Tourism idea for Ro

Salut din nou/ Hi again,

Being on holiday, I'm inspired by anything that I see or experience here in Romania. So, here it goes my latest idea. This time is for the tourism branch.

I've read today in the Neuer Zürcher Zeitung about a bus trip through the woods of Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria. Under the name "Exploring Silva Magna Bulgariae", a bus takes you on a 17-day trip through the nature of these three countries. What is special in all this is the fact that tourists can see the untouched, virgin nature. Although for my Romanian fellows this might not seem extraordinary, it seems that in the countries of central and western Europe you don't really find such places anymore.
So, a tourism agency called Silvatur Reisen from Zurich is organising similar trips to other Eastern European countries except for Romania.

Now, I'm wondering why shouldn't one offer similar tours throughout Romania? Undoubtedly, I strongly believe that the nature in Romania is one of our most valuable assets to leverage for touristic purposes.

What can we offer?
We have countless forests of different kind and a natural, well kept vegetation and fauna. I am thinking of the nature in three main categories:

- mountain areas - with fir trees and other ones from the same family. Given the fact that the mountains have on average 1700-2000m altitude, you can always see typical flowers (e.g. stone flower) and other plants. As for fauna/animals, there are: bears, reindeers, and birds (e.g. the mountain cock, which is a protect big bird). Nonetheless, you can admire the sheep herds, the huge, white dogs that take care of them and even have a philosophical chat with the shepherd. You can even listen to some poems which have this theme written by well known Romanian poets. Let's not forget the spread, small villages on the hills of the mountains. Who visits them will definitely be impressed by the hospitality of the villagers, despite the hard life and isolation which they are confronted to.

- hill area - around 1000m - here you will find a totally different kind of vegetation, fauna....and even the people are different. Whereas the former led a very simple, traditional life, the ones living in the latter area benefit from more connectivity to the "civilized world" if I may put it this way. How will you notice that? Pay attention to how they decorated their houses, the way they are dressed and you will notice a mixture of popular/traditional clothing and modern clothes.

- plain area - usually along the rivers (Mures, Olt, Danube). Apart from the nature differences, what it strikes me most whenever I visit these places is the difference in housing. Because of the wind and the higher average temperature, houses are spread horizontally and don't have more than one floor. This is different from the hill area, where houses are higher and give you an impression of wealth.
Ok, I could continue talking about this, but let's move forward and see what we need in order to be able to organize such tours.

What are the resources involved?
- Basically, we need accommodation options for each of these areas...and not any kind of accommodation, but specific, real life like accommodation. I believe this wouldn't be so difficult, as you can always find people who move to the urban centers and leave behind their houses.
- Secondly, the road network and accessibility to some areas plays a decisive role. This may be problematic in the mountain regions, especially during the wintertime. However, this can be solved with some SUVs.
- Thirdly, we need a guide that knows every place and has stories for each of them. This is not so difficult, as everybody can learn from books general information about the area. More specific information will be gathered from discussions with inhabitants from the area. Word of mouth stories are always the most valuable as they are unique and cannot be found in other countries.

What are the risks incurred?
- Not enough people interested in such tours - However, if we look at the success of Silvatour Reisen who has already tested this kind of tourism, the level of risk is lower in this case. I assume that people who have done one similar tour and liked it will be interested in going on other tours in other countries.
- Difficulty of receiving finance for the resources needed (houses, SUVs).
- The weather conditions prevent from organising such tours during wintertime or cause delays/cancellations.

All in all, this is a very grob idea that I've presented here, which needs to be further brainstormed on and analysed more carefully. However, it is a new business idea for Romania.

Keep your eyes and ears open to the world and you will receive more ideas that your brain can process...
L.