in the Carpathian Garden

Once upon a Time

• The Eternal and Fascinating Romania – 1995
• Made in Romania – 2000
• Romania, Always Surprising - 2004 was actually the first step in
destination branding; (a logo, a slogan, website pages, support of
embassies)
• Fabulospirit – 2006
• Romania, Land of Choice” -2009-2012 aimed to present Romania
as an attractive and diverse tourist destination; (Nadia Comănici,
Gheorghe Hagi and Ilie Năstase as ambassadors)
• Romania. Explore the Carpathian Garden (2010-present)
Main target profile – Romania Explore the
Carpathian Garden
Discerning Traveller
■Profile:
–Ages: 25-40 and 50-64 (empty nesters)
–Highly educated
–Middleto high income
–High spending potential
2. Marketing
–Frequent travellers an promotional plan
–Living in medium / big cities
Originally
■ Travelling mainly:

–to live experiences and emotions

–to satisfy a special interest
–to learn
–to get involved and interact
–in a nice environments
–with a high level of security
–in small groups or in couples
www.romania.travel

Videospot analisys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfj2ETMV_H8
 Brand Promise
• Target
Deep satisfaction level and high recognition as an explorer of an intact
destination, not to be found elsewhere on classic tourism routes in
Europe
• Key values
Explorering, Spirituality, Simple life
• Reference framework
Itineraries exploring oriented, destinations offering rewarding
experiences
• Main differentiation items
Unspoiled nature, unique cultural heritage, authentic lifestyle in rural
areas
Based on research methods both inside and
outside the country, the marketers defined the
brand’s personality as: green and rural, authentic,
pure, innocent, kind.
Promoted Image
• Kauw (2004) classifies the images from a poster (video in this case) in
five categories: ‘natural scenery and landscape’
• manmade landmarks and buildings
• people
• recreational activities
• culture
• the more a category appears, more important it is
• the most promoted aspects of Romania as tourism destination are
the natural landscapes and manmade landmarks, especially
traditional village building
The Myth
• The qualitative analysis highlights the fact that the promotional video
is built around four myths:
• myth of rural space and traditions;
• mysterious, mystical space (Dracula myth);
• wild nature
• culture and traditions related to the church
A possible Image?
• Romania appears as a mystical space, out of a different
period, with wild landscapes, friendly locals, welcoming
villages and churches that highlight the importance of
faith and traditions.
• Tourists are welcomed to experience an atmosphere of
freedom, nature and rural world in a journey of
self-rediscovery, reconnection with the origins and
adventure
It’s not a faitry tale – our magic no. -> 6
Branding
 Anholt’s index of national brands is the first step in evaluating and
ranking nation brands, measuring the power and capacity of a
country brand to attract and showing how consumers around the
world perceive the character and personality of the brand;
Ro nation profile vs. RO tourism profile
• Respectful Diversity and Surprising
• Sociable Traditions
• Flexible Beauty and Modest
• Honest Hospitality
• Amiable Adventure
• Optimistic Recreation
• Organized Future and Hope
• Active Challenging
Symbol
• Symbol associate with tourism - Color Green (47%)
• Animal Bear and Horse (20%)
• Person (gender, age, personality) Male, >50 years, active and optimistic
• Season Autumn( 49%)
• Landform Mountains (46%)
• Sport Football and Oina (38%)
• Car Dacia (82%)

COSMA, URCAN,Study about brand identity for Romania as a tourist

destination, 5th WSEAS International Conference on Economy and
Management Transformation (Volume I)
Favourites
Tourist’s favorite attractions and motivation for visiting:
• the most popular places that tourists would visit:
• Bran Castle, Transfăgărăşan, Danube Delta, Mud Volcanoes, The
House of Parliament, Sfinx and the historical site of Sighişoara
• tendency of Romanian tourists for cultural tourism and adventure
tourism;
SWOT
• Strengths (internal, positive factors)
describe what an organization/destination excels at
• Weaknesses (internal, negative factors)
Weaknesses stop an organization from performing at its optimum
level; they have the potential to reduce progress
• Opportunities
Favourable external factors that an organization/destination can use
it its advantage
• Threats
External factors that have the potential to negatively impact an
organization
To Do
• Identify main Strengths & Weaknesses of Romania as a Touristic
Destination
• Adapt those results to Brasov as an emerging Touristic Destination
Remember the dimensions
of the Brand Hexagon!
SWOT Analysis – Strengths of Ro as a Touristic
Destination
• Uspoiled nature, ecosysthems
• Climate 4 seasons – different touristic products all over the year
• Danube Delta – unique in Europe
• UNESCO heritage
• Safety
Opportunities of Ro as a Touristic Destination
• Groving MICE segment
• Emerging EU funding – investment in infrastructure
Weaknesses of Ro as a Touristic Destination
• Weak promotion within/to the source markets
• Lack of online and offline information regarding the planning of a trip
• Insufficient cooperation on national and regional level
• Underdeveloped infrastructure – highway/airport
• Wages (HR)

Threats
• Higher marketing budget of competing destinations in EU & SE
Europe