<p lang="ro-RO" align="JUSTIFY"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="en-US">The Romanian Minister of Tourism presented at ITB Berlin a travel content app, meant to grow the visibility of Romania as a travel destination.</span> March 8th to 12th the vizitors were able to test the services of ”Explore.RO”. The app, available in English, was designed for travellers all over the world, that love to travel even virtually. Through it they can discover Romania and its resources, learning about nature, traditions, culture, history and education, arts etc. The content of the app is basically a travel guide, signed by the Ministry of Tourism. ”Explore RO” is available on iOS and Android and it is free of charge. Designed by the Sibiu based Eventya, it is going to be regularly updated, and for the future offered in other foreign languages as well.
<a href="http://www.travellermagazin.ro/arhiva/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Explore-engl-1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5773" src="http://www.travellermagazin.ro/arhiva/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Explore-engl-1.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" /></a>
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<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">At ITB Berlin, the Romanian Ministry of Tourism, Mircea-Titus Dobre, met several personalities, among which, the General Secretary of The World Travel Organization, Taleb Rifai, and the General Director of WTO for Europe, Isabel Garana. </span>Rifai, declared himself a supporter or Romania in its effort of becoming a strong player on the travel market:”Your success will be my success, as a <span lang="ro-RO">General Secretary of WTO</span>!”</span></span></p>
<p lang="ro-RO" align="LEFT"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>BUCHAREST: Galaxy, the new investment of Therme</strong> </span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">This winter the Austrian A-Heat Group concluded the development works of Therme Bucure</span><span lang="ro-RO">ș</span><span lang="ro-RO">ti Complex, by expanding the Galaxy area with an additional space of 4000 scuare meters. The works started and ended for Galaxy a alot faster than initially projected, due to the massif request from visitors, in such a way that today Galaxy can accomodate almost 2.000 persons simultaneously. The value of the investment is somewhere arround 10 million euro. The attractions of the area include three wet saunas, a salt library with a height of </span>6 <span lang="ro-RO">meters. For building the last one 40 tones of Himalaya salt were used, and the space offers 150 books and ebooks as well.
<a href="http://www.travellermagazin.ro/arhiva/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Therme-engl.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5774" src="http://www.travellermagazin.ro/arhiva/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Therme-engl.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="399" /></a>
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<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">The expansion of the complex means also moore green space (+10%), the number of palm trees, coming from 4 diffrent continents, reaching 1.400 de arbori. </span>Therme Bucure<span lang="ro-RO">ș</span>ti is the home today of the largest palm trees plantation in Europe.<span lang="ro-RO"> The complex can be now named the largest botanical garden in Romania, hosting over</span> 800.000<span lang="ro-RO"> plants</span>.<span lang="ro-RO"> The representatives of </span>Therme plan future extensions and think about placing a hotel nearby. Therme Bucure<span lang="ro-RO">ș</span>ti<span lang="ro-RO">, located in Balote</span><span lang="ro-RO">ș</span><span lang="ro-RO">ti, some 20 km away from the Capital city of Romania, is the biggest </span>Therme in Europe, built Greenfield, on a total surface of 250.000 square meters<span lang="ro-RO">.</span> </span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #000000;">THE TELEGRAPH<span lang="ro-RO">: Danube Delta and </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman CE,Times New Roman,serif;"><span lang="ro-RO">Transfăgără</span></span><span lang="ro-RO">ș</span><span lang="ro-RO">an in Top 25

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<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">The Brittish publication „The Telegraph“ selected two Romanian attractions in its top of must see places in Eastern Europe: The Danube Delta in Romania and the T</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman CE,Times New Roman,serif;"><span lang="ro-RO">ransfăgăra</span></span><span lang="ro-RO">ș</span><span lang="ro-RO">an high altitude scenic road. According to a recent study, more and more brits give up destinations such as France, Spain or Italy in favor of Eastern European countries. Among the main reasons one counts the accesible costs of such a holiday and the high security level. The Telegraph places the Danube Delta on number 2, after Tallinn (Estonia) and before Riga (Letonia), saying: „Europe s second longest river (...) takes its curtain call on the Romanian shore of the Black Sea. It pours out its soul in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, 1,055 square miles of protected wetlands where pelicans and herons flap wings.</span>“ </span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">The </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman CE,Times New Roman,serif;"><span lang="ro-RO">Transfăgăra</span></span><span lang="ro-RO">ș</span><span lang="ro-RO">an road is listed on number 10, and Adrian Bridge writes about it: „ I am not surprised that in his search for the Worlds best driving road Jeremy Clarkson a declared that he found it in the middle of Romania – in the form of the Transfagarasan highway. Whichever way you look at it, the brainchild of Romanias communist-era leader Nicolae Ceausescu is an extraordinary feat of engineering.” </span></span></span></p>
<p lang="ro-RO" align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #000000;">+ 2 for PHOENICIA</span></strong></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">The Romanian hotel brand Phoenicia counts two more hotel properties. The first one is on the Romanian seaside, in Olimp: The Amfiteatru-Panoramic-Belvedere Complex of hotels. The former owner Josef Goshy, had listed the hotels three years ago with 30 million euros, but settled eventually with Mohammad Murad, owner of Phoenicia Group, for 10 million euro. Currently the complex, once the star of Romanian seaside, is downgraded at 1 star only. After the 15 million euros renovation, scheduled to conclude before June 1st, 2018, the new Amfiteatru-Panoramic-Belvedere by Phoenicia will have 4 stars. </span></span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">The second tranzaction is the one of the historic Lido Hotel, once famous in Bucharest. Projected by Ernst Doneaud and opened in August 1930 Lido will be now rented by the current owners, to the group of</span> Mohammad Murad<span lang="ro-RO">, for the next 15 years. </span>Phoenicia Group prepares a 5 million<span lang="ro-RO"> euro make-over</span>, and a reopening in the fall. M<span lang="ro-RO">urad would like to affiliate Lido (119 rooms and 4 stars plus rating) to </span>Donald Trump hotels<span lang="ro-RO">. Till then its name will be </span>Lido by Phoenicia<span lang="ro-RO">. </span></span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #000000;">ANDREESCU: Mara<span lang="ro-RO">mure</span><span lang="ro-RO">ș</span><span lang="ro-RO"> as a document</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">An artist photographer is in his realm when writting with light. Florin Andreescu counts among the greatest such artists in Romania. His atelier is the historical region of Maramure</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">ș</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">, in northern Romania, an area that has the embition to preserve its traditions but to reinvent itself in the modern world. These are the two themes of the exhibition opened at the Romanian cultural Institute in Bucharest. Together with Ad Libri Publishing House, the family business, the artist offered a 60 minutes documentary: ”Maramure</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">ș</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO"> -</span></span></span><em><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO"> old and new”. </span></span></span></em><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">The moovie (commentary by</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman CE,Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO"> Dana Ciolcă</span></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">, lecture by Mihai Gruia Sandu, make-over</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman CE,Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO"> Alexandru Stă</span></span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">nescu) is in Romanian, with subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. The event gathered also the specialists that researched the area (</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman CE,Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ana Bârcă</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;">, Doina I</span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;">ș</span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman CE,Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">fănoni</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO"> etc.), people that try to explain the Maramure</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO">ș</span></span></span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="ro-RO"> of our days, a changing world where the simple traditional lifestyle once known as a rule is trying to survive next to the models and customs that young people working abroad are bringing inside. </span></span></span></p>