Romania is an unknown holiday destination for German tourists, and getting Germans to choose Romania for a holiday is a challenge, said Alexander Wrede, manager with Thomas Cook Germany, quoted by Mediafax. The tour operator will re-start tours to Romania this year, after a six-year hiatus.

“If you ask me about Romania's image, I would not say a bad image, but simply no image. Romania is not well known, or better, yet, people have no opinion of Romania. And this is the real challenge, persuading people to choose this destination. I can say from my own experience that it is a beautiful destination, but people don't know it,” said Wrede, according to Mediafax.

Thomas Cook's Germany subsidiary will sell Romanian circuits, seaside stays and city breaks through the Neckermann brand this year.

“In what concerns Romania, of course there are actions made by the Tourism Ministry, but what they should focus on, in my opinion, is the Black Sea. Other countries with access to the sea, like Turkey, Egypt or Spain, do everything to promote the seaside. I think the efforts the Tourism Ministry are making are not yet visible. Creating a print and placing it in a bus station is not enough. You have to convince people to come, visit and talk about what they have seen,” said Wrede.

German tourists visiting Romania this year through Thomas Cook chose the seaside and city breaks. Romania became the holiday destination of choice for 12.8 percent more tourists last year, and most of them came from Germany, Italy and France, according to a report from the National Institute for Research and Development in Tourism.

Thomas Cook is active on 21 markets, runs 100 planes and has 31,000 employees worldwide. The group owns the Condor airline, brands Bucher last Minute, Sentido Hotels&Resort and Air Marin.

editor@romania-insider.com