ALBA IULIA, May 3-5, 2011
From 3rd to 5th of May, 2011, in Alba Iulia took place the First Romanian Congress on Rural Tourism, “Rural Tourism – a tool for identity building and a chance for quality standards”, organized by the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism – MDTR; The National Association for Rural, Ecological and Cultural Tourism – ANTREC Romania, in partnership with the European Tourism Federation EUROGITES and under the patronage of the WTO – World Tourism Organization, with support from Alba County Council and Council of Alba Iulia. The event was attended by over 200 guests from countries like Spain, Greece, Hungary, Poland, France, Belgium, Italy and Israel and Romania.
The first part of the congress – “Rural Tourism – Sustainable Development and Local Identity” – moderated by Mr. Zoltan Somogyi, debuted with the theme “Rural Tourism in the context of the European sector” – put forward by Mr. Klaus Ehrlich, who presented the history and the development of rural tourism in Europe and the trends for 2012 +. He outlined that more than 30% of the customers will be the LOHAS type (“Lifestyle of health and sustainability”). Other themes of his speech included: the individual/ personalized tourism product (with the guarantee of quality and safety) vs. “All-inclusive” tourism product; the development of a new concept “Virtual Trust” (which uses modern communication tools – Internet – Mobile Internet + GPS); the development of a new horizon for the European Tourism Policy – “European Tourism Quality Label”.
The Congress ended with the adoption and signing of the declaration “Rural Tourism – a tool for building identity and a chance for quality standards,” presented in Romanian by Mr. Emil Comsa and in English by Mr. Klaus Ehrlich. This statement contains 7 points and summarizes the conclusions of the meeting and the commitment to continue the cooperation with international and regional tourism organizations and especially rural tourism organizations. The purpose will be to promote the potential of the rural tourism and attract a large number of national and foreign tourists.
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