<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO">Out of the 14 Romanian cities that have candidated for the title of </span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO">European Capital of Culture 2021 only four are now still in the race.</span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO"> The Ministry of Culture has initially analized the files of the following candidates: Alba Iulia, Arad, Bacău, Baia Mare, Brașov, Brăila, București, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Iași, Sfântu Gheorghe, Suceava, Timișoara and Târgu-Mureș. At the end of last year a jury formed out of 12 international experts has chosen the following four nominees</span></span><span lang="ro-RO">: Timişoara, Baia Mare, Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest! ”The order in which we have announced the cities is simply aleatory” said Steve Green, president of the jury. </span></span>

<span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="ro-RO">The winning city of Romania will be announced this summer. The programme </span><span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO">European Capital of Culture is a project innitiated by The Council of Ministries of Culture of the EU in </span></span><span style="color: #000000;">1985</span><span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO">.</span></span><span style="color: #000000;"> The only Romanian city so far taken in account has been Sibiu, which shared the distinction of </span><span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO">European Capital of Culture in 2007 with </span></span><span style="color: #000000;">Luxemburg.</span></span>
<p lang="ro-RO"><strong><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: medium;">GOLDEN TULIP in Mamaia becoms ZENITH</span></span></strong></p>
<span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="ro-RO">In January the Golden Tulip Hotel in the Romanian Black Sea Coast resort of Mamaia changed its name to </span>Zenith-Top Country Line-Conference&amp;Spa Hotel<span lang="ro-RO">. The property is now affiliated to the German chain </span>Top International Hotels, marking its entrance on the Romanian hospitality market. The hotel has 230 rooms, two restaurants, a conference centre and an outdoor pool <span lang="ro-RO">and will keep the 4 stars ranking. The novelties will be opened in June: a Spa centre with a vanguardist architecture, linked through a bridge with the main body of the hotel. Founded 30 years ago Top International Hotels operates over 140 hotels under its own brands, Top International and Top City&amp;CountryLine, and other 260 properties under Welnessfinder, Embrace Hotels, VCH-Hotels and Falkensteine.</span></span></span>
<p lang="ro-RO"><strong><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: medium;">BookingBucharest.ro is here</span></span></strong></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;">The accommodation capacity of the capital of Romania, Bucharest, almost tripled in the last 15 years. If in the year 2000 the city had 7422 hotel beds to offer today it counts with <span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO">19.784. In Bucharest operate now 16 International hotel brands. Out of the 400 units there are 11 hotels rated 5 stars, 77 of 4 stars, 64 of 3 stars and 25 units of two and one. Today there are </span></span><span style="color: #000000;">32 carriers using the International Airport Henri Coandă</span><span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO">. According to the National Statistics Institute in 2014 Bucharest received 1.510.222 tourists (close to 2,3 million overnights) – out of which 645.718 where Romanian and 864.504 foreign guests. In order to inform the tourists the travel consultants Traian Bădulescu and Dan Anghelescu launched the BookingBucharest.ro platform. </span></span></span>

<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO">The website gives necessary information to a potential traveller to Bucharest, showcasing a photo gallery but also recommending excursions, hotels, diffrent venues. The </span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><a href="http://www.bookingbucharest.ro/">www.bookingbucharest.ro</a> is recommended by the ANAT (National Association of Travel Agencies) and the Tourism Press Club </span><span style="color: #000000;"><span lang="ro-RO">- FIJET ROMANIA.</span></span></span>

<strong><span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="ro-RO">TIMIȘOARA - 13th edition of Vinvest</span></span></span></strong>

<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="ro-RO">The Regional Business Center of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Timiș will host in the city of Timișoara, April 22nd-24th, the 13th edition of the International Wine Fair. The event attracts every year over 300 specialists. ”The Romanian wine cellars have used european funds, grants, many companies use now new technology, they received prizes at national and international contests, and the efforts of the wine producers deserve to be known by the public. The National Programme for Suport of Romania in the wine growing sector, 2014-2018, is ongoing” – said the expert Lucia Pârvu, manager the organizing team. Visitors to the fair will also be able to participate in a paralel event, April </span>20<span lang="ro-RO"> and </span>21<sup>st</sup>, namely the 11<sup>th</sup> edition of the National Wine and Alcoholic Beverages Contest VINVEST<span lang="ro-RO"> -</span> 2016. </span></span>
<strong><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #262626;"><span lang="ro-RO">GOLDEN APPLE - România is in the top</span></span></span></strong>

<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #333333;">In 2016 Romania is still ranked number one in the International top of FIJET </span><span style="color: #262626;"><span lang="ro-RO">(</span></span><span style="color: #333333;">International Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers</span><span style="color: #262626;"><span lang="ro-RO">)</span></span><span style="color: #333333;">, holding 5 Golden Apple prizes, same as Spain and Croatia. The destinations are followed closely by Egypt and Belgium, each country holding 4 Golden Apples.</span></span>

<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #262626;"><span lang="ro-RO">The five distinctions where received by Romania rewarding Bucovina area and the painted monasteries (in 1975), The Danube Delta Reserve, The cultural bound of the villages surrounding Sibiu, and the contribution of the Romanian carrier Blue Air in sustaining the travel media and helping promotig Romania (in 2009). The latest prize came in 2014 for Târgu Jiu – City of Brâncuși. The last four awards represent successfull projects organized and promoted by the Tourism Press Club - FIJET ROMANIA. </span></span></span>

<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #333333;">The Golden Apple distinction is considered the Oscar prize of the international travel media. It was created by</span><span style="color: #262626;"><span lang="ro-RO"> FIJET in </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">1970 and since then it has been given, every year, to one or more great destinations or personalities of the travel industry. </span><span style="color: #262626;"><span lang="ro-RO">Last year the distinction went to the cities of Moscow (Russia), Dubrovnik (Croatia) and Palic (Serbia).</span></span> </span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #262626;"><span lang="ro-RO"><strong>Romania is in VISIT EUROPE</strong> </span></span></span>
<p lang="ro-RO"><span style="font-size: medium;">The on-line Visit Europe Magazine recommends Romania as a destination for 2016. The Carpathian Mountains (through the Carpathian Garden concept), the Danube River, the regions of Moldova and Bucovina, and the spa and cure resorts that hold 35% of the mineral waters of Europe are listed in the January and February editions. The February edition indicates Romania as a destination to winter sports lovers, listing the sky resorts and facilities from Predeal, Sinaia, Azuga to Arieșeni, Poiana Brașov Voineasa, Semenic etc. In the same issues there are articles about Vienna and its balls, Monaco, San Sebastian in Spain (that is in 2016 Cultural Capital of Europe), Denmark and its cultural festivals dedicated to Shakespeare; Bavaria that will celebrate 500 years since adopting the law of Beer purity; Ljubliana (Slovenia) named European Green Capital 2016 etc. </span></p>
<p lang="ro-RO"><span style="font-size: medium;">The on-line magazine www.visiteurope.com is produced in Brussels by a nongovernmental organization and prezents the best tourist attractions in the member coutries of EU but also from future member countries. </span></p>