German tourists are afraid to come to Romania while 90 percent of those German tourists who end up visiting the country are satisfied, as their expectations are low, according to Dragos Anastasiu, the owner of Eurolines Group.

”In their mind, we are not a tourist destination. When talking about tourism, who thinks about Romania? Not the Germans, because they believe Romania to be an unsafe destination. If they see on television that in Germany and other countries there are only Romanian thefts and beggars, they imagine that inside the country it must to be even worse. But I explain them: ”All of them came to you, so Romania is safe! Come to us to relax, it’s so peaceful here,” said Anastasiu, quoted by Romanian media.

“Our problem is to convince them to come here. They are afraid and hardly accept to visit Romania.” Anastasiu goes on. The current problems are the same as five years ago: the stray dogs, the noise, lack of cleanliness and of green spaces, he mentions.

Another problem connects to the high prices versus quality of services. “If we reduced the prices by about 15 up to 20 percent ,we could be interesting for them, by comparison to  Bulgaria. (....) It is better and cheaper there,” according to Dragos Anastasiu.

Anca Berger