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Joern Gieschen, representative of THR company, stated within the third edition of Hotel Investment Forum 2010, that, according to a study carried out by the Spanish company of international tourism branding, THR, the foreign tourists are attracted by the beauty of landscapes and nature in Romania and by cultural and historical sites. “Foreign tourists would like to enjoy genuine experiences in their holidays in Romania. They are not just looking for historical places, but need to experiment other things than music and traditional dances. They would rather assist to cooking experiences of Romanian traditional dishes”, stated Gieschen. According to the THR study, 29% of the interviewed persons would consider the possibility to spend their vacations in Romanian destinations, while 44% of the foreign tourists do not plan to visit Romania and other 27% would think of visiting, which leads to a potential of 56% of the total tourists on the source markets who could be attracted to Romania. These claim to be independent, planning trips on their own, surfing the Internet for information and embracing the idea of adventure. Out of the total of 10,800 of interviews carried out in eight source countries USA, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Russia, Hungary, UK, but also in Romania, where the sample included only those who traveled abroad more than once in the past 3 years, there were 1,707 foreign tourists that have visited Romania at least one time. Out of those who have visited Romania at least one time, 56% are willing to come back to Romania and recommend it to others, while 12% will not come back, but are willing to recommend Romania and 30% claim they will not come back to Romania and will not recommend it, stated Joern Gieschen in an optimistic manner. In the top of source countries studied, Hungary generated most tourists visiting Romania, 70%, followed by Germany and Austria with shares higher than the other source countries, not exceeding 18%. In Hungary, the positive opinion on Romania as tourist destination outruns, due to a higher level of knowledge of the destination, the positive opinion of all the other source countries. Gieschen stated that foreign tourists are attracted by the Carpathian Mountains and the landscapes in rural areas and added that the lack of information regarding Romania as tourist destination and the wrong perception over the destination as dominated of poverty and insecurity are the main barriers to the arrival of foreign tourists in Romania. There are instruments to correct these problems in the phase of tourism brand implementation. For a country, the perception on safety is the most important criteria of selecting a tourism destination. He also specified that the problem of infrastructure is not the main issue hindering tourism development in Romania. The THR representative also underlined during the presentation that the perception of attractiveness for Romania changes radically for those who have visited Romania. The computed factor of attractiveness outruns this case the one of Turkey, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria.
Sursa: Bloom Biz [27.04.2010], Curierul National [28.04.2010], Daily Business [27.04.2010], Fivestar Hospitality [29.04.2010], Ziarul Financiar [28.04.2010]
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Fivestar Hospitality Consulting 
