Local authorities and NGOs that want to promote three areas of Romania try to unlock their potential by giving a marketing spin to what they offer, in a quest for tourists. Local festivals and town branding are part of the recipe they use. Romania-Insider.com looks at how Bistrita, Blaj and Sfanta Ana lake use their brands to attract tourists.

By Irina Popescu

Every town, city, or region in Romania has its own story to tell, its own places to be seen, and its own people to be met, but most of the time, very few know about them without proper promotion. That is, maybe, the reason why some regions in Romania are less known and why either the local municipalities or non-governmental organization started to promote them.

St. Ana Lake gets its own festival

On such example of unlocking the tourism potential of an area is the debut edition of  the "St. Ana Lake Day" (Ziua Lacului sfanta Ana) festival, which will take place on Sunday, July 24, in one of Romania's beautiful places. Sfanta Ana Lake (in main picture), at the border between the counties of Harghita and Covasna, at the altitude of 946 m, in the Ciomatu mountain, is the only lake of volcanic origin in Central and Eastern Europe.

This event, together with similar ones across Romania's smaller towns, marks a new stage in the promotion of the Romanian tourism. Financed with European funds and organized by the foundation Eco-Hangu, the Sf. Ana lake festival wants to bring back traditions and local values and fuel tourism in the area. The event includes cooking contests, boat competitions on the lake, guided boat competitions for children, and folk dance. The local music sounds will be brought on stage by the folk-rock band "Szekler Band".

MAP for the Sfanta Ana Lake.

Bistrita's new logo and slogan: Transylvania's gate

The Romanian town of Bistrita, with 83,000 inhabitants, tries to promote itself with a new branding campaign, this time started by the City Hall. The authorities have created a tourism brand to promote Bistrita, namely the Medieval Bistrita Citadel. This was part of the "Medieval Bistrita Citadel Tourist Promotion" program, financed by the European Regional Development Fund, through the Regional Operational Program. The total value of the project is of around EUR 230,000.

The town has a new logo and a new mascot, inspired by the ostrich with a horseshoe in its beak, along with a new slogan: “Bistrita, Transylvania's gate”. Later this year, a Medieval Tourism Fair is also planned for Bistrita, an event that will help promoting the city.

MAP for Bistrita

Blaj, the Little Rome, awaits people with traveling food and culture festival

Known as the “Little Rome”, with 20,000 people living within its boundaries, the Romanian city of Blaj has also passed through some changes in order to promote it. The mayor Gheorghe Rotar first wanted to improve the city, with local funds and with EU funds, and then start to promote it, so that tourists can have what to see in the city, he said to journalists who were visiting the area. Streets have been revamped, parks have been created, historic buildings have been renovated.

Moreover, a festival which will be organized in Blaj this summer will hopefully put it under the spotlight. Transilvania Fest, a traveling food and culture festival, will be held in Blaj, on the Freedom Plain (Campia Libertatii) between July 29 to 31. The festival aims to develop, organize and implement an event that would support community development (tourism and trade) in the Transylvania region. Find out more about this event here.

The organizers of the festival, the Ratiu Foundation, together with the Blaj City Hall and Alba County Council, have also launched an open ideas competition for the rehabilitation of Blaj's Cultural Palace. The building was erected in the '30s and went through a fire in the '90s. Local authorities will give EUR 2 million for the implementation of the winning project.

MAP for Blaj.

By Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com,  editing by Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com

(photo sources: Eco-Hangu, Bistrita City Hall, Corina Saceanu/Romania-Insider.com)