Romania Is Promoting Tourism Via Facebook
Romanian Ministry for Tourism has decided to promote Romania’s beautiful landscapes on Facebook, in an unprecedented agreement signed with the vice-president of Facebook, Blake Chandlee, who visited today the Eastern European country.
That is good news, because it gives the people on the Facebook (probably the whole planet) the opportunity to see Romania from another perspective, that of the beautiful country that it is with various landscapes, with mountains, plains, hills and sea, with peaceful people and nice places to visit.
It is true that in the recent past Romanian Tourism Ministers (not only the actual one) have paid good money for promoting the image of this country in unprofessional ways that did not attract any tourists.
The lack of vision kept Romania out of the tourist map of Europe, though it has what it takes to become a “Switzerland of the East.” (Ukraine, Romania’s eastern neighbor, made famous in the entire world the pisanky, Easter painted eggs, by a great promotional program; funny thing is that they took the habit of painting eggs from the Romanians living in Ukraine and made them known worldwide while the Romanian painted eggs remain unknown).
The biggest mistake they made was to exploit the stupid myth of Dracula, which is a concoction of a writer who read some chronicles written by the enemies of the great Romanian ruler Vlad Tepes Dracul.
It was a very bad idea, not only because it was a masquerade which couldn’t full anybody, but it drew a catastrophic blow on the image of Romanians as a nation, which are seen by many because of this Dracula myth an bloody nation living in a place of evil and Satanism, which is of course the most distorted opinion possible.
Another mistake was to promote Romania as a wild place where people can do whatever they want. That mistake disregarded the fact that the country is inhabited by 20 million normal people who, while ready to receive foreigners as guests, are not ready to become their victims as they come to practice different vices that they would never be allowed to practice in their countries (nowhere in the world could it be allowed to organize massacres of wild beasts; they happen in Romania, though the country is a member of the EU).
It is like this that one of the most stupid advertising videos of Romanian tourism says that “Romania is the country where
every woman can have four husbands.” Though it aims at catching the eye through a shocking remark, it conveys some rather undignified ideas about Romanian women and the local morality, which is unacceptable, given that the allegation is based only on a sick unprofessional mind.
The Romanian minister of tourism was, during the summer, in the center of a huge scandal related to a tourist logo of the country, for which the ministry paid almost a hundred thousand Euros to a Spanish guy who made it on Photoshop after he stole it from a oil company (probably Romanian design artists would have made such a logo for much less).
Anyway, this time the idea of promoting Romania on Facebook is a good one, and probably will not cost as much as the logo in the summer.
If you are interested in visiting Romania and see the promotional videos on Facebook, do not pass them by; whether you really want to go there or not, you could see some pretty nice places and could at least travel by means of internet to a really beautiful country (if you want to actually go there, do so, but be aware, Romanians don’t have the best roads in the world, to say the least; in every other respect, you will not regret!).
Amazing article and a great point of view. I have some family friends that went on a trip to Paris a couple of months ago after they saved some money. When they came back we got together and i started asking the usual questions, curios as i always am”So, how was it? What did you visit?”
Their reply”not much. we went to visit the Eiffel Tower and went to some cool local bars…”WHAT? And the Louvre? All those amazing French museums? You went to see some bars…. come on guys….
Selena, there is a joke about tourism, it is about Japanese people, I hope they won’t mind.
A Japanese person returns from holidays in France, and the friends ask him pretty much what you asked your family: “How was it? What did you see?”
He replied: “I don’t know, I have yet to develop the films.”
Komendasai to the Japanese for this inoffensive joke!
Thanks for the comment, Selena.
Nice one Mihai
)
Thanks.
Why Don’t Romanians Respect Their Country?
Is Romania the rubbish bin of Europe, my answer has to be yes and these are my reasons.
As a businessman I have travelled the world from the riches countries to the poorest and have been acquainted with Romania for 11years. During this period I have covered most of Romania, from Arad to Constanta and Giurgiu to Iasi, but I have to say Romania is the dirtiest.
Car drivers throw empty cigarette packets, paper, cans and bottles out of their car windows, not to mention lighted cigarettes in forest areas. You can pass though what could be beautiful countryside with plastic bottles and rubbish everywhere. People demolish walls in their apartments (usually illegally) and dump the rubble around the block flats, in city parks or the countryside. Beer bottles, cigarettes and food packet are left in the stairways of apartment just a few minutes after they have been cleaned.
Rivers and the mountains are considered a dumping ground for more plastic. People barbeque and leave all their rubbish behind as it is easier than taking it home.
Are people so uneducated that they don’t understand that plastic does not disintegrate and that burning it is a serious hazard to the environment?
Throughout the civilised world there are substantial penalties, a cigarette or piece of paper thrown out of a car window 75 euro. Rubbish dumped or left behind 300 euro or jail. Lighted cigarette dropped in a natural forest area 500 euro and/or jail minimum.
Where are the Romanian Police, they could certainly make people think twice about their actions, as well as help make Romania a cleaner, tidier country, they would also certainly create revenue for community improvement, though properly enforced penalties and not bribes.
Even though Romania is not my country, this kind of activity makes me furious. I just don’t understand why Romanians don’t respect what could be a beautiful country; instead they prefer to live in a dirty rubbish bin.
I make no apologies for my comments because I believe somebody has to say it. You are now part of the European Union and it is time you took the responsibility for looking after the environment as it is for the protection and enjoyment of the world.
David, I am a Romanian and I could not agree with you more. This is a beautiful country and if only people living here would change, we could make it an amazing one. It’s true that our economy will not recover in the nearby future but the least we could is pick up garbage after having a barbecue.
Dear David,
Education is not something that grows in trees, and it must be done by means of examples to be followed. How can one in Romania follow the examples that are proposed on the public stage, where all no-names have become overnight “leaders,” “masterminds,” “educators,” “democrats,” “business people”?
If a wise person opens his/her mounth to speak their mind, they are immediately shut down by those who “know better,” most of the time morons who repeat like parrots something they have been “programmed” to utter.
I think it is safe to say that what Romania is going through right now is axiological lawlessness.
It is fair to stress though that most Romanian people are as educated and well-bred as the next European or American, and that even though, taken together, Romanians are as they are, taken individually, most of them are formidable companions/leaders/employees/friends/foes/mothers/fathers/students and so on.
It is however their incapacity to select and elect true leaders, at every level, that is the doom of their country.
Otherwise, Romania could always compete with Switzerland and Austria in tourism, for instance, for it is indeed a most beautiful country.
Thanks for the insight.