Radio România Internațional

Tag: tourism

The Week in Review: 2-8 August

The authorities are considering three options for the reopening of
schools

Until Wednesday,
school children in Romania, who have been at home since March, were still in
the dark about how the new school year would start, and their parents and teachers
worried. Asked repeatedly about how classes would be held for pre-university children,
from nursery schools to high schools, the Liberal minority government had only implied
that physical attendance would be combined with online teaching. The much-awaited
clarifications eventually came on Wednesday, when president Klaus Iohannis said
kindergartens and schools would reopen as scheduled on 14th
September. He said classes would be held based on three scenarios – labelled
green, yellow and red – that will differ regionally depending on the rate of
infection in each area. More precisely, the local authorities are to decide if
they reopen schools partly or fully or if they keep them closed. Most children are
expected to attend school physically, but classes will be conducted online where
necessary.

The Social Democratic Party in opposition has pointed out that
children and teachers are yet to receive the tablets and computers promised by
the government for remote teaching. The NGO Save the Children has called on the
authorities to come up with guidelines to help schools take the best decisions
for the start of the new school year depending on a number of factors, not only
the coronavirus situation, but also the available space, the distance to school
and means of transport to school for children and teachers and the hygienic
conditions in schools. The NGO also pointed out that 47% of Romanian school
children had limited access to education during lockdown, as they did not have
access to tablets, computers or the internet. The education ministry now says
that the government has allocated the funds needed to purchase 25,000 tablets
and 74,000 laptops. During the state of emergency, that same ministry had called
on the Orthodox Church to help children who don’t own computers or whose
parents can’t afford to buy them one.

National Bank of Romania cuts monetary policy interest rate

The Managing
Board of the National Bank of Romania decided to cut the monetary policy
interest rate as of 6th August from 1.75% to 1.50% a year, as well
as to cut interest rates on deposit and credit facilities that commercial banks
can benefit from in relation to the National Bank. Also, the central bank
decided to maintain at the current level the sums that banking institutions are
obliged to keep in its accounts.

Romanian bankers are saying that the global
and European economies began to recover in May amid the gradual relaxation of
movement restrictions, but that there’s still a long way to go until they return
to the situation before the health crisis. Economic recovery remains uncertain
in the short run, being dependent on the evolution of the pandemic and the associated
measures, the authorities’ fiscal measures and the monetary policies of the central
banks in the advanced and emerging economies.

As far as the Romanian economy is
concerned, the National Bank of Romania says it shrank in the first quarter of
the year from 4.3 to 2.4%, while the trade deficit level grew considerably amid
a sharp drop in the export of goods and services. The contraction became severe
in the second quarter, with a strong decline in April, when a full lockdown was
imposed to contain the spread of the pandemic. Some recovery was seen in May,
following the replacement of the state of emergency with the state of alert. The
leu-euro exchange rate became quasi-stable. Gold became, however, more
expensive, reaching record high levels, a sign for some analysts that the
economy is in great difficulty.

Prince Charles urges Romanians to discover their country

Prince Charles, the heir to the
British throne, urges Romanians to spend their holiday in their own country and
discover its incredible beauties in a video made recently and presented on
Tuesday at his residence in Valea Zălanului, in central Romania. The five-minute
video was made by the British journalist Charlie Ottley, the producer of a
series of documentary films called Wild Carpathia aimed at supporting the Romanian
tourist industry. Prince Charles, who narrates the video, says he first came to
Romania twenty years ago and that he discovered an amazing country which has a
special place in his heart. He says he regrets not being able to travel to
Romania this year because of the pandemic but that he would continue to campaign
for the protection of its unique treasures. He mentions the Danube Delta, Europe’s
biggest and wildest wet area, the collections in Bucharest’s museums, the wild
beauty of the Iron Gates gorges, the castles, the mountains and the Saxon
villages of Transylvania.

CFR Cluj win football championship
title

CFR Cluj won their third consecutive
football championship title as they defeated Universitatea Craiova 3-1 in an away
match held on Monday night. This is CFR’s sixth championship title in the
Romanian First League. Universitatea missed the chance to win their first title
in 29 years, but this is their best ranking since returning to first tier
football, not to mention their good play in the decisive championship match.

8 August 2020
Romania, recommended by Prince Charles

Prince Charles encourages Romanians to spend their holidays in their home country and to rediscover its “incredible riches. In a roughly 5-minute long video presented on Tuesday at his residence in Valea Zălanului (central Romania), he describes the country as ‘admirable’ and ‘astonishingly diverse’. The clip by the British journalist Charlie Ottley, producer of the documentary series Wild Carpathia, is designed to support the Romanian tourism industry.

Prince Charles mentions that he first came here 20 years ago, and that the country has held a special place in his heart ever since. Speaking about the diversity of the country, he lists the Danube Delta, the largest and most pristine wetland in Europe, the forests, springs and monasteries of Bucovina, Moldova and Maramureş, the hills of the Apuseni Mountains and the wilds of Harghita, the precious collections in Bucharests museums and the wild beauty of the Iron Gates Gorge on the Danube, the castles, mountains and Saxon villages of Transylvania and the remote valleys of Banat and Crişana.

Such a huge wealth of natural and cultural diversity under a single flag is quite remarkable, the Prince of Wales adds, and is one of the features that make Romania a unique and special corner of Europe.

His Highness urges Romanians to rediscover their country and to take pride in their nature, wildlife, cuisine, traditions, and culture. He explains that, amid the first major pandemic in contemporary history, people are experiencing moments of profound change, uncertainty and anxiety, and many countries have closed their borders.

While deploring the devastating effect this situation has had on the travel industry, on hotels and restaurants that employed millions of people, Prince Charles argues that staying at home offers many wonderful opportunities to explore and discover. “Now is the ideal time to rediscover one’s roots and reconnect with one’s heritage. I have every confidence that Romanians who do so will find much to delight them and to give them the greatest pride in their country, the heir apparent to the British throne says.

The Prince voices his regret that the coronavirus pandemic has prevented him from traveling to Romania this year, as he does regularly, and mentions in the video that the 15th Century Wallachian ruler Vlad Țepeș is among his forbearers, which explains why part of him feels at home in Romania.

Producer Charlie Ottley, who in turn says he loves Romania more than any country in the world, has reinforced this message, calling on Romanians to spend their holidays in their home country and their money in Romania rather than abroad, so as to support domestic tourism.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

5 August 2020
July 3, 2020 UPDATE

COVID-19 Another 420 cases of infection with the new coronavirus have been reported in Romania, taking the total number of contaminations to 28,166, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Friday. Over the past 24 hours 21 people have died, taking the death toll to 1,708. 224 people are still in intensive care, while 20,433 patients have recovered. Another 7 Romanian nationals infected with the coronavirus died in Germany, with the total number of Romanians living abroad who died during the pandemic reaching 122. The Romanian health minister Nelu Tătaru has said that at present there is no risk of reinstating the state of emergency in the context of the coronavirus pandemic but the state of alert might be extended, if necessary. He provided data pointing to a steady increase in the number of contaminations over the past 3 weeks, and pointed out that restrictions may be further lifted only if the evolution of the pandemic allows it. The state of alert introduced in Romania is due to end in mid-July.

PANDEMIC As many as 11 million cases of COVID-19 contamination have been reported around the world since the start of the pandemic with around 6 million people having recovered. More than 520,000 people have died. The US, Brazil and Great Britain are the countries hardest hit by the pandemic. The US has reported more than 2.7 million cases. News agencies write that the number of cases in the US is higher than ever, since the onset of the pandemic and more and more people are being hospitalized in Houston (Texas) and Phoenix (Arizona).

SCHENGEN Joining Europes border-free area remains a priority for Romania, the foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu reiterated in Bucharest on Friday, at the conference occasioned by the start of Germanys presidency of the Council of the EU. More flexibility is required in this respect, and the current crisis has proved that including Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen area would be a gain, Bogdan Aurescu said. In turn, the German Ambassador to Bucharest, Cord Meier-Klodt, sent a message of unity and solidarity, emphasizing that the motto of the German presidency is “Together for Europes recovery. On July 1, Germany took over the 6-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. Romanias and Bulgarias Schengen accession has been repeatedly postponed because of the opposition of some member states, primarily over the absence of reforms in the judiciary.

FRANCE The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has appointed Jean Castex as the new PM of France. A conservative politician aged 62, Castex was re-elected on Sunday mayor of a small town in southern France. In April he had been appointed by Macron to prepare a strategy for lifting the COVID-19 lockdown. Radio Romanias correspondent in Paris mentions that the outgoing PM, Edouard Philippe, stepped down on Friday morning.

IMMIGRANTS The Romanian border police have identified 23 citizens from Syria, Palestine and Egypt who were trying to illegally cross the border from Romania into Hungary. During the investigation they stated they were trying to reach Germany, Austria and Sweden. The driver of the van transporting the immigrants is being investigated for immigrant trafficking and is going to be taken into temporary custody for 30 days.

CANNES The Romanian short film ‘Contraindications by Lucia Chicoş has been selected for the Cinefondation section of the Cannes International Film Festival. The director is a student with the I.L. Caragiale National University of Theater and Film in Bucharest and the film is 19 minutes long. The other countries participating in the Cinefondation section this year are Israel, Great Britain, Argentina, Hungary, India, Switzerland, the US, South Korea, France, Poland, Portugal, Germany and Slovenia.

GREECE The Romanian authorities are making diplomatic efforts to deal with the situation of the long queues of Romanian tourists waiting to enter Greece. The Romanian Foreign Ministry officials have called on the Greek authorities to identify solutions to streamline traffic flow through the only opened border-crossing point between Bulgaria and Greece, namely Kulata – Promachonas. The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu talked on the phone with his Greek counterpart and suggested the opening of other checkpoints too, given that the tourist season has begun. The Greek side has announced they are looking into the situation and are trying to work out solutions to solve the problem. As of this month, Greece has introduced random tests for foreign tourists who reach the Greek territory by air, road or sea. After testing, tourists will wait for the result in self-isolation at their tourist destination. (tr. L. Simion, A.M. Popescu)

3 July 2020
A trip to Macin Mountains

This range crossed Europe from west to east.
The remaining mounds in Dobrogea, Scotland and Brittany stand proof of that. At
present, there is a string of tourist routes, most of them of a medium
difficulty.

Dan Staicu is the director of the Macin
Tourism Promotion and Information Center. He tells us we have just stepped onto
Romania’s oldest territory, as the mountain range is roughly 300 million years
old. With details on that, here is Dan Staicu himself:

The mountain range is a clear
proof of the Hercynian orogeny in the late Paleozoic era, having the shape of
an iceberg, of a mountainous island. They can hardly be associated with
mountainous formations today, given their small altitude, yet the Macin
Mountains are unanimously described as Romania’s oldest mountains, with the
467-meter tall Tutuiatu being their highest peak. It is located in the commune
of Grecci. The diversity of the scenery is provided by the existing Megalithic
formations and the contrast between the steppe landscape and the forest
vegetation at the foot of the mountains. The scenery is scattered with eroded
monoliths, whose shape can be viewed in many ways, according to everyone’s
imagination. Actually, there are 12 trekking routes as well. The most
spectacular one is the Pricopan Summit, taking us all the way up to a summit
that was formed 250 million years ago. In fact, the mountainscape in the
Pricopan Massif, which is the most spectacular one, is made of a wide range of
granite formations, rocks and vast vistas looking out onto the Macin
Depression, river Danube, onto the Luncavita Depression. The vista looking out
onto the cities of Galati, Braila and Reni is also beautiful. Along the route
you can admire the alpine scenery with its round boulders and weird shapes. An
unusual rock shape along that route is the Dobrogea Sphynx, actually the main
point of attraction for most of the tourists.

Tourist trekking routes are ranging from easy
to moderate and can be taken in one day, with the 12-kilometer route being the
longest. It is a protected area, accounting for around 0.05 % of Romania’s
surface area that is 11,000 hectares. However, it is here that we find more
than half of the total number of plants species countrywide. For instance, if there are around 3,300 plant
species in Romania, roughly 1,900 to 2,000 can be found in Macin Mountains. Such info can also be accessed at the Macin
Tourism Information Center, which has made maps available to visitors, as well
as brochures and everything else you need to know before you decide to visit
the region. Dan Staicu once again:

Also,
we can recommend tourist guides as, apart from the Macin Mountains, a tourist
asset proper, there are other tourist objectives as well. We have the Roman-Byzantine
fortress in Ogetia. It stands on a former islet and the locals named it the
little church. Then, on the banks of River Danube, you can visit Troesmis, a
fortress the Romans erected on the former site of a Gaetic fortress. All
throughout antiquity, it was a key strategic point the exiled poet Ovid made
mention of, in his Epistulae ex Ponto, Letters from the Black Sea.
Subsequently, the settlement used to be the encampment site for the 5th
Macedonian Legion. The Iacobdeal Lake can also be visited in the region. It is
a quarry lake, formed as the result of a blast induced for the exploitation of
granite. The water gloss has a surface area of around one kilometers and a
depth of 30 meters. A camping site is expanding there as well. We also have the
Monasteries triangle in the region. Of those, I should like to mention the
Cocoș Monastery, founded in 1833 by the Romanian monks who had arrived from
Athos Mountain. Then there is the Saon Monastery, founded during the Ottoman
ruling in 1846. The monastery looks very much like a village made of scattered
households; it even has a museum and a workshop of carpet-weaving and religious
painting. Here you can find old copies of Romanian books. Another asset worth
visiting is a wine cellar known as Terente’s Cellar. It is included in the
tourist circuit, offering visitors sessions of wine tasting made in Dobrogea’s oldest
vineyard.

If you don’t care very much for the wines, you should know that Dobrogea
is attracting tourists through its multiculturalism, the region being a genuine
melting pot for many ethnic groups like Turks, Tartars, Greeks, Armenians and
Jews. All these communities have significantly contributed to the region’s
prosperity and have also influenced its gastronomy. Here is Dan Staicu,
director of the local Center for Tourist Information and Promotion with more on
this varied cuisine:

We
live by the Danube but there are also mountains here so the gastronomic offer
is interesting. As we were a long time under Ottoman domination I believe we
have the best Turkish sweet dessert pastry. Also very tasty are the fish soup
and the goat or sheep pastrami, which is specific to this area and prepared in
a special way.

In order to spend a holiday in the area you need to book accommodation
beforehand as guest houses aren’t very numerous here. Dan Staicu:

The
best periods are in spring and autumn, because summers are very hot and dry in
this part. There is one guest house in Macin and two others are under
construction. There are another two in the Macin Mountains National Park and
three in Luncavita. They are limited in terms of accommodation but in Luncavita
there are also traditional artisans whose products and workshops can be admired
at the local Travel Information Centre.

The Macin Mountains are home to one thousand species of butterflies, 37
bird species, which enjoy international protection as well as big variety of
ecosystems. All these, the hospitality of the locals as well as the region’s
diverse cuisine are the ingredients of a successful holiday.

2 July 2020
June 8, 2020

PENTECOST Orthodox and Greek-Catholic believers from
all over the world, Romania included, are today celebrating the second day of
Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the 12 apostles enabling them to
convey the Lord’s message in languages they had never spoken before. Upon
Apostle Peter’s speech, over 3000 people embraced Christianity making up the
nucleus of the first Christian Church in Jerusalem. Thousands of Romanians have
taken to resorts in the Prahova Valley, the Black Sea coast and the Danube
Delta to spend the mini-holidays occasioned by this event.

COVID-19 Over 20,600 Romanians have reportedly been
infected with the new coronavirus authorities in this country have announced.
More than 14,800 patients have been cured and left hospitals. 1,334 people have
died since the outbreak in Romania and 3,304 have been infected abroad. Most of
the cases have been reported in Italy, nearly 1900, but most of the fatalities
among the Romanian nationals have been registered in Britain, over 40. Britain
has also reported the lowest number of infections among the Romanian nationals,
below 100. The authorities in Bucharest have specified they get data from
Romania’s diplomatic missions in these countries from the local authorities and
even directly from the Romanian citizens abroad. In another development, Health
Minister Nelu Tataru has estimated that a possible second wave of the pandemic
will not have the same intensity as the first. The Romanian official expects
the situation to normalize by late July or early August, provided the
population complies with the prevention measures.

REQUEST Employer’s Associations in Romania’s
tourism sector have called on the government to lift all restrictions allowing
the functioning of the terraces and resuming partial activity inside
restaurants, starting June 15th. Representatives of these associations
have explained in an open letter that going beyond this date would be
tantamount to increasing the losses this economy sector has so far incurred,
which account for 30% of the turnover in the previous years. The signatories
have called among other things for a tax cancellation in the second half of the
year, the possibility of paying taxes and duties in installments, for
non-reimbursable European loans and the proper legislation to half local taxes
this year. The government is presently considering several alternatives for jump-starting
Romania’s tourist sector, relying on both local and EU funds, the country’s
Deputy Prime Minister Raluca Turcan has written on a social network.

TAROM As of Monday, Romania’s air carrier TAROM resumes its flights to
London. According to an announcement posted on the company’s Facebook page,
from Britain, TAROM planes will accept only the citizens who have applied for
repatriation and only British citizens will be allowed to board in Bucharest.
Ticket prices will start from 267 Euros. Also on Monday, Britain introduces a
mandatory quarantine for travelers arriving in the country.

TRAVEL According to a report published by Forbes magazine Romania ranks
57th among the safest countries to visit in this period. The ranking
has been made after analyzing data from 200 countries. The safest country to
visit is Switzerland and second comes Germany. At this moment, the most
dangerous places to visit are Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, some Middle
East and Asian countries.

(translated by bill)

8 June 2020
June 1, 2020 UPDATE

COVID-19 As of Monday, a new stage in relaxing the coronavirus containment measures began in Romania. Outdoor restaurants and bars, as well as beaches, reopened on Monday, and some outdoor sports competitions were resumed, but without public. Also on Monday travel restrictions were lifted, both for domestic and international road and railway traffic. Shopping centres, schools, kindergartens and playgrounds remain closed however, and flights to and from certain countries continue to be grounded. Self-isolation or quarantine for travellers coming into the country is still compulsory. Over 19,400 coronavirus infection cases have been reported in Romania since the start of the pandemic, 3 months ago. Around 13,400 of them have recovered, and 1,276 died. Among the Romanians living abroad, the number of cases passed 3,100, with the death toll standing at 106.

EMPLOYMENT As of June 1, Romanian employers who decide to hire people over 50 years of age, under open-ended full time contracts, will be reimbursed by the government 50% of the employees salary, up to roughly 500 euros. The government decided to grant the same facility to companies that hire youth aged 16 to 29. Meanwhile, furlough will be paid in those sectors where the COVID-19 containment measures are to remain in place. The government has also decided to pay the employees who have been on furlough and return to work 41.5% of the basic salary, via their employers.

CHILDREN The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis said in a Childrens Day message on Monday that, in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, children have made extraordinary efforts and adapted to online schooling, proving quite aware of the importance of education. He thanked children for being understanding and for protecting their families, especially their grandparents, who are the most vulnerable to this disease. President Iohannis called on all children to comply with safety and hygiene rules and be his allies in the fight against the virus, and assured them that this period will be overcome. Other public officials also posted messages on International Childrens Day.

STATISTICS The number of youth has dropped steadily in Romania over the past few years, the National Statistics Institute reports. Early this year, Romania had little over 4 million children, and 2019 was the first year when the number of newborns dropped under 200,000. Experts expect that by 2060 the number of preschoolers and children will be over 50% smaller than in 2015 in around half of Romanias counties.

PANDEMIC The number of novel coronavirus cases worldwide is nearly 6.3 million. Of these, 2.85 million patients have recovered, and some 375,000 died. The country with the largest number of cases is the US, followed by Brazil, with over 500,000 cases, accounting for over half of the total number of cases in Latin America. In Europe the situation is begining to settle, with Britain, the country with the largest number of deaths (over 38,000) starting to lift containment measures on Monday. Groups of up to 6 people are allowed to meet as of Monday, with social distancing measures still in place. Italy, which at some point was the European country the worst hit by COVID-19, continues to ease restrictions, and authorities are focusing now on restarting tourism, which is a major sector of the Italian economy.

PROTESTS Clashes between protesters and police were reported in cities across the US, sparked by the killing of an African American citizen upon arrest. According to the BBC, violence was reported in tens of cities, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. In Washington, near the White House, police used tear gas against the protesters who set fire and threw rocks at the police forces.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

1 June 2020
Strategy to reboot tourism

The
tourism industry accounts for 10% of employment worldwide and 12% of jobs in
the European Union and in order to recover, it needs coordinated international support
estimated at some 375 billion euros. The whole industry has been badly hit by
the travel restrictions and social distancing measures imposed by governments
around the world to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The crisis has
hit everyone working in tourism, from small businesses to big hotel chains and
travel agencies. The entire tourism industry may shrink by as much as 80% this year
compared with last year according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. The
situation is much worse than during the economic crisis of 2009, when the
industry shrank by only 4%.

Europe
has a very active tourist ecosystem. Trips, transport, accommodation, food,
leisure and culture account for almost 10% of the European Union’s GDP and
provides a significant source of employment and income in many regions. 267
million Europeans – representing 62% of Europe’s population – make at least one
private leisure trip a year and 78% of Europeans spend their holidays in their
countries of origin or other EU country, according to the European Commission
figures. Summer is a crucial season for the tourism industry, generating an
average income of 150 billion euros in Europe and 360 million arrivals.

Little
surprise then that the sector is a priority for the European Union, which has
come up with a set of guidelines and recommendations as part of a tourism and
travel package that lays down a global strategy for recovery in 2020 and
beyond, a joint approach to restore freedom of movement and eliminate
restrictions on EU’s internal borders in a gradual and coordinated way. The
package also lays down the framework for the gradual re-establishment of
transport while ensuring the safety of passengers and personnel and a
recommendation to make travel vouchers an alternative to cash reimbursement.
The European Commission also plans to support tourist businesses in several ways,
by ensuring liquidity, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises,
and saving jobs with up to 100 billion euros in financial relief through the
SURE programme.

Transport
is a key element of tourism. The European Commissioner for Transport Adina
Valean, who was Romania’s pick for this post, told Radio Romania that it is not
yet possible to set a clear date for the normal or gradual reopening of
transport because it is not known yet how the pandemic will develop. She said,
however, that the rules adopted by the European Union lay down the conditions
of travel:

People
often ask me: ‘when will we be able to travel again?’ The answer to this
question must be given by the authorities of each individual member state and
must take into account a series of criteria relating to the epidemiological
situation in that country, criteria highlighted by my colleagues from the field
of healthcare. Secondly, we have to decide what are the destinations we
greenlight for transport, because, of course, we’re not expecting the situation
to be the same everywhere in Europe, for borders to reopen and quarantine and
isolation measures to be the same in all member states. These are decisions to
be taken by the national governments.

What
we do know is that reopening travel will be done in a flexible and coordinated
way and in several stages. As far as tourism is concerned, there are, however,
some clear conditions that have to be met in order to ease restrictions in a
given region or member state, namely that the number of new infections
decreases and remains low and that states ensure access to their healthcare
systems to tourists. In Romania, tourism has lost 6 million overnights in
recent months and some 250 million euros in revenues, according to the
president of the Hotel Industry Federation, Calin Ilie. He says that the
situation of the tourist sector is very complicated and compared the industry
with a train running at high speed and hitting a wall. The situation is
dramatic, he says and estimates the total impact of the tourism crisis on
Romania’s GDP at more than 5%.

90%
of hotels in Romania were closed because of the pandemic and 150,000 employees
out of the 180,000 working in the hospitality industry have been furloughed or
laid off, says Razvan Pascu, the founder of a tourist business. In his opinion,
the current situation may also be an opportunity for Romanian tourism:

It’s
clear that tourists’ behaviour will change. Most probably, they will no longer
prefer big, all-inclusive type hotels with a thousand people crowding in to get
their breakfast and will chose instead other types of holidays. I think road
trips will come back in fashion and that we’ll see more nature trips, people will
change their behaviour somehow. It may be an opportunity to promote Romania as
a different type of destination, a different type of travel with less mass
tourism, and I think Romania’s strategy should focus on this in the next two or
three years.

The
results of recent surveys show that people will give up holidaying abroad this
year and choose proximity tourism instead. (CM)

22 May 2020
April 26, 2020 UPDATE

COVID-19 Another 11 people have died of Covid-19 in Romania, raising the death toll to 619, according to data made public on Sunday by the Strategic Communication Group. The total number of infections in Romania has exceeded 11 thousand. More than three thousand patients have been cured and discharged from hospital. Abroad, 1512 Romanian citizens have been confirmed as being infected, mostly in Italy, and 74 have died.

PANDEMIC Almost 3 million people across the world have been infected with the new coronavirus and more than 200 thousand have died of Covid-19. Europe reports the largest number of deaths, in particular in Italy, Spain, France and Great Britain. Some 53 thousand people have died in the US. The situation, however, seems to be getting more stable in many parts of Europe, and governments are now considering a gradual relaxation of restrictions. Some have already announced concrete measures to that end. The Chinese authorities have announced that in Wuhan, the origin of the outbreak, all patients have been discharged. The World Health Organization has drawn attention to the fact that the people who got cured are not automatically protected from getting reinfected. So far, no study has managed to show that the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies can provide immunity against successive infections in humans. The clarification was made as some states had suggested that finding the antibodies might be the starting point for a so-called immunity passport, which would allow people to travel and work, starting from the assumption that they are protected from a new infection.

TAROM The Romanian state-owned airline TAROM, has announced it resumes flights on May 2nd. The first destination will be Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, and other flights to Athens, Paris and Frankfurt will be operated in the following days. The Romanian low-cost company Blue Air has too announced that it will resume flights. At Thursdays meeting, the Romanian Government approved a salvage loan for the two Romanian companies. They had previously requested 130 million Euro to get over the crisis triggered by the pandemic. Next month, the European Commission will present a set of rules, including with regard to social distancing in airports and on board the planes, in order to ensure the safety of passengers once restrictions are lifted, the Romanian EU Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean has announced.

CHERNOBYL April 26th is the International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day, established by the UN in 2016 to draw attention to the long-term consequences of the nuclear disaster. 34 years have passed since the accident at Chernobyl, dubbed the most serious in history. Following an explosion at reactor no.4 of the nuclear power plant, a radioactive cloud was formed, which was carried across Europe and affected millions of people. The Soviet authorities hid the scale of the disaster and not even today the total number of the victims is known for sure. The cloud reached Romania too, and the highest levels of contamination were recorded in Iasi, Suceava, Targu Mures, Galati and Tulcea. Only four days after the disaster, the then Communist president Nicolae Ceausescu summoned the Executive Committee of the Communist Party, and the population was informed on May 2nd.

FINANCE The Romanian Finance Minister Florin Catu has stated that he will take all possible measures to make sure Romania resumes its stable prospects rating at the next evaluations made by rating agencies. He has said that all rating agencies have made a clear distinction between the way in which public finances were managed by the former Social Democratic power and the measures implemented by the current Liberal Government, as of last autumn. Citus predecessor, the Social Democrat Eugen Teodorovici has stated that from now on Romania will be perceived by investors as posing much more risks and Bucharest will get loans at higher prices. All these discussions have been triggered by the fact that on Friday, Moodys rating agency downgraded Romanias economic prospects from stable to negative. According to Moodys, Romanias budget deficit will reach 7.7% of the GDP in 2020.

CAPITAL Companies that operate on the Romanian financial market received from foreign shareholders capital injections worth 32.55 million Euros in the first quarter of this year, 2.6 more than in the same period last year, the National Trade Registry has announced. The largest capital injection was made in January by Metropolitan Life, a company that manages a private pension fund, followed by Omniasig Vienna Insurance Group in February. The data published monthly by the Trade Registry include the first 40 companies that get capital injections, classified in keeping with the value of the contribution.

TOURISM The tourist sector in Romania has been seriously affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to representatives of the employers association, 90% of the hotels in Romania are closed, and 150,000 out of the 180,000 employees in the hospitality sector have been furloughed or dismissed. The only hotels that are still open are those that work with the state and provide accommodation for the people in quarantine.

STURDZA Prince Mihai Dimitrie Sturdza, a historian and diplomat, has died in Paris, aged 86. He was the great-grandson of Mihail Sturdza, the ruler of Moldavia between 1834 – 1849. In 1952, Mihai Dimitre Sturdza was arrested by the Communist regime, accused of non-disclosing a plot, and was sent to labour camps. He was released in 1954 and managed to enroll with the Philology Faculty of Bucharest university, which he graduated in 1960. He left the country in 1963 and settled in Paris. He studied political sciences and worked for the Cultural and Scientific Exchange Department of the French Foreign Ministry until 1995. He worked as an interpreter for Charles de Gaulle and Valery Giscard dEstaing. Between 1986 and 1995 he was a political editor with the Romanian Department of the Free Europe radio station in Munich. At the end of this activity he received a letter of congratulations from the president of the US, Bill Clinton. Mihai Dimitre Sturdza was also a prominent historian and his works cover all genres, from heraldry, genealogy and the Romanian – Russian relations, to history of culture. His studies and volumes have been published by prestigious publishers in Paris, Munich, Bucharest and Iasi. (M.Ignatescu)

26 April 2020
The new coronavirus impacts tourism

The coronavirus has paralyzed tourism in many regions of the world. After the violent outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in northern Italy, the Italian government is expecting massive economic loss, given that tourism in Italy accounts for 13% of the country’s GDP. The famous Venice carnival was ended two days earlier, the Fashion Week in Milan was shortened, the Milan Cathedral, a top attraction of the city, was closed down just like the theater La Scala of Milan. The virus seems to be spreading fast and a case of coronavirus infection in a hotel in the Spanish island of Tenerife led to the quarantining of the entire hotel.

France has recently become an important coronavirus hotbed in Europe, so the Louvre Museum remained closed on Sunday as the staff invoked their right to stop work in case of danger. Also the Book Fair in Paris, scheduled for the period March 20 to 23, has been cancelled. Travel companies in Germany are also concerned with the coronavirus epidemic as their revenues will be much affected, given that the Chinese tourists generated annual revenues worth 8 billion Euros.

In Romania, many citizens are giving up their scheduled holidays abroad for fear of getting infected or being affected by quarantine measures taken to stop the spreading of the virus. The authorities have announced that the people who bought holiday packages to the areas worst affected by the new coronavirus, namely northern Italy, China — Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, can recuperate their money entirely but will not receive damages.

Following the emergence of coronavirus infections in Romania as well, some citizens have given up traveling in the country at all. In Tulcea county, southeastern Romania, home to the Danube Delta nature reserve, which is included on the UNESCO world heritage list, several travel companies reported no reservations, and others had to cancel the reservations for road transportation to that area.

Cătălin Ţîbuleac, the president of the Danube Delta Association, has more: “The Romanian tourism industry has been facing difficulties for some time now, mainly due to the lack of human resources. Now, the new coronavirus epidemic has dealt a further blow to Romanian tourism, be it in Tulcea, Constanta or other destinations, therefore the government and the tourism industry representatives need to work out solutions to support the industry in such difficult moments.”

In a contribution to the publication Profit.ro entitled “The coronavirus and the tourism industry” Dragos Anastasiu, an entrepreneur and currently the president of the Romanian – German Chamber of Commerce writes that people should keep their calm, reason and optimism, be normal but cautious and not belittle the impact of the coronavirus epidemic. (translation by L. Simion)

2 March 2020
December 31, 2019

MESSAGE “2019 brought the victory of democracy and civil participation, when we proved that we are a nation that stands by shared values and ideals, the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, says in his New Years message. The head of state voices confidence that in 2020 Romanians will stay motivated by their dream of a better country. He called for the building of a normal Romania, a country that is truly the home of Romanians, wherever they may be. “We are entering a new year and a new decade, which I would also like to be the beginning of a period of normality and true democracy for Romania, PM Ludovic Orban said in his own New Years message. He urges Romanians to view what they have left behind as a lesson about what needs to be done in order to make true the dream of freedom, democracy and prosperity that mobilised people 30 years ago to fight against totalitarianism.

INVESTIGATION Romanian authorities carry on inquiries and checks regarding the incident at the Floreasca Hospital in Bucharest, the largest emergency unit in the country. The National Healthcare Quality Management Authority Monday suspended the accreditation of the hospital, which failed to report within 24 hours an incident in which a 66-year old patient was burnt on the operating room table. The woman died, and the Bucharest Police is currently investigating suspicions of manslaughter. The Board of Physicians and the Healthcare Ministry are running separate investigations, with the conclusions due to be presented early next week. Meanwhile, the hospital has to address the deficiencies that have led to the unfortunate event. Although the accreditation has been suspended, Floreasca Emergency Hospital in Bucharest operates as usual.

NEW YEARS EVE In Romania, New Year traditions are still preserved in many regions. Children go carolling in the first part of the day, with songs and dances that usually describe the successive stages of farm work. The custom also includes folk performances by groups of youth or adults, where each member has a part, a role and various stage props. On the other hand, the hits of the 1980s and 1990s will be played live at the biggest outdoor New Years party in Bucharest, ‘Disco Night. This years concert has been inspired by the energy and exuberance of the disco movement. During the 6-hour party, songs that have defined entire generations will be played by international and Romanian musicians, including O-Zone, Haddaway, and the American rapper Turbo B., and Milli Vanilli Experience. The night will end with a spectacular fireworks show.

SAFETY Over 21,000 Interior Ministry employees are on duty every day in Romania to ensure citizen safety during the winter holidays. Special attention is paid to preventing serious accidents and to streamlining road traffic to the most popular tourist resorts. Up to 1,400 road police are on duty on the most circulated thoroughfares, with around 300 radar speed guns, to safeguard the lives of drivers, passengers and pedestrians. Nearly 9,600 police and gendarmes are also patrolling the busiest areas, especially fairs and shopping centres, and the sites of large outdoor public events.

TOURISM Over 1.7 million tourist arrivals were reported in Bucharest in the first 10 months of the year, according to the National Statistics Institute. The largest number, 196,410, was reported in September. Most tourists (94.7% of the total, accounting for 1.63 million people), checked in in hotels. The number of overnight stays in Bucharest was 2.99 million, with the biggest number reported for October. According to the National Statistics Institute, arrivals in accommodation facilities at national level totalled 11.531 million in the first 10 months of this year, up 4.1% compared to the corresponding period of last year.

AVALANCHE A record 200 mountain accidents have been reported over the past 10 days in Romania, with avalanche risks still high in many parts of the country, particularly in the southern massifs of Făgăraş and Bucegi. Last month 2 people were caught under an avalanche in Făgăraş. Mountain rescue teams urge tourists not to attempt routes that have been closed for safety, and to be very careful in planning their hikes so as to be indoors by nightfall.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

31 December 2019
December 30, 2019

GOVERNMENT The Government of Romania convened today for its last meeting this year. At Fridays meeting PM Ludovic Orban instructed his ministers to make sure the bills regulating the activity of ministries have all the required approvals in place, so that they may be endorsed today by the Cabinet. Orban explained that these bills must be approved so that the new Cabinet formula may be operational as of January 1. The number of deputy prime ministers has been reduced from 3 to 1, and the number of ministries has been cut from 24, as previous, to 16.

CORRUPTION Nicolae Robu, the Liberal mayor of Timişoara (the largest city in western Romania), and the former Christian Democratic mayor Gheorghe Ciuhandu, have been sent to court by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate under charges of abuse of office. According to anti-corruption prosecutors, between September 1996 and January 2014, 9 civil servants in the Timişoara City Hall overstepped their powers and illegally sold 207 buildings owned by the mayoralty to individuals who had no right to purchase them. The affair caused the state to lose over 9.5 million euro.

TOURISM Winter tourism is on the rise in most EU member countries, but the biggest increase is reported in Romania, where the number of nights spent in accommodation facilities in the 2018-2019 season was 8.6% higher than in the previous winter, according to data released today by Eurostat. The increase rate reported for Romania is almost 4 times the EU average of 2.6%. The most popular destinations in the EU in the 2018-2019 winter season were Spain, Italy, the UK, Austria, Germany and France.

STRIKE France sees the 25th day of strikes against a planned pension reform, with the next negotiations between the Government and trade unions scheduled on January 7. According to Radio Romanias correspondent in Paris, the Transport Minister promised that there would be enough trains for all passengers who had purchased tickets. Unions are currently divided over the provisions of the pension reform legislation. Meanwhile, ministers carry on talks with the employees with whom they have reached some agreements. Airline personnel have already cancelled a strike planned for January 2 and 3, after they secured derogations regarding their retirement age. Other professional categories, such as the police and gendarmes, have also got some advantages in the negotiations.

CHILDREN The number of attacks on children in conflict areas has nearly tripled over the past decade, UNICEF warns in a news release issued today. The agency documented over 170,000 severe violations of childrens rights in conflict zones since 2010, including killing, maiming, sexual violence, abduction, aid denial, recruitment into armed groups, and attacks on schools and hospitals. UNICEF also says that the number of countries affected by war is the highest in 30 years. According to the organisation, Attacks on children continue unabated as warring parties flout one of the most basic rules of war: the protection of children. In Afghanistan, Mali, Syria or Yemen, conflicts are costing millions of children their health, education, future and lives, UNICEF also said, and called for an end to childrens rights violations and to attacks on civilian infrastructure.

HANDBALL Romanias mens national handball team Sunday lost 24 to 20 to North Macedonia in the final of the 42nd Carpaţi Trophy. The Netherlands defeated Algeria and finished 3rd. The games were part of the training campaign for the first stage of the 2021 Egypt World Championships qualifiers, the first in which 32 teams will take part. Next month in the preliminaries in Italy, Romania will be playing against the host country, Georgia and Kosovo.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

30 December 2019
27 December, 2019

Government. The Romanian prime
minister Ludovic Orban has summoned his cabinet for a meeting this evening.
According to government sources, the agenda of the meeting features the
prorogation of a number of pieces of legislation that were about to come into
effect at the beginning of 2020. The Liberal cabinet also met on Monday to
approve some of the amendments introduced by MPs to the state and social
security budget bills, which were passed through government responsibility. The
government wanted these bills to come into force by the end of the year, but
they have been challenged in the Constitutional Court by the Social Democratic
speakers of the two chambers of Parliament, Marcel Ciolacu and Teodor
Melescanu. The government and Parliament now have until the 10th of
January to state their cases on the possible existence of a legal conflict
between the two powers.

Decoration. Romania’s president
Klaus Iohannis on Friday signed a decree to award the journalist Mihai Creanga
the National Order for Merit in rank of Knight, posthumously. The decoration is
meant to recognise Creanga’s contribution to defending the freedom of the press
and promoting the principles of democracy and the dedication with which he
opposed the communist regime. Mihai Creanga died on Wednesday at the age of 77.
He was part of a group of four journalists working for the daily Romania
Libera, who, almost a year before the fall of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, tried
to publish an anti-communist newspaper. The regime found out about their plans
and the four were arrested and tortured before being released on the 22nd
of December 1989 after the victory of the anticommunist revolution.

Holiday. Orthodox
and Greek-Catholic Christians in Romania today celebrate the Feast of St
Stephen, known as the first Christian martyr. He was one of the seven deacons
of the first community in Jerusalem, a position in the ecclesiastical hierarchy
which at the time also involved assisting the poor. Stephen is described in the
New Testament as being able to work wonders and was said to convert many to the
Christian faith, a success which was not to the liking of the Jewish leaders.
Stephen was thus arrested, tried and found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to
death by stoning. He died in 35 AD. More than 400,000 Romanians are named after
this saint and are celebrating their name day today.

Tourism. More than 2 million foreign
nationals visited Romania in the first nine months of the year, spending some
1.15 billion euros here, according to the National Institute for Statistics.
Almost half of these foreign visitors travelled to Romania for work to attend
congresses, conferences, courses, fairs and exhibitions. Half of the money
spent in Romania covered the accommodation costs, with another almost 18% being
spent in restaurants and bars and a little over 30% on gifts and souvenirs. 80%
of foreign visitors to Romania arrived here by plane, 11% by car and 7% by bus.

Accidents. The
Romanian interior ministry calls on motorists to drive carefully, respect
traffic rules and not to use their mobile phones while driving. This warning
comes after 27 people have been killed and several dozens injured in the last
few days in a number of serious accidents. The police also warns that the roads
are wet and there is a risk of ice forming, especially in the mountainous
regions. As for the weather in Romania, a cold snap is expected beginning on
Saturday across the country. Snow is also expected. The noon reading today in
Bucharest was 6 degrees Celsius.

Handball. The Romanian men’s
handball side are facing The Netherlands on Saturday in the semifinals of the
Carpati Trophy. In the other semifinal, North Macedonia face Algeria. The
competition’s final will take place on Sunday. The matches are part of the
training campaign for the first qualifying stage ahead of the 2021 World
Championship hosted by Egypt. Next month, Romania will face Italy, Georgia and
Kosovo in a preliminary tournament hosted by Italy. The manager of the Romanian
side Rares Fortuneanu, who also manages the French First
League side Saint Raphael, says he is confident Romania can qualify for the
2021 final tournament, which will bring together 32 sides for the first time.
In women’s handball, Romania reached as far as the Main Round of the World
Championship hosted by Japan this month.

27 December 2019
The Strambu Baiut primeval forests

The forested area in Maramures County, northern Romania, is 290,000 hectares, accounting for 46% of the total surface area. In the old times, however, this was a region covered with thick, barely accessible forests that formed a natural fortress.

The locals had developed a science of when and how to down trees, with a number of rituals performed before going into the forest. They used to believe that the wood from trees growing on the sunny side of the mountains was better, so when it came to building churches, houses or wind mills, they would pick the trees that had grown in sunlight in the middle of the forest. The trees were cut down in the first 2 months of the year, in periods with a full moon, so that the wood would be dry and protected from woodworms.

The forest cover of Maramures is now dwindling. Environmental associations estimate that there are 250,000 hectares of old-growth forests in the Romanian Carpathians, accounting for only 3% of the total forest area. One such primeval forest is located in Strambu Baiut, in the Tibles Mountains. Thousands of different flora and fauna species, day and night birds coexist here in a delicate balance. The old treetops shelter over 10,000 species, ranging from unicellular organisms, fungi, plants, and insects, to large mammals, including boars, deer, chamoix, bears, lynxes and wolves. The local authorities want the region promoted as a tourist site, says Calin Ardelean, a project manager with Worldwide Wildlife Fund Romania:

Calin Ardelean: “The primeval forests in Strambu Baiut, spreading around 3,000 hectares, are natural forests. This means that for hundreds of years they have been growing up naturally, with no human intervention whatsoever. There has been no wood harvesting, no thinning out of diseased or undesired trees, and so on. All processes take place here just as they did a thousand years ago, and this is the most important thing about this place, the fact that this is truly a living lab. We can conduct activities here that would be highly relevant in the context of climate change, research that could highlight the behavior of these natural ecosystems with respect to the climate changes caused by man.

Strambu Baiut used to be a mining region, with gold extracted around the Lapus river sprigs ever since 1315. Since 1989, mining operations in the area have gradually declined, and the locals have started to look for jobs elsewhere. Last autumn the authorities launched a project aimed at preserving biodiversity and at promoting the local resources and values, to the benefit of the Lapus Mountains community. The goal is to switch from gold and silver mining to tourism development, in an attempt to secure incomes for the local community in the medium and long run, Calin Ardelean explains:

Calin Ardelean: “We are trying to capitalise on all these and to turn forests into the gold of the local communities here. These old-growth forests are the golden forests of Maramures, the new gold of this region. WWF Romania has initiated the planning for local development in the Strambu Baiut area and Poiana Botizi village, which are very close to the protected area. We have run some studies on the environment services that can be provided in the protected area. We were surprised to find out that revenues from the direct exploitation of the resources there, that is of the wood and water, would reach around 250,000 euros, but on the other hand, if, as we intend to do, we focused on revenues from cultural services, such as tourism, scientific research, entertainment, education, the revenues would be around 10 million euros per year. Our goal is to put together the infrastructure needed for visiting this region, so as to help increase the number of tourists to some 10,000 people per year, by implementing this management plan.

Tourism is one of the most common environment services used in order to capitalise on the protected area, environmentalists say. Promotion campaigns have already been initiated, and the implementation of the management plan is pending.

The first step will be to ensure small-scale infrastructure in the protected area, e.g. theme routes, information boards, picnic areas, camping areas etc. The next step has to do with the larger-scale infrastructure, including accommodation facilities, museums, visitor centres. Groups of up to 20 tourists will be organised, accompanied by local guides, to make sure that nature is not tampered with, Calin Ardelean also says:

Calin Ardelean: “These old-growth forests in Strambu Baiut area are mixed forests. There are many old trees, trees reaching their natural life span of 400-500 years, trees that have collapsed and died and make up the soil for the new generations. So in autumn and spring these forests are spectacular in terms of colours. In early spring beech trees are a strong vivid green, and in autumn they are golden yellow. The landscape is quite diverse, and the routes are designed so as to cross very different areas, precisely because these forests are not at all uniform, visually speaking. There are surprises at every step.

More than one-quarter of Europes UNESCO-listed beech forests are located in Romania. Alongside other old-growth forests in Romania, the ones in Strambu-Baiut and Grosii Tiblesului were included in 2017 in the UNESCO world heritage list, ensuring tighter protection rules.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

27 December 2019
November 18, 2019

ELECTION Romania sees the last week of the campaign for the presidential runoff. Competing are the incumbent president Klaus Iohannis, backed by the National Liberal Party in power, and Viorica Dăncilă, the leader of the Social Democratic Party. In the first round, Iohannis got nearly 38% of the votes, and his challenger little over 22%. In the country, the vote will be held on Sunday, November 24, whereas the Romanians living abroad have 3 days to vote, namely Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

AGRICULTURE The Romanian agriculture minister, Adrian Oros, is taking part on Monday in Brussels in the meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council. The main topic on the agenda is the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy as of 2020. According to the line minister, the participants will discuss the Regulation on the funding, management and monitoring of the CAP, as well as a Regulation on the common organisation of agricultural markets. Last month, the agriculture minister told the Romanian Parliament that his top priority was to prepare the national strategic programme, because in the coming 7 years the main financing source for the Romanian agriculture is the annual 20 billion euros granted under the CAP.

COMMISSIONERS The European Parliament is to make a decision by Thursday regarding the latest commissioner nominations made by Romania, France and Hungary. The UK, which declined appointing a commissioner, will have to provide an official answer by Friday, Radio Romanias correspondent in Brussels reports. The president of the European Parliament and the floor group leaders will make a final assessment of the 3 candidates and will decide the closure of the hearings on November 21. The commissioners nominated by Romania and France, Adina Vălean for transport commissioner and Thierry Breton for the internal market commissioner, respectively, have already been given the green light by the specialist committees. Hungarys nominee for enlargement and neighbourhood policy commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, had to answer additional questions from MEPs. A second rejection of Hungarys candidate will force a new postponement of the validation of the Commission as a whole. Further questions have to do with the UK, whose unwillingness to nominate a candidate is against the EU Treaty. However, the president elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, may go forth with an executive team of 27 members, as long as the legal affairs experts decide that the absence of a British commissioner does not prevent the activity of the new Commission.

POLITICS The members of Save Romania Union, the third-largest party in Parliament, are voting online until Wednesday on Dan Barnas prospective resignation as party president. Barna said he was ready to step down, following the discontent triggered by his performance in the presidential election, in which he failed to qualify into the runoff. He got 15% of the votes, although half a year ago in the elections for the European Parliament the USR-PLUS alliance had carried 22% of the votes.

NAVY The King Ferdinand frigate is taking part in an international anti-submarine warfare exercise organised by the Turkish Navy in the Mediterranean Sea and which is under way until November 20, the Navy Chief of Staff has announced. The Romanian crew will be carrying out specific training activities in Turkey’s territorial waters and neighbouring international waters alongside colleagues from Bulgaria, Canada, Greece, Jordan, Italy, Mexico, Pakistan, Spain, the United States and Turkey. According to the Romanian Navy Forces, the participation of King Ferdinand frigate in this exercise contributes to enhancing the interoperability of the Romanian and partner forces, and to promoting the professionalism of the Romanian Army.

TOURISM Romanias largest travel fair came to a close on Sunday in Bucharest. The event brought together travel agencies, tour operators and tourist regions represented by trade associations or by county councils. 230 companies from 16 countries came up with offers for all seasons and all tastes, with discounts going up to and even over 50%. The offers include Christmas and New Years holidays in the country and abroad, summer packages in Romanian and Bulgarian Black Sea resorts, in the Danube Delta, in spa resorts, or in traditional regions.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

18 November 2019
November 17, 2019 UPDATE

Tourism fair — Romania’s largest tourism fair came to an end in Bucharest on Sunday. 230 travel agencies from 16 countries have attended the fair. The event gathered travel agencies, tour-operators as well as travel associations and county councils representing certain tourist areas. Visitors could choose holidays for the winter of 2019 as well as for the summer of 2020. Travel agencies provided discounts of up to 45% for travel packages, trips paid by holiday vouchers or paid by credit card in installments. The visitors of the fair could choose packages for the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays in Romania and abroad, summer packages on the Romanian or Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, in the Danube Delta, in spa resorts and other traditional tourist areas of Romania. Those with bigger budgets allotted for their holidays could choose a trip to Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, and Lapland in Finland, the land associated with Father Christmas.

Gaudeamus — Between November 20-24 Bucharest will host the 26th edition of the Gaudeamus International Book Fair organized by Radio Romania. The event marks the anniversary of 30 years since the December 1989 anti-Communist revolution in Romania. Over 250 publishers that participate in the fair have prepared around 900 events — book launches, screenings, debates and lectures. Initiated by the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation some 25 years ago the Gaudeamus project is currently a landmark on the Romanian book market. So far, the Gaudeamus fair has hosted over 100 exhibitions, over 13 thousand events and has been attended by more than 3 million visitors. Radio Romania is the only public radio station of the world that organizes such a book fair.

Film — The Romanian — Serbian coproduction ‘Ivana the Terrible’ directed by Ivana Mladenovic on Saturday evening won the Golden Pram trophy for best feature film, worth 4,000 Euros, at the 17th edition of the Zagreb Film Festival. The film gets inspiration from the life of the director who was born in 1984 in Serbia. After studying law in Belgrade, she moved to Romania where she graduated from the I.L.Caragiale National University of Theater and Film. Ivana Mladenovic has made shorts and documentaries that were selected and received prizes at international festivals. (translation by L. Simion)

17 November 2019