Romania attracts off-season tourists through 'seaside for all' program

The "Seaside for all" program which kicked off on Monday in Romania offers tourists promotional beach holiday packages for the off-season period between Aug. 31 and Oct. 11.

"Seaside for all," which takes place in late spring and early autumn, is a program for local and foreign tourists wishing to spend their holiday at the Black Sea in the season when resorts and beaches are freer, but still warmed by the sun.

The program, launched by the National Association of Travel Agencies, the Federation of Romanian Tourism Employers (FPTR), and the Seaside-Danube Delta Association, is arousing the interest of more and more tourists, as they can stay for a week for the same price as only one night of accommodations in the peak summer season.

According to data delivered by the organizers, the highest prices for the standard package for six nights per person range between 159 leu (40.25 U.S. dollars) at one-star hotels (without breakfast) and 605 leu at a five-star hotel (breakfast included), while the highest rates for all-inclusive five-night stays go from 765 lei per person at a three-star hotel, to 985 lei at a five-star hotel.

Started eight years ago, the program has become a tradition wherein hotels and travel agencies work together to attract tourists in the off-season period to the Romanian Black Sea seaside, said Corina Martin, chair of the Seaside-Danube Delta Association.

"So far, some 40 hotels in seaside resorts were enrolled in the program," said Dragos Raducan, FPTR's first executive vice chairman, adding that "passes will be sold in over 68 travel agencies in the country, which means that at the end of the fall, at least 27,504 tourists benefit from seaside holidays at discounted rates."

The Romanian Black Sea resorts stretch from the Danube Delta in the north down to the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the south, along 275 km of coastline.