MAIN OBJECTIVES
- Strengthening of sustainability consciousness of the businesses (SMEs) and DMOs in ecotourism;
- Develop instruments and competencies of sustainability assessment and strengthening of sustainability consciousness in the mainstream tourism industry in Romania;
- Strengthening the sustainability consciousness of the public that is likely to travel in Romania due to ecotourism attractions.
DETAILS
Duration: 18 May 2018 – 17 February 2021
Lead partner: Ecotrans
AER’s budget: 202.742 EUR (102.246 EUR AER contribution)
Funding source: German Environmental Foundation
Coordinator: Bogdan Papuc
The main outcomes of the project are:
- 22 persons trained as evaluators within the Eco-Romania certification system;
- Mentoring programme for 28 guesthouses to improve sustainability performance, out of which 20 received the Eco-Romania certificate of good practice in ecotourism;
- Identification of the most appropriate certification systems in sustainable tourism for large tourism destinations (Green Destinations) and large accommodation facilities (TourCert) with a team of international experts;
- Sibiu and Oradea tourism destinations have completed the self-assessment process according to the Green Destinations certification system;
- 6 hotels from Sibiu and Oradea destinations completed the self-assessment process according to the TourCert sustainable tourism certification system;
- A new visual identity was created for the Discover Eco-Romania ecotourism promotion campaign;
- www.eco-romania.ro website was redesigned and the performance has been improved;
- Increased notoriety for Discover Eco-Romania through advertorials and advertisements in the brochures of tourism fairs (Fair for Special Journey and Destinations – where AER was the main media partner of the event) and in publications in Norway and the Netherlands, where AER participated with its own stand in tourism fairs;
- Promoting Romania as a green destination in 9 national and international promotion events during 2018-2020 (Destinations – London, Fair for Special Journey – Amsterdam, Photo + Adventure – Vienna, Reiseliv – Oslo, Bicycle Show – Bucharest and Bookfest – Bucharest);
- A two-day online national conference on sustainable tourism, with 250 unique participants, between 16-17 February 2021;
- Communication toolkit for accommodation services that have the Eco-Romania certificate of good practices in ecotourism.