Cultural Marketing Heritage As A Form Of Social Responsibility And Support Of The Sustainable Development Of The Local Communities

The cultural heritage represents an important asset the local communities may consider in their efforts of sustainable development. Based on the observations of the good practices implemented more or less recently, the scientific literature has shown that capitalization of the cultural heritage could represent an important driver for the growth of the tourism activities, and, consequently, one of the potential sources of sustainable development of the local communities. The marketing of the cultural heritage plays a significant role as a vector of its capitalization and, through the generated economic, social and institutional effects, contributes in a socially responsible manner to the sustainable development of the local communities. The meaning of the social responsibility in the context is related to the promotion of the tangible and intangible heritage’s value and is resulted in the establishment of new businesses and creation of workplaces, education of consumers as proud members of their communities preserving the local cultural objectives, customs and traditions, and development of institutions and mechanisms, based on public-private partnerships, facilitating the capitalization of the cultural heritage. Using the case study method, the paper presents and assess, in a critical approach and from a marketing perspective, initiatives and projects aiming to promote the cultural heritage of several local communities in Romania.