Europe’s newest cultural tourism program, has been launched, along with a unique promoting platform
Starting today, the 15th of May 2024, both Romanian and foreign tourists can discover new travel destinations in our country with the help of the most complex multimedia platform to promoting cultural tourism, Attractive Romania. The Program comprises 12 themed touristic routes across the country, with 275 sights to visit, featured on a dedicated multimedia platform, which will also be marked by specific road infrastructure by 2026.
Castles, fortresses or manor houses, villages with traditional architecture, fortified or wooden churches, monasteries included in the UNESCO heritage, the Danube limes (border – n.n.) and that of the province of Dacia, part of the most complex and longest border of the Roman Empire on the territory of continental Europe, along with the cultural landscape of the Danube Delta or local gastronomy – are only a part of the themes on which Romania’s first cultural tourism itineraries were developed.
Romania has one of the most complex multicultural and ethnic legacies, its history, architecture, traditions and gastronomy are practically an incursion into Western, Eastern and Balkan culture all brought together, and Attractive Romania manages to highlight each one of them.
One click away, digital library, travel assistance
Through the multimedia platform Attractive Romania, the information reaches the user online via the website (www.romania-atractiva.ro) and the mobile travel app, available for free for iOS and Android (you can download here https://romaniaatractiva.app.link/download).
An innovative digital library has been developed for the program, available in several international languages, presenting the detailed history of each one of the 275 cultural sights. Unique in its extensive range of video content, photos, virtual tours, animations, 3D reconstructions, audio guides, texts, user reviews, the platform aims to provide information on the themes of the existing routes and the sights included in these routes and thus to bring future tourists as close as possible to the experiences they can discover offline, thereby supporting them in their choice of travel destinations.
The mobile travel app, available for free for iOS and Android, makes it easy to access this content. It can be used anonymously or with a user account that allows preference-based content customization and posting reviews of destinations. Through the geolocation system, the user is also shown nearby sights. The mobile app can be used offline. Saved content can also be displayed when the device has no signal.
The greatest treasure of Antiquity, prior to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb
The Attractive Romania’s heritage sites connect the local history with the world’s history through the most unique discoveries. One of them is located in the Pietroasele township. Here tourists can learn about the story of the Hen with the Golden Chicks, considered to be the greatest treasure of Antiquity up until Tutankhamun’s tomb or the Roman Castrum, one of the last such fortified settlements abandoned by the Romans when they left Dacia, were discovered.
Vlad Țepes’ birthplace, the same with that of the British Royal Family
Starting on the Attractive Romania routes, you will also discover Romania’s counties in a new way. Mureș is home to both the medieval fortress of Sighișoara (the largest continuously inhabited medieval fortress in Europe and a UNESCO monument since 1999), where Vlad Țepeș was born, and the Rhedey Castle in Sângeorgiu de Pădure, the birthplace of Countess Rhédey Claudia, one of the ancestors of the British Royal Family, or Teleki Castle, whose counts were not only members of the imperial courts but also passionate about culture and philosophy, and who knew Voltaire and J. J. Rousseau, and they established one of the most impressive libraries in Transylvania in Gornești before the First World War.
Dobrogea and the Danube Delta as you never imagined them
The Attractive Romania app also shows you how to get to the wild beaches and, a little further up, to the Danube Delta – with traditional Lipovan households, castles and Greco-Roman fortresses. In addition, the app also gives you tips on where you can have an authentic experience alongside fishermen. Among them, Chilia Veche – a village in the heart of the Danube Delta, in a natural setting of breathtaking beauty, far away from the hustle of city life. Wild nature and local traditions come together here to create an authentic experience, a unique opportunity to experience life in a yet natural, wild and pure environment.
How does the cultural tourism program Attractive Romania fit into the European landscape?
The development of these routes opens up opportunities for connecting the Romanian and European heritage sites, on the one hand, and for the renovation and restoration of such heritage sites, on the other. For instance, the Route of the Roman Camps connects Romania with the European family that celebrates the Roman heritage. Meanwhile, the tourist route dedicated to the fortresses aims to restore five fortresses in Romania in order to promote them in conjunction with other historic fortresses as part of tours that attract tourists from both Romania and other countries. The Sighișoara Fortress will be restored, with reconstruction works on its walls, along with the Dacian Fortress of Sarmisegetuza, the Oradea Fortress, the Brașov Fortress, the Colțești Nobiliary Fortress.
Press contact: Denisa Gheorghe, tel. 0729.973.376, email: denisa.gheorghe@zagabrand.ro
NRRP: Funds for a modern and reformed Romania!
ABOUT ATTRACTIVE ROMANIA. The Attractive Romania Program, with a value of 36.356.328,86 lei, is part of Component 11 – Tourism and Culture, Investment 1 – Promotion of the 12 tourist/cultural routes, Pillar 332 of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). The programme, coordinated by the Ministry of Investments and European Projects, has 211 direct beneficiaries (custodians of the cultural objectives to be visited) and the main beneficiaries of the programme are, starting today, the Romanian and foreign tourists.
Attractive Romania is the national cultural tourism program. The program offers tourists from both Romania and abroad a travel experience where, alongside spectacular castles, manor houses or monasteries, they will discover authentic food, cultural experiences, fortresses, ruins, walls or foundations of architectural or archaeological sites that bring together elements of multiculturalism unique in Europe.
