Mixed experiences
The best 10 students of a project represented Romania in France, at the European Centre of Culinary Professions in Paris, in an experience exchange activity. This documentation is a part of a project, made with EU funds, operated in a transnational partnership by “Nicolae Nejloveanu” Foundation in Constanţa, CIT SA, and European Centre of Culinary Professions in Paris etc. The students discovered together with the pupils of CEPROC Paris, the specific of French cuisine. During five days they participated in the seminary “Prestigious Buffet – Tendencies for 2012” of Jean François Deport (Meilleur Ouvrier de France), the Chef of the famous Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. The students also got the chance of visiting, among French tourism landmarks, the largest food market of Europe, Rungis, founded in 1969.
Tourism awards at Fashion TV
Fashion TV and the Romanian Tourism Patronages Federation organized together the Fashion TV Romania Award. The event happened as a part of Bucharest Fashion Week. Hotelul Plutitor Camelia got the distinction for the fashion hotel of the Danube Delta and the fashion hotel of the mountain area was named Valea cu Peşti. Internaţional complex in Băile Herculane and Sovata resort received the distinction for cure and SPA.
The fashion events centre of the year is Ambasad’Or and the fashion multiplex is Grand Cinema Digiplex. The tourism agency Mareea, the boutique Grand Hotel Continental in Bucharest, Trattoria Verdi and Phoenicia Holiday Resort got he fashion prizes at their categories, meanwhile the excellence prize in developing tourism went to Viorel Păunescu.
The Hampton Brand will be the star of Hilton Worldwide for the year 2012 in Romania. Two new openings have been set as targets in 2012, hotels in Braşov and Cluj – as stated by Adela Cristea, development director of the group for Europe and Africa. According to the data, the Hampton hotel in Cluj will be located in the Akros building, initially projected for offices and apartments. The hotel will have a capacity of 109 rooms. The investment is to go over 10 million euro, due to the fact that the Akros complex will also feature a 20 luxury apartments facility.
Hilton Worldwide is presently negotiating the launching of another brand in Cluj. In 2011 the star of Hilton Worldwide on the Romanian market has been the DoubleTree, brand that opened hotels in Bucharest, Ploieşti and Oradea.
Euro-Toques in Luxemburg and Brussels
The Euro-Toques 2011 Gala Dinner in Luxemburg had 240 participants, among which the Romanians Burtea Dumitru, Urs Nicolae and Turean Nicolae.
„The Gala represented a special reunion, organized by Euro-Toques Luxembourg on the ship M.S. Princesse Marie-Astrid, where several personalities of international gastronomy met. The menu of 115 euro was an exceptional one, as its value will be donated to the affected restaurant owners in Japan” said Dumitru Burtea president of Euro-Toques Romania. The second event honored by our country in this domain was « Open Days » – The European week of regions and cities, which had over 1400 guests. It took place in Brussels, for the ninth years in a row. 14 chefs from 18 member countries of Euro-Toques International prepared and presented regional specialties.
Burtea Dumitru, Urs Nicolae, Man Robert and Ghişoi Cornelia composed the Romanian delegation. They presented a three course menu: « The Danube Symphony», «Duet of wild boar and venison» and a traditional desert: «Papanaşi» with marmalade and cream.
5 for Romania
Hospitality Trends Bucharest put the lights, at its fourth edition, on five players of the industry. Călin Ile, director of Ibis – Gara de Nord hotel was named the best hotelier of the years, meanwhile the opening of the year was considered the Ramada hotel in Piteşti (represented by Virgil Dumitru). Excellence in education went to prof. Gabriela Ţigu (ASE), while Dumitru Burtea, honorific member of WACS has been recompensated for the whole life achievements. Palas Iaşi Complex (represented by Ioana Muşat) was considered the best hotel project of the year.
The conference was organized by Trend Hospitality Consulting & Management and INTEHL – Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, under the patronage of the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism. The event gathered several international speakers and specialists such as: Takuya Aoyama, Konstanze Auernheimer, Saurabh Chawla, Adela Cristea, Lukas Hochedlinger, Frederic Le Fichoux, Christian Michel, Lucian Marinescu etc.
Continental invests in… Hello
Hello Hotels, the two stars brand of the Continental chain, starts a revolution: 10 new Hello hotels will open in the future. After several expectation years Radu Enache, president of Continental Hotels, also said that in 2012 will invest 3,5 million euro in modernizing Continental hotel in Suceava. Once works finished the facility will be rated four stars.
On the transactions side the Spanish Group GED announced that bought from PPF Partners their 30% quote in Continental Hotels. This is considered to be the largest investment made by GED in Eastern Europe.
The Strumpfs fly with Blue Air
A bunch of surprises for the winter holydays! After promoting Avatar characters in spring 2010, now it is the turn of the blue people, the Strumpfs, to travel together with Blue Air passengers.
Nominated at the Oscar, The Strumpfs cartoon is now coming back to modern viewers in BLU-RAY 3D, BLU-RAY and DVD formats. Those that will buy the movie until January 15th, 2012, in any of the three special sticker marked formats, and will subscribe on www.provideo.ro/strumpfii, have the chance to win a trip for the whole family in any city of Europe – said Florentina Tatu, PR director of Blue Air.
In a partnership with Pro Video, Sony Home Entertainment gave the right to Blue Air to offer the DVD „The Strumpfs – A Christmas Story” as a gift to all passengers that will buy during the flight, the new BLU plane toy for children. The promotion is valid until January 31st, 2012.
EU looks for a brand
Carlo Fidanza, member of the European Parliament, believes that Europe must create a global brand in order to be able to compete with worldwide tourism markets. The European Parliament adopted a resolution that proposes the creation of a unique brand-label in order to promote Europe as the first tourism destination of the world. According to this document tourism must be supported by European subventions in order to innovate in the field and assure quality products.
The Parliament thinks about a progressive leveling of qualification systems of the hotels in Europe and a reduced VAT to be applied to travel products. These measures are considered a step forward in reviving European economy, tourism being the third most important industry of the Union, covering 12% of the total labor force.
