The interview of the week with Mr. Adrian Tudosescu – director of the travel agency ROMADRIA CONFORT

1.infotravelromania.ro: Tell me a few words about the travel agency ROMADRIA CONFORT.
A.T.: ROMADRIA CONFORT is a tour operating agency since 1996. We believe that the most important thing is the quality of services and we consider that we know how to serve all our clients. ROMADRIA CONFORT agency has contractual relations with a lot of firms (hotels, restaurants, agencies) and can offer the Romanian and foreign tourists the next services:
- reservations and housing in 2 to 5 star hotels in cities all over the world
- tours and circuits in a lot of countries from Europe (France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal)
- exotic holidays and crosiers
- intern and international transport: flying tickets for all the destinations, with any air company, charter courses, bus tickets
- transfers and minibuses renting with driver and guide
- medical traveling insurances, green card and for civil auto responsibility.
Our agency has a big interest in tourism especial in the culture and the folklore, conferences, health and treatment in medical and climacteric resorts. The thematic circuits with specialized guides are especially for the foreign people, for the Carpati Castles (Peles and Bran), the monasteries from Bucovina and the main cities from Romania tour: Bucharest, Brasov, Sinaia, Sibiu, Sighisoara and visits to the creativity centers of the popular workers.

2.infotravelromania.ro: What is your offer and which are the main destinations requested by Romanian people in the present?

A.T.: ROMADRIA CONFORT is specialized in the outgoing activity in Greece; our agency offers all kinds of housing, from houses to luxury hotels, two way flying tickets to Athena, Salonic and the islands, journeys for special occasions as the international meetings in different cities of Greece, bus circuits/journeys on the littoral, local trips and traditional Greek evenings with a program with music and dance. Our main destinations are littoral resorts Paralia Katerini/Olympic Beach and Halkidiki Peninsula.
Paralia Katerini – Olympic Beach is the most important resort of the North Greece littoral, at 75 km of Salonic and 20 km of the Olympus Mountain, being the most populated corner of the Pieria region.
Halkidiki is the peninsula from the North of the Greece and it has 3 branches: Kassandra, Sithonia and the Athos Mountain. Halkidiki is a real natural paradise, near Salonic, a fascinating place, full of contrasts: 500 km of littoral, with sand beaches, little gulfs in the stone, pine forests near the sea.

3.infotravelromania.ro: Why it is better for the tourists to go to a tourism agency?
A. T. For the same reason that you go to the tailor to make clothing, to the mechanic to repair the car, to the doctor when you are sick…
We try to offer our clients quality services and I think that a tourism agency knows better how to sell the right product to the right person; we have to know that before launching some products/hotels/destinations, a tourism agencies studies very much, visit the places, take information and finally decides if that touristy product worth to be offered for selling to the client.

4.infotravelromania.ro: Do you think that this year the request for the external tourism will be bigger than the last year?
A.T.: Certainly the request for the internal and external tourism will be bigger than the last year because we are a country in development from year to year and you can see for yourself in our everyday life. The buying power of Romanian people is increasing daily.

5.infotravelromania.ro: Do you advice the tourists to prepare ahead for such a trip? They could have the unpleasant surprise not to find tickets if they decide to go in the last minute?
A.T. Even if we live in the Balkans, we cannot be Germans, but we advice our tourists to make reservations ahead (minimum with one month ahead before leaving).

6.infotravelromania.ro: Do you think that at this moment Mamaia, Neptun or Olimp is a real concurrence for the offers of external tourism?
A.T.: We wish that our resorts are a real concurrence for the external tourism. There are o lot of things to do here, but we consider that this is the beginning of an ascendant way.

7.infotravelromania.ro: which are the differences between a 2-3 star hotel in Greece and a similar one from our litoral?
A.T.: First of all the way of classifying of the hotels in Greece is still different of the rest of Europe, system applied in this country is an alphabetical category: Deluxe, A, B, C, D, E…
To make easier the decision of the clients to contract a touristy package, is been done an equivalent of the 2-3 star hotels and the category C-B; there are o lot of factors to be considered: year of the construction/renovation, location, facilities and room accessories.
We can make a short notice about the littoral of the Aegean Sea (the north part), the one that is chosen by many Romanian people.
If we talk about the Riviera Olympus (Paralia Katerini, Olympic Beach, Leptokaria, Nei Pori), here most of the hotels are 2-4 floors constructions with 15 – 25 rooms are them are the property of a family. The advantages are that the most of them are new buildings or soon renovated, in the resorts and near the beach, the services are good and very good.
The disadvantages are that they do not benefit of the 3 star hotel facilities, I mean pool, fitness, sauna, Jacuzzi.
If we are talking about Halkidiki, a special zone we will find o lot of 3 star hotels or clubs, isolated from the centre of the resort, but with beautiful gardens and a lot of facilities: pool, kids clubs, festive evenings and mini golf.

8.infotravelromania.ro: I have noticed in your offer that most of the trips abroad include the bus transport. For the ones who are leaving for the first time in a bus trip, how long is the way to Greece and which are the cities they can visit on the road?
A.T.: First of all I want to say that the way to Greece is the shortest external trip (except Albena - Bulgaria), I mean 680 km to Salonic, 750 to Paralia Katerini and 780 to Halkidiki.
The route is taking approximately 15 to 16 hours, including the stops, the borders. In all our buses to Greece, on the littoral and on the circuits, here is a specialized guide very well trained for that destination and I can assure you that the tourist will not be bored. On the tracey you can find out o lot of interesting information about the country near to us, Bulgaria, you will be introduced in the social life of the Greeks, in their mythology, you can watch movies, listen to the music (all our buses have audio and video equipment, air conditioned).

9.infotravelromania.ro: what will be your offer for this New Year?
A. T. This time we will have destinations for the New Year to Greece, Hungary, Austria, Egypt, Romania, Malta and Spain. We are still working at this programs for the International Tourism Meeting from Romexpo ( 21-14 October 2004).

10.infotravelromania.ro: What is your opinion about the tourism portal www.infotravelromania.ro?
A.T.: Rapid communication, promptitude, elasticity, 100% tourism and we are waiting for the results to answer completely to that question.

11.infotravelromania.ro: Where can the tourists find out more details about your offers?
A.T.: On our web sites we can be accessed very easy ( www.romadria.ro; www.chalkidiki.ro; www.paraliakaterini.ro www.infotravelromania.ro) and also we will be present at the International Tourism Meeting from Romexpo on 21 – 14 October 2004 with our own stand (the Central Pavilion, on the ground floor, the A zone, stand no. 32) and also in the revues and magazines in October – December 2004.

ROMADRIA CONFORT
Bucharest, Romania, 5-7 Eugen Carada Street ( near National Bank)
Tel: 021 - 312. 73. 92 ;021 - 313.68.12; Fax: 021 - 312.09.18; e-mail: office@romadria.ro