International Tourism Fair of Romania - Commentary and suggestion - ITF october 2004

The UMAY TOURS Agency – www.umay.net – Mr. Demir Unsal, director

“I have been in the Romanian market for nearly eleven years when the market was very naive when there was no competition and the private enterprise of Romanian travel companies was just growing but now my observation for the last two-three years regarding the Romanian market- there is a big competition now and there are one or two big monopoly for every single destination like Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain and the small companies are disappearing and, for instance, when I first sought to working with companies from Romania....all over the country I have more than forty forty-five....but now, almost all of them disappeared and all small companies are selling the products of big monopolists, big tour-operators, in exchange for a limited commission but they lost their identity, they don't have any identity anymore, because the product they are selling is somebody's else's product, they don't have their products anymore and, I also noticed that, the Romanian people who knows who can afford to travel and have been to Turkey for several times, so now they are looking for alternative destination like Spain, Italy and so one, and they are now these days, I think, less interest in Turkey - as a holiday destination, where I come from, is completely a different destination, not for each holiday only, but because of its rich culture, its archeological values, the life-style of Turkish people, food , and rich variety of the products that it provides for the tourists at a very reasonable price, so we are hoping to get our traditional Romanian tourists back to Turkey in larger numbers, we still have some, but it is not enough number of Romanian tourist we are having these days".

2. KARSTOUR – Raluca Gheorghe
The offer of the KARSTOUR AGENCY has destinations as: Hungary, Austria, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Finland – Laponia for the Christmas and the New Year. The program with Laponia is realized with the help of a big tour operator from Finland and it has a journey of 5 days, a real meeting with Santa Clause to Rovaniemi or to Kemi.
- How much does it costs this package?
This package costs 1.300 €/person around Christmas/New Year, but this package exists before Christmas for 900 – 950 €/person, depending on the hotel category and the integral package of services solicitated of each tourist.
- Can you tell us your impression about this meeting?
I was expecting more big tour operating agencies. In the lasts years to this meeting participates the same agencies, and that makes me believe that in the next few years the main destinations will be again Turkey and Greece.
- What is your suggestion for the organizer?
Our suggestion is to promote better the meeting and for a better organization, so that all the tourism agencies from Romania to know that they can participate and to really promote.

3. ROMADRIA CONFORT – www.romadria.ro – Adrian Tudosescu:
This edition of the meeting I have seen o lot of new agencies, o lot from Greece – that means that next year the concurrence will be bigger.

4. MAREEA Agency from Deva – Andreea Hanna Florea
the meeting was efficient from the point of view of the tourism agencies, especially for the tour operators.
We are a tourism agency from Deva, tour operating on Slovakia, the main destination of the winter, and in the summer tour operator for the Romanian littoral.
To this meeting we are promoting especially Slovakia, because the request is very big and we have offers for all the pockets.
On the web site www.mareea.ro you can find all the information and the requested details, and we also have on line consultation. Anybody who access the web site and has a question receives the answer in a few seconds from one of our agents. The reservations can be made also on line.
We want to offer our tourists a beautiful and pleasant holiday and cheap too.
- It is your first participation to this kind of meeting?
No, is not the first time we participate to this meeting, is the third participation of our agency.
We consider that is good to participate to this kind of meeting and to promote ourselves through any methods. This is a meeting of image, but also for contracts and improving the relations with our partners.

5. www.skiresorts.ro – Codrut Valentin Precup:
In our opinion this meeting was ok. We have established contracts, partnerships, more than last year. We are pleased and we will participate to the next editions.
What brings new in this season www.skiresorts?
Offers more flexible for the tourism agencies, new work modules between the tourists and the tourism agents, between the tourists and hotels, the snow in the real time from more ski resorts (viable from 1 December 2004), the ski resorts guide in off line way, maps, informative materials from the ski resorts, we opened a new module on line for the ski and snowboard equipments where the producers can promote their offers.
- Where can the tourists find those maps with the ski resorts?
The maps will be distributed in all the ski resorts, in the main touristy points, telecabine, in the clubs and the profile associations.

6. The tourism club “PAS INTINS” – www.pasintins.go.ro – Daniel Gheorghe:
we have observed a bigger presence of the visitors and also of the exposits than last time. The promoting materials of the tourism agencies are better realized, the offer is reach, there are very differentiated prices for the Christmas and the New Year.
- do you have any suggestions and observations for the organizer?
In the first place the prices for the food are a little bit too high and I don’t know about their quality. The sound is unclear sometimes and you cannot hear what it says on the radio.

7. ONIRO from Ploiesti – Mariana Onea:
This year is special because to our stand it was a very big request of programs, in Romania or abroad; another thing that we observed is the participation of the tour operating agencies from another countries is very low.
- Was it or was it not efficient this meeting?
I cannot say now if it was efficient. After the end of the meeting we will make an evaluation and we will see if it was efficient.
- It is an image meeting or not?
It depends of your purpose. For us it is a commercial meeting, but we also not neglecting the imagine.
- Do you have anything to say to ROMEXPO, suggestions or proposals?
I don’t have anything to reproach, but I have a suggestion to make: we had a lot of difficulties in bringing the materials from the parking to the stand. The parking was divided in another way and we have carried our materials ourselves. It was very hard!