The Romanian Minister of Tourism presented at ITB Berlin a travel content app, meant to grow the visibility of Romania as a travel destination. March 8th to 12th the vizitors were able to test the services of ”Explore.RO”. The app, available in English, was designed for travellers all over the world, that love to travel even virtually. Through it they can discover Romania and its resources, learning about nature, traditions, culture, history and education, arts etc. The content of the app is basically a travel guide, signed by the Ministry of Tourism. ”Explore RO” is available on iOS and Android and it is free of charge. Designed by the Sibiu based Eventya, it is going to be regularly updated, and for the future offered in other foreign languages as well.
At ITB Berlin, the Romanian Ministry of Tourism, Mircea-Titus Dobre, met several personalities, among which, the General Secretary of The World Travel Organization, Taleb Rifai, and the General Director of WTO for Europe, Isabel Garana. Rifai, declared himself a supporter or Romania in its effort of becoming a strong player on the travel market:”Your success will be my success, as a General Secretary of WTO!”
BUCHAREST: Galaxy, the new investment of Therme
This winter the Austrian A-Heat Group concluded the development works of Therme București Complex, by expanding the Galaxy area with an additional space of 4000 scuare meters. The works started and ended for Galaxy a alot faster than initially projected, due to the massif request from visitors, in such a way that today Galaxy can accomodate almost 2.000 persons simultaneously. The value of the investment is somewhere arround 10 million euro. The attractions of the area include three wet saunas, a salt library with a height of 6 meters. For building the last one 40 tones of Himalaya salt were used, and the space offers 150 books and ebooks as well.
The expansion of the complex means also moore green space (+10%), the number of palm trees, coming from 4 diffrent continents, reaching 1.400 de arbori. Therme București is the home today of the largest palm trees plantation in Europe. The complex can be now named the largest botanical garden in Romania, hosting over 800.000 plants. The representatives of Therme plan future extensions and think about placing a hotel nearby. Therme București, located in Balotești, some 20 km away from the Capital city of Romania, is the biggest Therme in Europe, built Greenfield, on a total surface of 250.000 square meters.
THE TELEGRAPH: Danube Delta and Transfăgărășan in Top 25
The Brittish publication „The Telegraph“ selected two Romanian attractions in its top of must see places in Eastern Europe: The Danube Delta in Romania and the Transfăgărașan high altitude scenic road. According to a recent study, more and more brits give up destinations such as France, Spain or Italy in favor of Eastern European countries. Among the main reasons one counts the accesible costs of such a holiday and the high security level. The Telegraph places the Danube Delta on number 2, after Tallinn (Estonia) and before Riga (Letonia), saying: „Europe s second longest river (…) takes its curtain call on the Romanian shore of the Black Sea. It pours out its soul in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, 1,055 square miles of protected wetlands where pelicans and herons flap wings.“
The Transfăgărașan road is listed on number 10, and Adrian Bridge writes about it: „ I am not surprised that in his search for the Worlds best driving road Jeremy Clarkson a declared that he found it in the middle of Romania – in the form of the Transfagarasan highway. Whichever way you look at it, the brainchild of Romanias communist-era leader Nicolae Ceausescu is an extraordinary feat of engineering.”
+ 2 for PHOENICIA
The Romanian hotel brand Phoenicia counts two more hotel properties. The first one is on the Romanian seaside, in Olimp: The Amfiteatru-Panoramic-Belvedere Complex of hotels. The former owner Josef Goshy, had listed the hotels three years ago with 30 million euros, but settled eventually with Mohammad Murad, owner of Phoenicia Group, for 10 million euro. Currently the complex, once the star of Romanian seaside, is downgraded at 1 star only. After the 15 million euros renovation, scheduled to conclude before June 1st, 2018, the new Amfiteatru-Panoramic-Belvedere by Phoenicia will have 4 stars.
The second tranzaction is the one of the historic Lido Hotel, once famous in Bucharest. Projected by Ernst Doneaud and opened in August 1930 Lido will be now rented by the current owners, to the group of Mohammad Murad, for the next 15 years. Phoenicia Group prepares a 5 million euro make-over, and a reopening in the fall. Murad would like to affiliate Lido (119 rooms and 4 stars plus rating) to Donald Trump hotels. Till then its name will be Lido by Phoenicia.
ANDREESCU: Maramureș as a document
An artist photographer is in his realm when writting with light. Florin Andreescu counts among the greatest such artists in Romania. His atelier is the historical region of Maramureș, in northern Romania, an area that has the embition to preserve its traditions but to reinvent itself in the modern world. These are the two themes of the exhibition opened at the Romanian cultural Institute in Bucharest. Together with Ad Libri Publishing House, the family business, the artist offered a 60 minutes documentary: ”Maramureș – old and new”. The moovie (commentary by Dana Ciolcă, lecture by Mihai Gruia Sandu, make-over Alexandru Stănescu) is in Romanian, with subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. The event gathered also the specialists that researched the area (Ana Bârcă, Doina Ișfănoni etc.), people that try to explain the Maramureș of our days, a changing world where the simple traditional lifestyle once known as a rule is trying to survive next to the models and customs that young people working abroad are bringing inside.
