Counting on Dracula.

• Author: Ullmann, Owen
• Position: Last Word

BUCHAREST -- Romanian President Ion Iliescu, a small man in his 70s with silver hair and a disarming smile, guides a group of American visitors through his country's recent history, from World War II through the autocratic rule of Nicolae Ceaucescu to its current struggle to create a free-market economy. At one point during his 40-minute monologue, the popularly-elected Iliescu laments, "Most Americans don't know the difference between Romania and Somalia."

Such sentiment is commonplace among Romania's 23 million, many of who feel they live in a forgotten country of Europe. Officials desperately want American business executives and tourists to discover the New Romania--not the Communist dictatorship of mistreated orphans and Olympic gymnasts, but a friendly and cheap destination; an open, democratic state with picturesque Medieval villages, beach resorts along the Black Sea, and ski slopes in the Transylvanian Alps. And soon, perhaps, Dracula Land.

Convinced that Americans have never met a theme park they didn't like, Romania's minister of tourism hopes to attract $1 billion or more in foreign investment to build a must-see destination dedicated to the capital city's most famous citizen. To most Romanians, Dracula is not a ghoulish monster but a national hero who kept the Turks from overrunning Romania in the 15th century.

This wasn't always a pretty business. Known as Vlad the Impaler, he liked to display the heads of his enemies on the ends of sharp stakes. And he had a lot of enemies. But Vlad was largely an obscure figure until Bram Stoker's 1897 novel (and Bela Lugosi's 1931 film portrayal) made him a legend.

The betting is that Dracula Land will do for Romanian tourism what picturesque Medieval villages thus far haven't. Already, the biggest foreign tourist attraction in the country is one of Dracula's homes, Bran Castle, near Brashov, about 100 miles north of Bucharest. In Dracula Bazaar just outside the entrance to the castle grounds, dozens of vendors peddle souvenirs that range from Dracula t-shirts and puppets to vials of (hopefully) fake blood. Tourists snap them up.

But not everyone is sanguine the plan will work. Vasile Dincu, the minister o[ information, agrees that Romania is in great need of foreign investment and tourists. But he has grave doubts about an American-style theme park, with its congestion and uncertain financial success. Dinku, a thoughtful sociologist built like a Chicago Bears linebacker, says...