Romanian capital Bucharest will try to sell itself to tourists by using a new marketing spin, under the catchphrase 'Europe is younger in Bucharest'. The city's new marketing plan, created by Détente Consultants, suggests the need for a shopping street and extending night transport, catering to business and city-break tourists. It also underlines the need to use more local art to drive tourism, preserve public spaces better, while presenting the city better on the Internet and improving access to tourism sights through special packages.

Tourism in Bucharest brings some EUR 280 million to the local budget a year, according to the analysis. Détente Consultants made a marketing plan for Bucharest 2011-2015 for tourism development, emphasizing city-break tourism and cultural events.

The promotion of the capital should give more attention to the future, rather than just its history, according to the marketing plan. Bucharest should be presented as a capital that continues to develop, a permanent construction site, a city of the new Europe, that tourists can can engage with, according to the plan.

Business people, young people, couples without children, families but also those who come for medical services are the main target for Bucharest's promotion. The targeted profile is the 'explorer' tourist, who is willing to experiment and discover new destinations.

Bucharest has a capacity of 9,240 rooms in 92 hotels, smaller than Budapest's 219 hotels with 19,465 rooms and much less than Rome, which has 1,365 hotels and 62,000 rooms. The price per night in Bucharest is around EUR 50 per person and expenses are on average EUR 25 a day, according to the consultants.

The marketing plan underlines the city's weak points, such as the lack of UNESCO monuments, as well as the poor condition of many public spaces. Amsterdam is given as an example, where travelers can see works by Rembrandt and Vermeer, and Bucharest could use the work of Brancusi in a similar way, which would in turn help dispel the popular belief that he was French.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Romania-Insider.com)