Tourism Ministry to add 'genuinely Romanian' to classification of accommodation establishments

Romania's Ministry of Tourism has proposed to introduce the "Autentic romanesc" (genuinely Romanian) to the classification of tourist accommodation establishments to increase tourism offerings, Tourism Minister Bogdan Trif said in Sibiu on Tuesday. "We have set to introduce a new classification, a new brand, namely Genuinely Romanian. We do not intend to reinvent the wheel, I want to tell you that we have been inspired even by the Spanish model, so that when a foreign tourist comes to Romania and want to spend or eat traditionally, be accommodated in a traditionally designed room, we can offer this to him or her. And so, we will licence hotels or guesthouses as thus. They will have to meet certain criteria and we will award the brand to them. It is niche tourism, but we have seen that in some countries it has fared very well and there are many tourists who want to spend at least for one night in traditional style," said Trif. According to him, the project, which is to be implemented next year, will benefit all areas of the country, as there is a special potential in this regard. "We mean absolutely all areas in Romania, because we have a very rich offer. (...) We can talk about Bucovina, we can talk about the area of Maramures, Transylvania, Oltenia. (...) We will be staring certifying next year. We are currently working on the project, on a government decision; it is complete and it will be at the next meeting with the industry (...) and then we will adopt it in the government. (...) It will be beneficial because this brand will simply attract. As I was saying, we do not intend to reinvent the wheel; it works very well in other countries and we must follow and adapt those successful models in Romania," said Trif. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Malina Negrea, editor: Karina Olteanu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Rodica State)