Introduction…4 [307397]

Content

Page

Introduction……………………………………………………………………….4

Identifying the issues…………………………………………………………..6

Finding the answers……………………………………………………………8

Taking the best measures that fit our necessities…………………..26

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………29

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………30

Introduction

I am approaching this subject because I feel that everytime people are talking about our country you hear things like “Romania is wonderful”, or “You have an amazing country”, etc. [anonimizat]’t take advantage of our natural treasures is not only sad for us as a nation but it is also a major setback in our country’s economy, social development and our wellbeing in general.

The reason I [anonimizat] a comparison and also as a [anonimizat], the Greeks found out that all they needed for their country’s economy was lying at their feet. [anonimizat], [anonimizat]. [anonimizat], [anonimizat] “European destinations Hall of Fame”.

I [anonimizat], [anonimizat]’s seaside too.

I [anonimizat] a country, have a lot of things to improve and learning from one of the best in the business is not a thing to be ashamed of.

[anonimizat] a population of around 11 million inhabitants as of 2015, Athens being the capital city. It is located at the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula and it shares borders with Albania, F.Y.R.O. Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey(from northwest to northeast). The area I [anonimizat].

(Photo 1: Map of Greece)

Identifying the issues

1. [anonimizat], and that is a mild term. Besides the fact that we only have just a bit over 600 [anonimizat], [anonimizat] a hard time getting to the coast.

The fact that the biggest airport in the country is located around 300 kilometres away is a [anonimizat]’t want to spend the same amount of time on the highway as they spent on the plane.

Mihail Kogalniceanu Airport serves the city of Constanța and also all the romanian seaside towns. So even if it helps having such a big airport at a [anonimizat] a lot more to have direct air lines that connect M. Kogalniceanu Airport to the major cities of Europe.

The list of cities that have connections with Kogalniceanu Airport: Bruxelles, London, Milan, Paris, Rome and Istanbul. Romanian cities that are connected with this airport are: Oradea, Cluj – Napoca, Iasi and Timisoara.

Constanța is the home of a huge port, but unfortunately, due to the level of luxury that the romanian seaside provides, the harbor exist only to export and import goods from and to Romania.

2. Hotel, Resort and Spa infrastructure

The romanian coast has some resorts that can compete with international standards, but, as I was pointing out, there are not as many as we would want, as many as the foreign tourist would want.

Some of the hotels/resorts that can pass an quality test even in other countries are: Marina Regia Residence, Iaki Conference & Spa Hotel 4* , Blaxy Premium Resort 4* , Mera Resort 4* , Phoenicia Holiday Resort 4*.

Still, our coast offers a lot of opportunities and a lot of promise. In my humble opinion, I would say that not even 25% of the value of the land is used as it should be.

A high percentage of the hotels on the Romanian sealine are low cost hotels with 2* or 3* classification that are targeting tourist that are not willing to spend an amount higher than 200 euros/stay/person. These old building have a higher occupancy rate because most of the Romanian tourists that choose our country’s shores have a “the cheaper the better” mentality, as they march on the fact that “I’m not going to the seaside to sleep, I just need a place to put my head on”. As the economy has graduately improved over the past decade, more and more people choose other destinations to spend their holidays and their money. Turkey with the Antalya area, Greece with both the continental area (Halkidiki and the Olympic Riviera) and the islands (Crete, Rhodos, Santorini, Skiathos or Zakynthos), Italy with the Bibione and Lido the Jesolo area, Spain with Costa Brava or Canary Islands are way ahead of us, tourism-wise and not only in the foreigner’s choices. The biggest players on the tour-operators market have started to introduce plane charters from more and more cities in Romania and they offer great opportunities for all the budgets (given the early booking period) and for tourists from all over Romania (Arad, Timisoara, Bucharest, Iasi, Oradea, Cluj – Napoca, Suceava).

This is another reason to be certain that an upgrade in the facilities and everything concerning hotel industry on our sealine would benefit our country both economically and in how foreigners regard Romani

Finding the answers

I will try to point out some of the problems that we could handle by taking a look at how our Balkan neighbors managed to sort them out.

1. Transportation infrastructure

With over 2000 kilometres of highway(only in the mainland), Greece can easily accommodate the cheapest way of transportation, which is on land. All the major cities are inter – connected, and all the major areas of interest are linked with the cities.

Macedonia region is crossed by the A1 and A2 motorways, and also by the secondary highways that connect several areas of the adjacent territories.

(Photo 2: Greece’s highway and motorway map)

In the highlighted area there are also two important harbors: Thessaloniki and Kavala. These critical importance of these two port cities is not only from the trading point of view, it is also very important for tourism, as it can bring in the area tourist with bigger financial disposition, ones that go on cruises and of course ones that own a boat.

Beside the land and water transportation, in the Macedonia region there is also a main airport – Makedonia Airport in Thessaloniki and a couple of smaller, national airports like the ones in Kavala and in Kastoria.

Keeping in mind that most of the tourist that come to the greek coasts are west-europeans or north-europeans, the importance of an international standards airport like the one in Thessaloniki becomes a huge deal.

(Photo 3: Makedonia Airport from Thessaloniki)

2. Hotel, Resort and Spa infrastructure

Even though Romania has some hotels and also a couple of resorts to brag about, it isn’t always about quality. The list of the 5-star hotels and resort located on the Romanian seaside is not as impressive as one might think.

The Halkidiki peninsula offers a place for everyone, from the people that just want a bed to sleep in, to 3 or 4-stars hotel that address the middle area of the society, but the main thing the region is filled with are the 5-star resorts. The fact that they offer not only quality but also quantity makes room for a win-win situation. Competition is good! Competition is productive! The tourist are happy that they have where to choose from, the hotel management representatives are happy because they are fighting to reach that first place and also the economy gets the benefits of reaping the “fruits” from all forms of tourism.

As I aforementioned, the biggest battle is between the 5-star resorts that are claiming the throne for “The best Hotel” in the area. I will present some ideas of how the titans involved in this battle try to win the long distance run against the competition. Remember, competition is good!

As a model for how a hotel should look like on the Romanian shore I chose Litohoro Olympus Resort Villas & Spa, 4*+ hotel that fills all the requirements and standards a top hotel has to.

(Photo 4: Litohoro Resort Villas & Spa)

As accommodation variations they offer 22 standard rooms, 3 junior suites, 5 villas and 1 executive villa. All the villas have their own private pool, while the tourist bedded in the standard rooms or the junior suites can enjoy the outdoor pool that is located between the restaurant and the beach.

(Photo 5: Standard Room)

(Photo 6: Junior Suite)

(Photo 7: Villa)

(Photo 8: Executive Villa)

The Aphrodite Spa offers services that include gym, massage areas, mosaic heated relax beds, two private areas with heated pools, a hydro massage, a Jacuzzi, a sauna, a steam bath, as well as a variety of beauty treatments.

(Photo 9: Spa private area)

(Photo 10: Spa pool)

The Litohoro Olympus has a 2 restaurant, one of them being a gourmet a la carte restaurant, a café bar, a pool bar and a private beach with beach bar.

As far as resort are concerned, I will compare the Marina Regia Residence located in the northern side of Mamaia and Sani Resort, “the pearl of Halkidiki luxury estates”.

Marina Regia is the newest addition to the Romanian shore and one of the most luxurious resorts in the country. The resort is comprised by a 5* luxury hotel, a 4* boutique hotel, luxury villas, restaurants, spa and a private beach. In the jewel on the crown, Arena Regia Hotel they offer 63 rooms, of which 8 are originally designed suites, 2 restaurants and the Imperia Spa. The Arcadia hotel is comprised of 24 rooms and 2 suites. The villas at Marina Regia are Mediterranean style designed and each one of them has 3 bedrooms with bathrooms, one living room, a kitchen, a double garage and a covered terrace. This resort is one of the few (if not the only one) that can rival a 5* resort from the Northern Greece region and as a comparison I will show below the standards of one of the most luxurious resorts in Halkidiki.

(Photo 11: Marina Regia Residence)

(Photo 12: Sani Resort)

Sani Resort is comprised of 5 hotels that are open from April to October: Sani Beach, Sani Club, Sani Dunes, Sani Asterias and Porto Sani.

What sets Sani Resort apart from other resort in the northern Greece area and why I consider this to be the perfect example on how to create a unique experience for the visitors?

All the hotels and resort aim for the first place, for the “The best Hotel” award, and whilst there are lots of awesome 5 stars hotels in the Halkidiki region, Sani Resort sets itself apart with some facilities. Most of the contenders that aim for the top spot offer extraordinary room views, state of the art room designs, they compete to sign the best chefs, some of them with Michelin stars operating in luxurious gourmet restaurants, they hire actors for their traditional evening taking place in outdoor theaters, or they even try to best the others by offering some wellness and spa services that would make any guest feel like they’ve stepped out of this world for the time they enjoy the treatments.

But there is one thing that, in my opinion, only Sani Resort can provide. Everything! There is not a single activity that one might want that Sani can’t offer. Doing this, they have an outstanding edge in front of their rivals. In a 7 night stay one can not experience everything Sani has to offer and that makes customers want to come back again next year, and again until the Resort has some totally impressed tourist that not only will become regulars but they will definetly recommend and convince their friends to visit.

So of course, Danai Beach Resort & Villas offer privacy like no other, of course Alexander the Great is the only hotel in Halkidiki with beach acces elevator, Ikos Oceania has the reception at the 6th floor and a 3 stories tall waterfall in front of the pool area, Porto Carras Marina is so exclusive that only parking your yacht there without being checked at the hotel costs 100 euros, Pomegranate Wellness and Spa has a “magical fountain” that rivals with the one in Placa d’Espana, at the feet of Montjuic in Barcelona, and Miraggio Thermal Spa has a spa area that would make even Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty want to book a therapy session.

But Sani Resort has a little bit of everything, all in one place. Let me detail that…

There are around 7 kilometres of “Blue Flag” golden beach with gentle entrance in the water which makes it perfect for young children. There are 22 restaurants in the resort… (just to name few of them: Poseidon restaurant, Katsu Japanese restaurant, Grill by the Pool, Fresco restaurant or the famous Veranda restaurant which offers a unique open-kithcen experience while the sunset bathes the finest Greek and Mediterranean dishes)… where there are 8 Michelin-star-awarded chefs.

The parents can have a blast while the kids are being taking care of by the animators at Sani. There is a creche for children between 4 months and 3 years of age, while for the ones that are a bit older (4-11 years old) there is a mini club with no less than 3 locations in the resort that provides activities like mini-Olympics, nature exploration, playgrounds or water polo in the separate children’s pool.

The teenagers also have a bunch of activities to choose from starting with a game room filled with console gaming and board games, cooking classes or canoeing, also a football academy and a sailing academy are available and the participants are awarded certificates after completing the courses.

Since everybody is going on vacation to relax and forget about the stress, taking care of a child even if it’s a baby or a teenager can prove to be a drag in the way of leisure for the grown-ups. This is where Sani intervenes and picks up the tasks from the parents’ shoulders.

The adults have also a huge range of activities to choose from like scuba diving, mountain biking, bird watching, archery, motorized and non-motorised, sailing trips, sunset cruises, tennis, and water sport besides the forementioned spa and fitness options.

The Marina is also a huge plus in the resort, allowing exclusive clients to dock their yachts in front of their rooms.

As I mentioned before, Sani Resort has them all. This is the sort of tourism we need to offer if we are to make an important revenue out of the natural potential of our seaside.

(Photo 13: Sani Asterias Suites)

(Photo 14: The Veranda Restaurant)

(Photo 15: The Mini Club)

(Photo 16: Ammos Restaurant Terrace)

Taking the best measures that fit our necessities

First of all, to have a high occupancy ratio, one destination needs to have transportation facilities to serve it. As the most tourist come from the west (French, germans, czechs or swiss) and from the north (russians, ukrains or polishs) the first step would be to link the northwestern border to the seaside with a network of highways (Oradea, Arad and Timisoara to Constanta and Satu Mare, Baia Mare and Suceava to Constanta). At the same time, Mihail Kogalniceanu airport should extend it’s flights to more important cities that can provide tourist from countries like Germany (Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin), UK (Stansted and Luton), France (Paris and Lyon), Russia (Moscow, Ekaterinburg and St. Petersburg), Poland (Warsaw), Spain (Madrid) and Belarus (Minsk). It might not be possible for all these cities to provide straight flight to Constanta but that wouldn’t be a problem if there was a high speed train from Otopeni airport in Bucharest to Constanta, one similar to the ones that connects France to the UK for example.

Once the road, air and train infrastructure is up to the standards, all of it is worthless if the opportunities on the beach side are not impressive both quantity-wise and quality-wise.

The tourists need to be attracted by the facilities inside and outside the rooms, by the activities offered to the clients, both young and adult ones and also by the high standards regarding wellness, spa and restaurant.

Also, the state that our beaches lie in right now is a poor one at most, except a few private beaches. Before welcoming foreign tourist we need to get all the beaches clean and the bathing area plowed. Also, a netting system that prevents algae to reach the shore is necessary.

All this measures combined together would add up to a promising start to a touristic paradise both for the tourists and for the country. After that, it’s the Tourism Ministery to conceive programs meant to attract foreigners, like the Spanish Government introduced the “Costas Espanolas for everybody” for east-european countries. Instead of covering the costs on behalf of the tourist like the Spanish, the Romanian leaders should promote aggressively outside the country and link the sealine to the Danube Delta to create outstanding packages for west-europeans. Also, the hotels and resort could and should give discounts for the non-all inclusive packages for traditional foods and beverages from outside the country, for example: discounts on beer for the Germanic clients, wine for the French and Spanish and pizza and pasta for the Italians. This may sound silly but it’s the small things that matter and these kind of services can make the difference between a guest that will come back next year and one that will go to the Turkish 5* ultra all inclusive.

Given the fact that we can arrange more than 80 kilometres of beaches we should take full advantage of the diversity that comes along this length. Mamaia should be the Romanian version of Ibiza, Eforie could easily be for Constanta what Lido di Jesolo is for Venice, while Costinesti is already a summer camp target for Romanian children and teenagers, with a bit of care it could host international summer camps and festivals.

Olimp, Jupiter, Neptun and Saturn can provide a place for total relaxation and peace of mind providing long boardwalks and open-air theaters given the restauration they needed. Parks, biking and the horse course in Mangalia should be the main attractions in that area.

Vama Veche could become the capital of live music, bringing back that lost and faded aura, just like Cluj – Napoca became an European capital of house music.

(Photo 17: Romanian sealine

Conclusions

To summarise, I see our country as a huge diamond. We all know about the fact that our geography offers all the possible landforms starting from the basic plains to the fascinating Danube Delta. But what we don’t know is when will our country benefit from what nature gave to it on a plate. There is a huge potential all around the surface of Romania, we have the thermal waters in the west, the salt pits in the central Transylvania, the Danube Canyon in the south and the pitoresque mountains in the north. We were spoiled by mother nature and we have to take advantage of the perks we were blessed with, while taking care of the natural heritage at the same time.

The rarest diamond, one of a kind, the fish-shaped diamond:

(Photo 18: Geographycal map of Romania)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Photo 1: http://www.geographicguide.com/pictures/map-greece.jpg

Photo 17: http://www.maps.google.com

Photo 18 : http://www.geotutorials.ro/Harti-Romania/Harta_Romania_unitati_de_relief_si_orase.jpg