Management of Tangible and Intangible Assets in Rural Tourism - Conflict between Old and New

In a world where development and technology has took over the entire human life, the preservation of cultural heritage elements has become an important subject of interest and major actions has been taken in this direction. An example is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, which selects an item based on its uniqueness in some respect as a geographically and historically identifiable place having special cultural or physical significance (such as an ancient ruin or historical structure, building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, mountain, or wilderness area). So, the management of the most important cultural heritage aspects in which concerns the preservation, the maintenance and the selection of the patrimony goods, represents an aspect of the cultural heritage. The most important axes refer to tangible heritage such as build patrimony and intangible heritage such as traditions, customs and all that embodies the ethnicity of a certain area. The global wealth of traditions is one of the principal motivations for travel, with tourists seeking to engage with new cultures and to experience the global variety of performing arts, handicrafts, rituals and cuisines. Managing heritage sites (in which concerns the tangible assets) acts as a link between the national heritage institutions, cultural heritage consumers (tourists) and local community. The last item is a factor, without which it would be impossible properly interpret the heritage and create an authentic experience for tourists. Management in which concerns the cultural heritage implies some characteristics triggered, also, by the peculiarities of the tourism market that is, overall, a service market. So, this paper will describe some peculiarities and will outline the specific models of management in which concerns the tourism market and cultural heritage.