800,000 euros and another demand for a handout

Ridiculous...not happy with spending a fortune on 3D roadsigns, now this. 800,000 euros...and Basescu wants another IMF handout. What does he consider the IMF to be? Mos Craciun, perhaps? A bottomless piggy-bank? A money tree? The Ready-Cash Fairy? This time, it's simply too much. While the government slices money off salaries and pensions of those who do not deserve it as well as from an education systems already in the doldrums, it continues to pay ministers and government workers huge sums for doing nothing and spending vast sum on futility - what a slap in the face for those living on less than a shoe string. How can anything be achieved in a) the battle against corruption (which frankly is impossible to beat when the hierarchy is as bent as they come) and b) the ability to stand on its own two feet. As long as the IMF continue to give ad infinitum, Basescu and his cronies won't lift a finger. Money will be spent in massive amounts on the stupidest things and much of the IMF cash will end up in pockets - as always. It's an outrage. If Basescu really believes we are impressed by his absence in Shanghai because of 'austerity measures' then he can think again - if he is capable of such mental activity... 800,000 euros for this logo that would look better on a fruit juice carton for all the originality it shows - I ask you!

Romania shouldn't be difficult to market. It's one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen, ever lived in, even. Its people are warm and welcoming, it has history, music, literature, some stunning architecture (as long as what's left doesn't get demolished and replaced by some towering eye-sore) great food and wines (not to mention the tuica, palinca, visinata, etc). Elena Udrea should market all that rather than chucking money out the window. Teach what customer service is, encourage hotels and b&b owners to be more customer oriented, do something to make Roumanians proud of their country - right now as a Roumania by heart, I find myself sometimes wishing it wasn't so, for I am feeling more and more saddened...

Romania launches its new tourism brand in Shanghai / Launch marked by controversy back home

de AC HotNews.ro

Joi, 29 iulie 2010, 14:51 English | Top News

Foto: Hotnews

Romania launched its new tourism brand, under the slogan Explore the Carpathian Garden, in the presence of Tourism and Regional Development minister Elena Udrea in Shanghai on Thursday. But the moment was shadowed by controversy back home as bloggers revealed that part of the logo is almost identical to an image available for cheap on the internet

Just several minutes before the brand, aimed at luring foreign tourists to Romania, was launched officially at the Shanghai international fair, several Romanian bloggers read on Thursday morning that Romania's logo is almost identical with the logo of British transport project Change Transport - the information first appeared on Piticu.ro blog and was quickly quoted by the press.  The item of the brand logo - a green leaf - is available in online stock image databases for up to 250 dollars and has been used by various companies, including a Romanian chemical plant and a British company, as bloggers have reported.

In return, Elena Udrea declared that the product was purchased after a public tender from a big brand company, THR-TNS, which developed the foreign brand strategy the logo was just a part of. And minister Udrea underlined the company's experience on the market with contracts in Spain, Greece, US or Cuba. The brand was launched in Shanghai in the presence of several hundreds of people, mostly Romanians.

The launch was preceded by a concert of the famous Romanian Gheorghe Zamfir performing a national instrument, nai. Romania's Foreign Affairs minister Teodor Baconschi was present together with famous Romanian sportsmen Gheorghe Hagi, Ilie Nastase and Nadia Comaneci, Romania's icons.

The brand purchased from the company took about 800,000 euro from the tourism brand budget, Tourism minister Udrea said. She said that all copyrights were given for the brand created, together with a guarantee that the company that created the logo owns every right.

HotNews.ro also revealed in its Romanian language version today that as the tourism brand for Romania was launched several key online domain names related to the brand had already been reserved by a small firm - some eight days before the first details about the slogan appeared.

And another journalist blogger, Catalin Tolontan (tolo.ro), notes on his blog today that the brand aims at exploring, adventurous foreigners despite that the long-term tourism strategy of Romania, established several years ago and covering the period until 2026, notes that foreign visitors to Romania interested in exploration and adventure spend no more than a few days here. The strategy, as noted by the quoted source, focuses on other points of attraction - Bucharest, the Danube Delta and the Black Sea.