<p align="justify"><strong>A hotel that cares about... social culture</strong></p>
<p align="justify">In Prahova County, Doftana Valley area, opened one of the most refined design-hotels in Romania: Atra Doftana. The project was recenly awarded by the Architects Order for socio-cultural architecture. The idea of the hotel belongs to four Romanian antrepreneurs.

“Doftana Valley offers a scenery, free of commercial pollution, and it deserves a special attention. Respecting nature, we wanted to create a harmonious presence, on the shore of Paltinu lake. The project and the construction of Atra Doftana where awarded in the socio-cultural section of the Architecture Annual in Bucharest. Next, we plan to give life to this place, in order to offer our guests relax opportunities and a special refined touch” - said Emil Munteanu, one of the shareholders of Top Resorts, the company owning Atra Doftana. The hotel has 8 elegant rooms, a wellness area with a panoramic view over the lake, exterior terrace for barbecue, a gourmet restaurant with a capacity of 50 seats, etc.</p>


<hr />
<p align="justify"><strong>BLUE AIR flies you to Venice</strong></p>
<p align="justify">The Romanian smart flying company introduced a new connection for the summer of 2012. Starting March 25th Blue Air passengers may fly from Bucharest to Venice (Marco Polo Airport) each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Flights from Bacău to Venice will be Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Tickets are available with limited offer of 14,99 euro per segment – said Florentina Tatu, marketing and PR director of Blue Air. You may reserve online at <a href="http://www.blueairweb.com/" target="_blank">www.blueairweb.com</a>, through Call Center at 1499 (0,62 euro /minute, non-stop number, available only from Romania), at the Blue Air agencies or partners.

Venice and the whole lagoon have been declares UNESCO patrimony. The city has 177 canales, famous being Canal Grande and Canale della Giudecca, comprises 110 islands and over 350 bridges.</p>


<hr />
<p align="justify"><strong>Estimations on the 3 and 4 stars market</strong></p>
<p align="justify">Bucharest Benchmarking Report, made by hotel consultancy company Fivestar Hospitality, estimates that this year the occupancy rate of the 3 and 4 stars hotels in Bucharest will raise with 10%. In 2010 it went up from 39% to 42%. According to this study the 4 stars hotel market registered a raise in the occupancy rate 42% to 46%, and the medium tariff a drop, from 63 to 51 euro.

The occupancy rate of 3 stars hotels in Bucharest went up, from 37% to 39%, and the medium tariff reduced from 50 to 42 euro. Sorin Ionescu, managing partner Fivestar Hospitality, says that “the difference in between the medium prices of the 4 and 3 stars hotels continues its decrease, a phenomenon that indicates more negotiation power of the clients, which orientated towards better hotel products.” At the beginning of 2011 there where 52 hotels rated 4 stars and 63 of 3 stars, meaning 75% of the total of 153 hotels.</p>


<hr />
<p align="left"><strong>“Europe is younger in Bucharest”</strong></p>
<p align="justify">This is the phrase that resumes the positioning of Bucharest on the tourism market, the idea being proposed by the consultant contracted by MDRT in order to conceive the Tourism marketing plan for Bucharest 2011-2015. The analysis of Détente Consultants shows the actual situation of the tourism in the capital city, related to aspects of the evolution of urban tourism in other European countries.

According to it the tourism development of Bucharest must be aimed on business and city-break tourism (that include other products such as cultural tourism or events). The specialists believe that promoting the city must think about the future perspective not only about the past. In their opinion the city must recommend itself different from other capitals, in continuous changing, with more cultural, artistic and sportive events. The slogan that concentrates all these ideas would be “Europe is younger in Bucharest”. The main aimed targets are: business people, young, city-breakers, senior groups and themed groups (medical and health tourism for example).</p>


<hr />
<p align="justify"><strong>A Romanian medieval castle in the lonelyplanet.com top</strong>

The Huniad castle (or Corvin) in Hunedoara county, Transylvania, found its place in a kind of exclusive top. The Romanian medieval building, one of the most important gothic architecture structures in the country, has been included in by lonelyplanet.com in its selection of finest castles of Europe.

The residence was built by the prince Iancu de Hunedoara in the 15th century and enlarged by his son Matei Corvin (Mathyas Corvinus), two historical characters that marked their century with their fights against the Ottoman expansion. The Huniad castle stands in the top next to Prazsky Hrad in Prague, Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Pubolv in Catalonia, Chateau de Peyrepertuse in Languedoc-Roussillon, France, etc.</p>


<hr />
<p align="justify"><strong>Gastronomy Center in Constanţa</strong></p>
<p align="justify">In Constanţa opened the first European center for Gastronomy and Tourism. The project has been financed by the European Union. With a modern design the center offers a 6 kitchen sections gastronomy laboratory, an amphitheatre for demonstrations, one class are, etc. The project belongs to the Foundation „Ing. Nejloveanu Niculae – Master in culinary art” in a partnership with European Centre of Culinary Professions – Paris.
“Our main goal is to improve the aptitudes of those that whish to perform in hotels and restaurants services. For the beginning is just a regional centre but I am sure that, shortly, young people from all over the world will come here. We have what to show them and what to teach them” said Niculae Nejloveanu.</p>


<hr />
<p align="justify"><strong>Changes in top management</strong></p>
<p align="justify">Ahenee Palace Hilton in Bucharest, rated 5 stars, has a new development manager. Yann Marteau comes in Romania from Indonesia, where he has been sales and marketing director in a luxury hotel. Marteau has been operating in top management for about 11 years.
His career started in Dubai, in the Jumeirah Group, Emirates Towers Hotel and Burj Al Arab. In Asia he worked for the Mandarin Oriental Group.
Another change among expats was marked at the Epoque hotel, where Antoni Kuhnen gave the general director position for Jean Pascal. The latter comes from Ukraine where he had a similar position in a 5 stars hotel.</p>


<hr />
<p align="justify"><strong>Udrea promotes Romania on... 4 wheels</strong></p>
<p align="justify"> Mihai Marinescu, the Romanian Formula 2 pilot, will continue to promote Romanian tourism. In 2012 he will keep wearing the signs of the national brand.
Following the victory in the La Monza circuit (Italy), Marinescu is the number five in the Formula 2 contest rating. The Romanian tourism brand has been recently promoted in the GP2 Series Final in Abu Dhabi, November 10-13th. The spectacular evolution of Marinescu, made him be in the attention of the cameras, the journalists dedicating him over 10 % of the total live transmissions time. Almost 200.000 people watched the GP2 Series Final on spot; meanwhile the event has been broadcasted in 179 countries, reaching an audience of about 150 million people.

„We have chosen Mihai Marinescu as a promoter of Romanian tourism through the F2 competition due to the fact that, as the analysis show, car races are number two in the audience top worldwide. The countries that host these events are also important markets for us: Austria, Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain, and Hungary” – said Elena Udrea, the tourism minister. Marinescu has been a partner of MDRT since 2009.</p>