'We make more money now, but we don't talk to each other anymore': on new tourism and capitalism in the Danube Delta

In 1991, the Danube Delta (Romania), famous for its biodiversity, became a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Tourists have been a constant presence in this area for more than 50 years, being accommodated exclusively, informally, in the local fishing households. Relying on extended participant observation and semi-structured interviews as the main research methods, this study presents how locals from a fishing village relate to tourism and how this process leaves a significant imprint on their social organization, use of natural resources, household economy, norms and values. Exposed to new ideas, opportunities and challenges brought in by tourism, locals are not being swept away, as many of the studies in anthropology of fishing and tourism suggest, but rather act like ` individuals with agency', actually empowered by tourism; local fishing and women's traditional role as ` the manager of the household' are reinforced by tourists' demands for ` home-cooked fish dish' and local accommodation. On the other hand, the new tourism has launched local families into a constant competition for natural resources, eroding social cohesion while leading to a commodification of family relationships.