Le Bistrot Francais became last year the foirst member in Romania of the prestigious international organization Relais &amp; Chateaux. The newcomer this year is Epoque Hotel in Bucharest (with its highly appreciated L’Atelier restaurant). Every year Relais &amp; Chateaux inspects about 120 locations worldwide. Through the selection process one establishment must tick about 300 boxes, anonymous quality checks, the vote of the Directors Council, etc. before entering the lines of most appreciated locations. Relais &amp; Chateaux counts with 550 properties all over the world and 2 million clients per year. “Guests are 60% likely to keep using the networks services – said Philippe Gombert, President Relais &amp; Chateaux. We hope to expand our network in România and South-Eastern Europe by making a priority out of this area for the years o come” – he added.

<strong>Come to Haferland!
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The Haferland Week this year, taking place in the heart of Transylvania, will have as a VIP guest the violonist Alexandru Tomescu. Beginning of august ( 2-6) the festival will offer, across 10 fairytale villages: traditional cuisine, movie projections, workshops with local crafters, ateliers for kids and, of course, the Saxon Ball.

"The theme of this years’ Festival is the local craft. The Festival is a way of promoting the area and its ethnic specific. Although years ago we had a rougher start, each new edition attracts more and more communities in the region to participate. We count ten this edition and this is a good sign.” – said the organizer Michael Schmidt, in a conference at the Village Museum in Bucharest. The artist Alexandru Tomescu said that, for him, the Haferland Week "is a success story and we should all learn from this example they all give us”. Caroline Fernolend, president of Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation said: ”our goal is to shed light on old traditions and crafts, to give them a new life, showing they are usefull and can work in todays world. These are precious gifts to presrve and pass on to future generations.”

The first five editions of Haferland Week had over 15.000 participants and dozens of cultural personalities from Romania and Germany alike, as one of the goals of the festival is to bring more tourists in the area and to attract the saxon communities in action. The villages coming alive this august are: Archita, Roadeș, Saschiz, Rupea, Criț, Bunești, Meșendorf, Cloașterf and Viscri.

<strong>Romania is UP 10,4%!</strong>

According to official data (The National Statistics Institute), in 2017 there have been registered, in the national hosting network, about 12 million arrivals, 10,4% more than in 2016. The split arrivals show 77,2% were Romanian travelling and 22,8% were foreign guests.

Talking about foreign guests in Romania, hosted in the national network, the largest part come from Europe - 74,2% of the total, out of which 85,7% are from EU countries.

Total overnights in 2017 are 6,5% up from 2016. Romanian travelers used 80,4% of the facilities while 19,6% represented foreign overnights. The average visiting time as per 2017 was 2,3 days for Romanians and 1,9 days for foreign travellers. The largest numbers of arrivals, counted in the general network across Romania, are represented by guests from: Germany - 324,400, Israel - 292,800, Italy - 241,400, France - 167,200 and USA- 157,200.

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<strong>Kogălniceanu went to Routes Europe

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The representatives of the International Airport Mihail Kogălniceanu in Constanța participated in Routes Europe 2018 – an event for european aerial transport specialists, organized in Bilbao, Spain. The show gathered over 1200 delegations, 100 carriers, 300 airports and 50 authorities representing European tourism and travel. The Romanian delegation participated in establishing the future actions necessary to transform the Constanta airport in a key player in the Black Sea area. The main objective of the airport was to form new partnerships with different operators, in order to enhance economics and travel in the connected areas. “During the meetings we opened future projects, ready to show on for the summer schedule 2019 - said Bogdan Ionut Artagea, general director of the Constanta Airport.

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<strong>Alexandrion Group invests in tourism</strong>

The New Montana Hotel in Sinaia was bought by the Alexandrion Group two years ago.The new owners, specialized in the production of spirits, Alexandrion and Cava D`Oro, took over a unit with 120 employees, 175 rooms, and have expressed the intention in investing further in the hotel industry. The target is creating a chain of about 10 properties (taken over or newly built) under a new brand. New Montana is being managed by Nicolae Rosca – former sales leader of Ramada Majestic in Bucharest – and was renamed New Montana Hotel &amp; Spa by Alexandrion Group. Only recently the company acquired the Rhein Hotel in Azuga, built by Hallewood Romania. Nawaf Salameh, CEO and founder of Alexandrion Grup Romania, also announced that Alexandrion will invest about 100 million dollars in a distillery in New York State, USA, so making its entrance on the American market.

<strong>Ernest and Canadian fly to Romania</strong>

Two new companies decided to start operating from the Otopeni International Airport in Bucharest. The low-cost carrier Ernest Airlines opened in June flights from Bucharest to Genova and Verona, and flights from Iași to Torino Cuneo and Verona. The route Bucharest – Verona has three flights per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and Bucharest – Genova is two times a week (Monday and Friday). The city of Iași is linked to Torino Cuneo two times a week (Wednesday and Sunday) and with Verona each Monday, Wednesday and Saturday - said Chady El Tannir, Business Development Director. Founded in 2015 Ernest Airlines offers regular flights out of ten Italian Airports to Spain, Romania, Albania and Ukraine. This is the first Italian company to operate from the Iasi airport.

In June also Air Canada began the direct flights to/from Romania: Montreal – Bucharest – Montreal, respectively Toronto – Bucharest – Toronto. Officials of the company announced that the schedule of flights runs until October but, according to the business volume to be registered, the decision might be modified. Air Canada thus became the only company in North America to fly to Romania.