances in rural areas of Suceava County, prefaced the main mixed-method qualitative analysis on the opinion of tourism authorities reflected by the online newspapers, media texts, and TV shows on the topic of Bucovina’s DMO. The research methods primarily involved the semantic computation software analysis of texts and videos. They represented political discourses advertised and available through the main media channels over the last two years (during the January 2022–January 2024 period) concerning Bucovina tourism and the establishment of DMOs in this region. Direct quotations from politicians’ public media discourse, present in the same sources (mainly during the reputed TV show “Romania Inteligenta”/“Smart Romania”), complemented our semantic statistical analysis within the qualitative research framework and helped the study achieve a more comprehensive understanding [78].

3.2. Research Methods—In-the-Moment Research Opportunities

The show “Romania Inteligenta”, designed in the format of a national public live conference and broadcast by ANTENA 3 CNN, is hosted by Adrian Ursu, a renowned broadcaster recently awarded a prize for being among the best performers in his field at the Capital Journal 2023 Gala [79], therefore proving leadership traits and having a significant impact on audience cognitive loyalty [62]. The extended TV show was therefore an extraordinary research opportunity to analyze the authorities’ discourse presented through a focus group interview format. In this case, the interviewer acted as a moderator, and the interviewees were experts and key stakeholders involved in the topic. In this context, both logistical expenses for such research were eliminated, and the non-response rate was also avoided, as the financial means and reputation of the show and broadcaster represent, in this case, a clear advantage.

Our general research approach, valuing media interviews and discourses from TV shows with significant audience impact, offers advantages over conventional interviewing techniques and methods. These secondary data sources, facilitated through media involvement, aid in the identification and interviewing of regional influencers involved in tourism governance. Particularly centered around the newly established DMO, the interviewed decision-makers articulated their perspectives, being aware of the influence of the message conveyed through impactful media shows. This method enables researchers to elucidate political discourse surrounding emerging development issues, as evidenced in other domains and case studies [80].

The particular context, involving a high-audience television channel and a popular moderator, gathering at the same time different stakeholders around the same topic, and allowing extended free answers from each one, represented, in our case, a research encounter that was able to provide particular knowledge and meanings for our research [81]. Therefore, this interview site and staged selected focus group scenario represented an ideal occasion to understand the authorities’ discourse and the elements they want to underscore as most important for tourism development and tourism operationalization in this particular region through media channels. They could help us better comprehend participants’ opinions and the investigated phenomenon as part of our exploratory qualitative research approach, such as in the case of other studies focusing on public figures’ discourses in broadcast news interviews and press conferences [81,82]. Media interview discourse is of genuine research interest, especially in studies concerned with understanding the opinions of famous individuals [83], as in our case with governance representatives.

3.3. Data Processing—Sampling

The search for online papers revealed 23 papers published on the topic of Bucovina DMO, mainly in the year 2023 (19 from the total). After an initial analysis of their content, ten papers were eliminated, as they essentially duplicated other papers already in our database. The text from the remaining 13 papers was combined into one document.

The politicians’ discourse on this topic, extracted from reference videos available on YouTube and on other media platforms, was transcribed using audio-to-text applications (e.g., notta.ai), which helped us obtain a second text document. Although we used four media-sourced video materials totaling 3 h and 17 s of video, the main one was obviously the TV show entitled “Tourism in Bucovina”—Four Cardinal Points, designed and organized on the 14 October 2023 at Suceava in the form of a national conference within the “Romania Inteligenta”/“Smart Romania” TV show series. From this about 2 h, 45 min show, the multi-sequenced discourse of the representative of the first regional DMO in Romania and the president of the Suceava County council, the president of the first local DMO in Suceava (the capital city of the same county) and the mayor of Suceava, the ex-minister of entrepreneurship and tourism (during the 2021–2023 period), and the general director of the North-East Regional Development Agency were extracted as representing the opinion of the main actors of the multilevel governance administrative institutions on the tourism development in the studied area.

The two text samples that resulted from online newspapers and video media sources were further pre-processed following regular steps performed to prepare the text for further analysis. First, the text was converted to lowercase, then punctuation signs and non-alphanumeric words were removed. Lemmatization was also performed as an NLP text preprocessing technique; once tokenization and POS tagging were performed, a text normalization technique, preferred instead of stemming, which allowed us to obtain meaningful words and, consequently, a valid base form for linguistic analysis and opinion mining [84,85].

3.4. Data Processing—Software Solutions

Data processing was performed with the help of specialized complementary software (VOSviewer 1.6.19 and Voyant tools (https://voyant-tools.org/ accessed on 22 August 2024)), which helped better perform opinion mining and detect core elements overlapped by political leaders in tourism development in this region. VOSviewer allowed for the network visualization [86] of central terms in the two documents. Usually used for bibliometric studies, VOSviewer enables the visualization of texts based on the co-occurrence of terms within a text network and enhances the visualization of complex textual information with applications in various domains [87]. Similar to other studies [88], the full counting method was preferred for both text documents, using a threshold value of 4 (which allowed for a better degree of clusterization) instead of the binary counting method. This choice was made to better emphasize keyword occurrences based on their frequency. The full counting method was also chosen to ensure comparability with results obtained from other complementary software solutions used for text data mining, as described below.

Links between terms, statistics, and their frequencies, as well as word clouds, were investigated in our study through Voyant tools as part of the mixed-method approach [89]. All these text analytic methods are convenient, with our exploratory study aiming at this stage to be a possible starting point for more complex analyses and gaining deeper knowledge for possible further research [90]. Voyant tools were also used by other studies focusing on qualitative research of opinions and text analysis extracted from media texts [91], which helped us compare and complement VOSviewer results.

Text data mining and semantic analysis were supplemented with direct quotations, completing the results obtained through word mapping and semantic visualization techniques.

4. Results

4.1. Tourism Industry Performances in the Rural Areas of Bucovina (Romania)

Administratively overlapping most of Suceava County (mainly its mountainous areas) (Figure 2), Bucovina (most of the historical South Bukovina province) and its renowned name were employed by the administrative authorities as a tourism brand for Suceava, nowadays delineating this one county as a tourism region. Consequently, many studies have already associated tourism statistics for Suceava County with the South Bukovina province and the Bucovina tourism region in Romania [9]. The newly declared DMO tourism reinforces this image of powerful governance, with an important impact on economic planning and with administrative and political decisions that reshape geographies and territories.

The quantitative descriptive analysis of the main tourism indices characterizing tourism performances in rural areas of the Bucovina DMO shows an important growth of tourism infrastructure and activities in the region in the post-communist period (

Table 1. Evolution of main tourism accommodation infrastructure indices for rural areas of Suceava County (Bucovina tourism region).

Type of Unit	Territory	1990	2001	2008	2015	2022
Total number of accommodation units	Suceava County	63	96	233	310	767
	Rural areas	17	36	129	161	448
% of units in rural areas within the total in the county		27%	38%	55%	52%	58%
Number of agritourist guesthouses	Rural areas	0	26	115	128	261
% of agritourist guesthouses in total no. of units	Rural areas	0	72%	89%	80%	58%
Total number of accommodation bed places	Suceava County	6841	5034	7029	10,143	16,720
	Rural areas	760	524	2266	3710	7429
% of accommodation bed places in rural areas within the total in the county		11%	10%	32%	37%	44%

Source: Computed data by the authors. Data source: National Institute of Statistics, http://statistici.insse.ro, accessed on 13 February 2023.

and

Table 2. The evolution of the tourism demand indices for rural areas of Suceava County (Bucovina tourism region).

Index	Territory	1990	2001	2008	2015	2022
Arrivals	Suceava County	na	151,370	229,068	310,548	529,157
	Rural areas	na	12,717	43,495	86,982	184,547
% of rural areas within the total in the county			8%	19%	28%	35%
Overnight stays	Suceava County		461,095	530,110	699,491	1,115,353
	Rural areas		19,472	82,976	180,615	395,121
% of rural areas within the total in the county			4%	16%	26%	35%
Average length of stay	Suceava County		3.0	2.3	2.3	2.1
	Rural areas		1.5	1.9	2.1	2.1
Accommodation capacity in operation	Rural areas		156,869	535,676	907,287	1,545,250
Index of net using touristic accommodation capacity in operation	Rural areas		12%	15%	20%	26%

Source: Computed data by the authors. Data source: National Institute of Statistics, http://statistici.insse.ro, accessed on 13 February 2023.

).

The number of accommodation units (especially of the agritourist guesthouse type) and accommodation places in the rural areas registered continuous growth after the 1990s, reaching significant levels in Suceava County. The rapid growth of rural tourism registered at the end of the 2000s was marked by Romania’s integration into the EU and important pre-accession and structural funding initially directed to construction projects and infrastructure growth as development priorities through the National Rural Development Program [92]. Several factors determined a spectacular hierarchical evolution for tourism indices in Suceava County. In the last two years (2022 and 2023), Suceava reached third place after Constanţa and Braşov for the total number of accommodation units and second place after Braşov for the number of agritourist boarding houses in the national hierarchy.

Figures describing tourism demand evolved accordingly. The proportion of rural areas in terms of both arrivals and overnight stays registered a significant increase, surpassing one-third of the total at the county level (Table 2). A significant increase was also registered in terms of accommodation capacity in function and for the index of net using touristic accommodation capacity in function. This second index shows an obvious increase in tourism activities and tourist demand for rural areas in Suceava County, which is also confirmed by an increase in the average length of stay (Table 2). Recent studies [93] mention this region as displaying strong potential and successful development in agritourism despite its high seasonality, reflected by several pronounced peaks during the year.

These figures alone clearly emphasize the essential role played by rural areas and their resources in developing tourism infrastructure and activities in Suceava County and in the South Bukovina region (Romania). Supporting and being supported at the same time by the small towns in the Transcarpathian corridor, Gura Humorului, Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Vatra Dornei, and Bârgău [94], officially recognized as resorts of national interest and concentrating important infrastructure for hospitality and leisure services, this area is an illustrative example of complex territorial synergies typical for the European space [95] and that traditionally supported tourism development.

In attempting to address the first research question, the quantitative descriptive empirical analysis underscores the substantial importance of accommodation units as an essential determinant of tourism demand, a finding consistent with other studies conducted in Romania [96]. In the context of rural areas, individual entrepreneurs, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, play a significant role in the development of the tourism industry [97]. This is evident in the case of Bucovina (Romania), where their involvement has contributed to the growth of tourism and enhanced regional competitiveness, ultimately leading to the establishment of local and regional Destination Management Organizations (DMOs).

4.2. Semantic Analysis

The cluster map emphasizing network visualization based on online newspaper media text showed a text concentrated mainly on three clusters, among which two main clusters and one secondary cluster are individualized (Figure 3).

The red color shows the most important cluster that centers on the word establishment (infiintare), being connected to the words regional and Bucovina and underscoring the establishment of the tourism DMO as an innovative event marked by press articles.

Words like aviz (approval) and omd suceava, municipiul suceava (Suceava municipality), orasul cetatii (fortress city), or scaun (seat) make reference to the national legislative frame and institutional framework, having stimulated the DMO establishment in Romania and the foundation of eight regional management organizations (cele opt), respectively, to Cetatea de Scaun (Medieval Seat Fortress of Suceava) as the first local DMO in Romania, located in Suceava, the capital city of the county.

Words like aici (here), unitar (unitary), and membru fondator (founding member) underscore the innovativeness of the DMO established in this region as a remarkable achievement of tourism organization at the national level and explicitly highlight the tourism performance and attractiveness of this place, displaying an integrated strategic approach for the development of tourism activities. Tourist resorts of national interest (statiuni turistice) represent an essential element in the tourism development of the region and are clearly mentioned by the interviewed authorities as essential elements of tourism management in the area.

The blue cluster, less extended and obviously associated with the red one, underscores the importance of organizing events (organiza) like festivals with high international visibility, such as the folk international festival (festival international folclor) Întâlniri Bucovinene from Câmpulung Moldovenesc, which was also promoted as the launching event for the Bucovina regional DMO.

The green cluster clearly complements the red one and underscores the importance of events (eveniment), projects (proiecte), and investments (investitii) as well as key tourism attractions in Bucovina, such as heritage (patrimoniu) and gastronomy (gastronomie), obviously related to rural products, as elements of successful tourism development strategies (model, success, strategie dezvoltare).

The cluster map emphasizing the network visualization based on the video transcript of stakeholders’ discourse also mainly displays a dual perspective between two word clusters centered around local and regional resources and territorial synergies concentrated on suceava county (Judeţul Suceava) on the one hand (the red cluster) and the necessity (trebuie/must) of consistent and sustainable projects and investments financed through European policies and supported through strategic priorities on the other (the green cluster) (Figure 4).

In the red cluster, words like ministru (minister), minister (ministry), presedinte (president), consiliul judetean suceava (Suceava County council), and judet (county), and statiuni turistice (tourism resorts) and the obvious names of the three resorts of national interest, Vatra Dornei, Campulung Moldovenesc, and Gura Humorului, show the multilevel governance factors and the institutional structures that coordinated their actions for the establishment of this first regional DMO, emphasized as an example of good practices at the national level.

The terms munte (mountain), padure (forest), bio (referring to organic ecological food products), and traditii (traditions) denote the main variables connected to rural and agritourism environments, displaying natural and cultural resources that attract and are further promoted in the region’s tourism packages. The natural environment and ancient human practices are mainly maintained in the rural communities that generate organic and biofood products connected to various agricultural activities.

In addition to the positive factors of tourism development in South Bukovina, public authorities exemplified the negative points or challenges they envisaged in their discourse. The insufficient development of transport infrastructure, mainly motorways (autostrada/autostrazi is a term present in both red and green clusters), and certain problems related to the border area (frontiera) with Ukraine (Ucraina) obviously affect, from different perspectives (e.g., accessibility, the free movement of people) the development of tourism activities in the area.

A much less extended one-word blue cluster, associated with the red one, is also present and indicates promotion (promovare) as a distinct key aspect leading to the success of tourist destinations, in this case mainly depending on tourist resources and actions led by public authorities.

The green cluster clearly underscores, as in the case of the online newspaper articles, the importance of projects (proiecte), integrated planning and funding (finantare), partnerships (parteneri/partners), and European investments (investi/to invest) for general and tourism development in the region.

Links between terms were also made evident with the help of Voyant tools in the case of both the online newspaper media text (Figure 5a) and video transcript text (Figure 5b).

In both cases, bucovina and suceava are obvious keywords with very important frequencies, occupying the first and third positions, respectively, in the corpus, as further shown by the term statistics (Figure 6a,b), clearly indicating the relatedness of these terms from a tourism marketing point of view.

The second most frequent keyword in the online media text is omd (DMO), showing, as in the above clusters, the promotion of the first regional DMO in Romania, while the second most frequent keyword in the video transcript text is turism (tourism). Obviously, the geographic and administrative location of the first DMO and the development of tourism in Suceava County were achievements underscored by both media and political discourses on the topic. As in the case of VOSviewer networks, media texts underscore the multilevel governance structures through terms like romania, national, judet (county), consiliul judetean (county council), and regional (Figure 6a). The second text, based on video transcripts, underscores through word links and the term count the importance of logos associated with and promoted by politicians while presenting tourism products in Bucovina (Romania) (hai, in from Hai in Bucovina/Let’s go in Bucovina) and their obvious interest in attracting more tourist arrivals and revenues (mai and multe from “mai multe sosiri”/more tourist arrivals) and implementing proiecte (projects) as part of an integrated development planning approach (Figure 6b).

Word cloud summaries (Figure 7a,b) mainly reiterate the above commentaries, emphasizing in the case of the online newspaper media text the multiple levels of governance (national and Romania for the national level; regional; judet and judetean for the county level; local for the local level) as main factors developing tourism in the region and the DMO of Bucovina overlapping Suceava County. In the case of the video transcript text, in addition to certain key terms underlined in the word cloud summaries as well as in the word links (bucovina, suceava, turism), words like proiect and proiecte (projects) show the importance of planning and investments as well as of partnerships for the development of the tourism sector in this area (Figure 7b).

In addressing the first research question, the results underscored the significance of entrepreneurship in rural areas for developing accommodation infrastructure, tourism management structures, and the involvement of local and regional administrations. Additionally, they highlighted the importance of tourism events and projects associated with European strategies and political priorities, which are led and coordinated mainly by local and regional governance stakeholders.

These findings are supported by direct citations as complementary qualitative input, reaffirming the data mining results, as illustrated below:

“Another success for Bucovina! Public–private partnership becomes a reality at the regional level.” (The Minister of Entrepreneurship and Tourism between November 2021 and June 2023)

Public–private partnerships and the recently founded tourism institutional structures represented one of the greatest accomplishments of post-communist multilevel governance in Romania.

“Here in Bucovina, we are proud to announce the establishment of the first Tourist Destination Management Organization (DMO) in the country. This initiative signifies a collaborative effort between local and county public administrations, as well as all stakeholders in the tourism sector, including private entities. It’s worth mentioning that the first local Tourist Destination Management Organization in Romania was established in Suceava, and out of the eight to be established, the first regional DMO in Romania was also established here in Bucovina.” (The Minister of Entrepreneurship and Tourism between November 2021 and June 2023)

Project-based programs and policies and EU funding represented, as declared by both local and regional governance representatives, real opportunities for tourism development in Suceava County and the Bucovina tourism region (Romania).

“The projects we have in the field of tourism, along with the events we aim to organize, will play a significant role in attracting as many tourists as possible to Suceava.” (The president of Suceava’s local DMO and the mayor of Suceava)

“We truly have the beautiful and industrious Bucovina, a territory that can serve as an example. In recent years, numerous projects here have been funded with European resources. These funds have enabled the restoration of historical monuments … as well as the enhancement of cultural landmarks, tourist infrastructure, and more.” (The general director of the North-East Regional Development Agency)

In addressing the second research question, the results obtained through computational methods and qualitative techniques highlight both natural resources (such as mountain landscapes and forested areas) and cultural resources (including organic food products and various traditions, comprising authentic gastronomy) as primary elements predominantly situated in or inherently linked to rural areas. These are consistently mentioned by key decision-making stakeholders in their media discourse concerning tourism planning and development in the region.

Direct citations from stakeholders who participated in the national conference‚ Romania Inteligenta, organized by ANTENA 3 CNN, on the topic of Tourism in Bucovina reiterate data mining results and the four so-called cardinal points considered and advertised by politicians and journalists as the main tourist attractors in the region (heritage, spirituality, nature, and gastronomy), as exemplified below.

Key governance stakeholders mention organic, biofood products and traditional authentic cuisine receipts among cultural and natural products obviously related to agritourism, which should be preserved and advertised in the Bucovina tourism region.

“Why (should tourists) come to Bucovina? Because there is something that you can’t find elsewhere, the authentic that we seem to miss more and more because you can’t find it very often, the natural—organic products, the Romanian village—customs, traditions, folk costumes, the connection with the church.” … “Because for a long time, we have been stubbornly pursuing various unique tourism projects: religious tourism, traditional tourism, agritourism, mountain tourism.” (The president of the first regional DMO in Romania and of the Suceava County Council)

The association of Bucovina (Romania) with terms like “favorite tourist destination” or “national example” with natural cultural attractions and international tourism brands is obviously made by representatives of the national governance authorities.

“Bucovina is my favorite tourist destination. When discussing ecotourism, the first image that comes to mind is the profound connection with nature … I believe that tourism is more than a trend; it represents a profound commitment to responsible travel … This is particularly crucial considering the delicate fragility of the ecosystems we admire, particularly within forests and mountain landscapes.” (The Minister of Environment, Water, and Forests, re-nominated in June 2023)

“Bucovina really stands out as a national example. Not only do we boast breathtaking landscapes and a rich cultural heritage intricately linked to our surroundings, but our UNESCO monuments hold a special significance. They embody a spiritual resonance that draws people from all corners of the globe to our region.” (The Minister of Culture between November 2019 and November 2021)

5. Discussion

Regarding RQ1 “Is governance one of the main factors that supported tourism development and, consequently, the establishment of the regional DMO structure in the case of South Bukovina (Suceava county, Romania)?”, the present study underscores the role of multilevel administration and legislative frameworks as essential factors for tourism development and Bucovina DMO establishment in Suceava County. The fact that integrative governance should play an important role in rural contexts and particularly for rural tourism was also underlined by other studies [35,98]. Hall [99] remarked that the characteristics and implications of governance are even more accentuated in the context of tourism development policies. Hierarchies of public actors, the marketization of previously state-owned instruments and infrastructure, actor networks generating public–private partnerships, and community governance have been essential elements remarked in tourism planning by previous reference studies [99] and reflected through the qualitative data mining of political discourse reflected by media sources in our research. As demonstrated for other regions [100], hierarchical governance structures and a stakeholder approach for institutional and policy development at the regional level are essential for the sustainability of cultural heritage tourism and for regions like South Bukovina (Romania) famous for complex rural, traditional, and agro-ecotourism resources.

In our study, both Figure 3 and Figure 4 also emphasize a clear connection between multilevel administration in the region and tourism products and resources on the one hand and projects, investments, and financing, with significant contributions from the European Union, on the other. These contributions align with European planning and strategic priorities (Figure 6b and Figure 7a), benefiting the multilevel autochthonous administrative stakeholders in tourism sector development in this region and in Romania overall.

The cluster highlighting the multilevel administration underscores the most important urban centers in the area, which concentrate on tourism infrastructure and associated logistics (e.g., mainly the resorts of national interest). It is directly connected with promotion as an essential tool and resource. This tool, mentioned by tourism stakeholders, is needed to develop, advertise, and sell regional leisure products, thereby enhancing the attractiveness and competitiveness of tourism in territories regardless of their scale and rural areas [50]. Both tourism development policies and promotion are supported, as shown in our study for South Bukovina’s case and as is similar to other case studies by participatory governance and territorial stakeholders networks [101].

The South Bukovina region perfectly illustrates an example of a peripheral EU tourism destination, appealing to both domestic and international visitors and capable of generating new rural tourist products that respond to current tourist trends. It highlights the role contemporary tourism can play in a peripheral rural environment by involving new transitory forms of tourism organization and marketing solutions [102]. In the described territorial context, the semantic analysis in this study confirms the lack of adequate cross-country road transport infrastructure as a major negative and vulnerable aspect of tourism development in Romania [103], which also affects the Bucovina tourism region (Romania), as well as increased merchandise cross-border transport in the present geopolitical context [104].

Festivals with broad international visibility, such as the international folklore festival “Întâlniri Bucovinene” hosted in Câmpulung Moldovenesc, are highlighted by both online newspaper articles and video transcripts, as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, respectively. These events are advertised through local and regional media and TV promotion channels and are part of the brand-shaping and marketing efforts used by local and regional governance [31]. In this case, efforts aim to create convincing and staged images for this planned regional tourism destination and its management structures. In fact, media discourse as a public, manufactured, online-available resource and TV series demonstrate a multiplier effect on destinations [105,106] and are of interest for critical discourse analysis. Sharma et al. [107] showed that brand integration in television positively impacts the tourism industry, particularly in a post-crisis context. The prominent presence of the Bucovina brand on media channels over the last year, especially in breaking news headlines, highlighted the establishment of the first regional Destination Management Organization (DMO) in Romania, which was promoted as a good practice model. TV news and shows presented the main administrative authorities as essential tourism stakeholders and planners in the region, reinforcing the image of governance and its pivotal role in tourism product development and promotion, particularly in establishing tourism management and associative structures from a modern relational approach perspective [108]. This fact, emphasized in our study, confirms the dominance of the network approach in current destination management trends and the focus of DMO structures on improving destination competitiveness, as demonstrated in the case of other geographical regions [108].

This result is even more important in the context of recent local elections, which pose an important challenge to territorial political sustainability and therefore to the sustainability of tourism institutional structures in the region [109].

Regarding RQ2 “How are rural and agritourism elements integrated into the DMO authorities’ media discourse as key decision-making stakeholders for tourism planning and development in the region?”, this study emphasizes certain agritourism resources representing essential tourism products and attractions naturally associated with the Bucovina region (Romania), obviously underscoring, in the case of this Romanian province, the agriculture–tourism intersectionality and the consolidation of a recreationist agritourism space in light of the current evolving trends in agritourism [110]. According to Barbieri [110] (p. 150) “small-scale heritage lands that will conserve the rural cultural and natural resources (e.g., historic barns and native plants) through niche production” would be one main type of agricultural landscape under the pressure of important global and regional external factors that would reduce variety and would severely dichotomize the agricultural landscape.

Politicians’ discourse obviously underlined mountains and forests as essential natural components that represent major tourism resources next to UNESCO monuments and cultural heritage, traditions, bio (gastronomic products), and festivals as human components supporting tourism activities in the region (Figure 4). All these elements, deeply rooted in the region’s rich and complex rural environment, represent genuine community generated agro-ecotourism elements [111], visible in the picturesque, scenic landscapes of Bucovina (South Bukovina region) and particularly preserved, as in other cases, by more isolated mountainous rural communities [112] or post-communist deeply transformed societies, displaying an important multi-stakeholder governance focus on sustainable natural resources and traditional local cultural events [113]. They are also a core branding element of Suceava County, which advertises authenticity as a main value of its tourism products. The promotion but also the protection and maintenance of genuine rural and agritourism elements, heavily relying on both natural and cultural resources in the region and generating “artifacts of promotion” [49], should be a priority of present tourism development strategies in light of the obvious current pressure of globalization and modernization trends that are unavoidably affecting, similarly to other cases [114], the cultural landscape of South Bukovina [115].

The analysis of administrative authorities’ discourse during the ANTENA 3 CNN TV show [10] emphasizes entrepreneurship and branding elements as resources and development factors for the tourism sector. Clear references are made to the association, Produced in Bucovina, as a founding member of the regional management organization, obviously related to bio and agrifood products and integrating memorability aspects related to tourism experiences [116] and to crafted and manufactured products. The branding elements for the South Bukovina region and particularly for its rural areas evidently rely on networks and interactions between producers and entrepreneurs engaged in complex farming and ex-farming activities at the local level, as also demonstrated in other case studies [117]. These interactions illustrate how tourism development at the local level benefits from the new knowledge networks of farmers, particularly those in European peripheral regions [118], such as the one focused on in our study. Research carried in other CEECs emphasizes evolving trends in agritourism oriented to certification efforts for specific accommodation structures and tourism that offers diversification (Poland), the increasing personalization of services (Slovakia and Hungary), and the association with spa, artistic, or forestry products [29].

A significant vulnerable point underscored in terms of transport problems and connectivity affecting tourism in the actual geopolitical context is the proximity of the Ukraine border, clearly underlined through the frequency of words like Ukraine (Ucraine) and border (frontiera) (Figure 4).

The obtained results (Figure 3, Figure 4 and Figure 7a,b) also underscore the high importance of motorway projects concerning the connectivity of Romanian provinces and their acceleration nowadays as a strategic objective to build and maintain transport corridors in Europe [119], while Ukraine itself, relying greatly on land commercial transports towards EU countries, is also interested in improving its connectivity, particularly with regions such as South Bukovina (Romania) [120].

6. Conclusions, Theoretical Implications, and Practical Implications

6.1. Interpretation and Comparison of the Results

In conclusion, the recent tourism achievements, driven by legislative initiatives from multilevel governance stakeholders, have positioned the South Bukovina region (Romania) as a model of good practice at both the national and global levels. The South Bukovina region exemplifies a multicultural and peaceful destination, developing its brand around its natural landscapes and cultural traditions, with a primary focus on its rural environment.

As a reference innovative organization for tourism management and marketing policies, the DMO of Bucovina, administratively overlapping Suceava County in Romania and most of South Bukovina region, and its policy focus are of real interest to tourism stakeholders in other similar areas worldwide who may benefit from the example and the spread of this good practice model. This region particularly relies on natural and cultural resources deeply rooted in a profound rural civilization that is still impressive with its vivid authentic manifestation in daily life and that represents a perfect study area for our topic on how rural and agritourism resources find their place in the current tourism development policies from the perspective of leading authorities. Research on Romanian mountain regions have shown that the existence of rich natural and human resources, entrepreneurship, basic tourism, general infrastructure at the local level, and an appropriate legislative framework are essential factors that allow for sustainable agritourism development [121]. Bran-Moieciu, Maramureş, and the Apuseni Mountains were identified by the same study [121] as favorable regions in Romania for agritourism activities. Territorial synergies between rural environments and urban resorts of national interest have determined, however, another regional competitor at the national level, namely South Bukovina region, in which to set up the first local and regional DMO in the country, offering good practice examples from the administrative and management point of view in light of the recently operationalized legislative framework. Both politicians’ and journalists’ discourse, broadcasted during prime-time high-audience TV shows, are important factors that considerably contribute to the attractiveness and success of this destination. Therefore, our study confirms also the results obtained by the research of Drăgoi et al. [122], which emphasized that both regional socio-economic development and tourism-related factors influence agritourism entrepreneurship and hospitality structures in rural areas, with transport accessibility being a key element for the success of this domain, in Romania. Compared to previous quantitative studies, our qualitative approach, focusing on representative media texts and videos as the main data sources, managed to emphasize the essential role played by multilevel governance and legislative progress in the development of agritourism as part of the complex territorial synergies of a specific region in Romania, which may therefore be considered an example of good practice.

6.2. Importance and Implications of the Results

The contributions of this study to the body of knowledge are numerous, encompassing theoretical insights and methodological implications for the existing literature. This study underscores the significance of media as a valuable data source, surpassing political discourses and necessitating appropriate data mining solutions (e.g., VOS and Voyant tools for text mining) as well as complex complementary qualitative analyses of political discourse in media texts and videos. Text visualization and clusterization were obviously the most important results analyzed in this study, obtained mainly through VOS software. The other software solutions (Voyant) also offered some complementary, similar (word clouds), or different perspectives on semantic data, which supplemented our analysis.

In studying media discourse and politicians’ discourse in media about tourism in Bucovina (Romania) through data mining and semantic analysis, complemented through direct quotations, the present study proposes obvious innovative methodologic and scientific approaches, suggesting new research methods that offer opportunities to exploit these types of texts. Scientists are increasingly approaching tourism in Bucovina (Romania) from an interdisciplinary perspective, as the region is known for its dynamic tourism and the obvious development of activities related to rural areas and their particular resources. However, to our knowledge, no study has yet analyzed how the media and political discourse on this territory incorporate agritourism elements. Taking advantage of current events underlined by extended available media interviews performed by important national media stakeholders with national and regional tourism representatives, which marked the first establishment of a local and regional DMO in Romania, this study aims to attract both scholars and practitioners interested in outlining perceptions and opinions expressed by tourism authorities through qualitative interview techniques in online journals and media channels.

Additionally, the research holds practical implications for stakeholders and practitioners, such as administrative authorities and policy planners, who have a particular interest in regional economic performance and are supported by reputable media sources and broadcasters.

Post-communist destinations, in particular, exhibited a deficiency in entrepreneurial culture, which has gradually evolved in recent decades, partly owing to European investments and initiatives. Rural entrepreneurship, stimulating agritourism businesses, and enhancing the development and modernization of accommodation infrastructure have been particularly important for rural tourism advancement in Bucovina (Romania). However, this necessitates further improvements in the legislative framework and the establishment of sustainable managerial institutions to encourage the integration of complementary activities, thereby fostering the creation of internationally competitive products. In the current regional and international political context, the sustainability and preservation of agricultural and rural products in the region are therefore of increased importance.

6.3. Limitations and Future Research Directions

The limitations of the study and further possible research orientation refer to complementing qualitative methods and techniques with more elaborated quantitative research methods. A limitation stemming from the qualitative analysis of political discourse available through media sources may be the subjectivity of the interviews, as certain narratives may be influenced by marketing objectives and/or political orientations. However, the novelty and usefulness of the above-described methods are, as explained, a clear advantage rather than a limitation for exploratory research on similar data sources and topics.

Further research may also envisage direct interviews with people or owners involved in the tourism sector, which could offer complementary perspectives and opinions to the ones obtained from governance stakeholders. Qualitative research methods could also be complemented in the future with quantitative ones to generate a much more comprehensive perspective on the topic. Regarding the topic itself, an interesting complementary perspective for future research would be the manner in which social media platforms, as opposed to traditional media, are reshaping tourism narratives for rural areas, leading, upon the case, to successful media-driven tourism campaigns becoming attractive for various types of consumers on both domestic and/or international markets.

Despite inherent limitations, both practical implications and scientific reasons support the motivation of this study. The methods and software used obviously helped us to analyze the manner in which rural and agritourism resources find their place in the current tourism development policies from the declared perspective of leading authorities. Through text analysis methods applied to the political discourse available in reference media sources, due to recently mediatized events on the occasion of DMO establishment, this paper aims to encourage scholars to explore the perceptions and opinions of stakeholders from qualitative data sources (e.g., interviews, discourses, etc.) on different research topics.