A large portion these funds are invested in direct promotion, namely brochures and tourism fairs. The industry is investing a mere €200,000 in advertising in tourism media, according to Badulescu. Moreover, much of the advertising in specialized media is on the basis of barter agreements, he added. “There are presently no advertising agencies to develop many programs and concepts with tourism agencies,” said Badulescu, who established Pliando, a PR and advertising agency specialized in tourism, aimed at establishing better communication with companies in the tourism industry.
There are 15 tourism publications on the Romanian market, according to Traian Badulescu, including ANAT Media, Traveller Magazin, Clever Travel, Expert Traveler, Vacante si Calatorii, and Descopera Romania. Monthly Traveller Magazin’s Editor-in-Chief, Marian Constantinescu, said that the Romanian tourism industry would like to benefit from cost-free campaigns. “Specialty publications in the field can not develop because there are no advertising budgets,” he pointed out. In the case of Traveller Magazin, revenues from sales and publicity are equal, at 50 percent.
The Director of “Saptamana Turistica” magazine, Victor Radulescu, says tourism publications do not sell, and advertising represents no more than 20 percent of the magazine’s income. “Sadly, there is a delay in the appearance of budgets expected from the tourism industry. If there is no publicity, these publications are unable to develop and increase their circulation,” said Badulescu.
According to Badulescu’s estimations, the tourism market rose to €1.5 billion last year, of which €600 million is the value of the tourism agency market alone.
