Brasov: Place in the sun for tourism

Israel and Romania are now enjoying a record rise in tourism exchange -with casinos, adventure tourism and family holidays pulling in the crowds Report by Cerasela Marin

Romania and Israel are keen to further boost the exchange of tourists, with 2010 boasting the highest ever flow of travellers between the two countries.
About 130,000 Israelis visited Romania in 2010, while almost 40,000 Romanians spent their vacation in Israel.
Israel sees in Romania a picturesque place for “adventure and relaxation”, according to Israeli Ambassador to Romania Dan Ben Eliezer.
In the last few years, Romanian tourism infrastructure has improved, which encouraged Israeli hotel companies to open new establishments in Sinaia and Poiana Brasov in Prahova county and Piatra Craiului in Brasov county.
Package deals for families by the Romanian seaside also work for Israelis, but there is room for further development. “Romania should tailor-make some attractions to the taste of Israeli tourists,” says the Ambassador, “They would very much like adventure.”
Casinos in Bucharest and by the Romanian Black Sea coast are also popular among the Israeli community.
Part of the reason for this fertile tourism exchange is that the Romanian community counts up more than 400,000 in Israel. This is the third largest national group of Jews who have gained the right to return, along with their descendants, after the Russians and Moroccans.
The Ambassador himself is a second generation immigrant from Romania. His mother was born in Iasi, which boasted a vibrant Jewish community before World War II.

Tech exchange

Romania needs Israeli technology to help the country speed up its absorption of EU funds in transport, agriculture, tourism and energy, according to the Ambassador.
Even modest economic growth this year in Romania would encourage Israeli companies to look for further investment opportunities.
“Israeli investors are keeping their eyes on Romania, they’re ready to invest in renewable energy, after the European Commission will approve the legal framework for this field,” says the Ambassador. “Solar energy and biomass are the most attractive branches for Israelis, because of our technical expertise.”
In the last decade Israel was one of the most fervent investors in Romania’s real estate development. But the devastating effects of the economic crisis were “felt strongly” by Israeli companies in this sector, says Yifat Inbar, first secretary of the Israeli Embassy in Bucharest and economic and commercial counsellor for Romania and Bulgaria.
However last year about 150 new Israeli companies registered in Romania, taking the total to 6,000, although not all of the companies in this figure are active.
“We see interest mainly in agriculture, agro-technology, alternative energy and some companies in telecom have entered the market,” says Inbar. “Unlike other years, we don’t see so many companies in the real estate sector. They are working on the projects they already have and they are waiting to see how the market evolves.”
Israeli investors have already re-orientated towards fields which offer more certainty in times of stagnant growth – such as the medical system, agriculture and the food industry.

Splashing out

Israel is expert in irrigation – with over 60 years of expertise in bringing water to the desert. Around 700 Romanian villages with about one million Romanian citizens have been connected by Israeli companies to water systems.
But one of the difficulties in this sector is the lack of financing for farmers, especially when it comes to the costs for the electricity to pump the systems.
“With EU financing, this situation has improved, of course, and companies come here to work with EU assistance,” says Inbar. The Embassy has its own programme to assist Israeli companies in this sector. But one issue in agriculture is the lack of education in new technology. “Many times the problem is not how to acquire the technology, it’s how to make it useful and productive,” she adds.
To address this, the Embassy will start a programme in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture to bring representatives of the agriculture sector and technology providers to the same table to find ways to accelerate this field’s development.

Research ties funded

Inbar says that the two countries should focus more on common research and development projects because both Israel and Romania have talented specialists, especially in medicine and renewable energy. “There is a call for Romanian and Israeli companies to come up with innovative projects – applied projects - to receive financing from the Romanian and Israeli governments,” says the economic counsellor. “There are projects under the European framework programme, but not many projects on a bilateral level. We would like to offer more financial assistance for that.”
The idea is for both teams to come up with a project which can be realised in the short-term, with the joint Israeli-Romanian Governments offering up to 50 per cent in financing. “We are talking about something that could be marketed within the next few years,” says Inbar. “The Government agencies have approached some research institutes and some private companies - we help them to find partners in Israel and help Romanians find partners there.”
Both the Ambassador and the Embassy’s economic counsellor believe that this year will bring growth.
“We’ll see more exchange in trade and I hope that this whole package will continue to grow,” says Inbar. “In 2010 there was a 50 per cent increase in trade. Granted 2009 was a very bad year, but the level of trade in 2010 was even higher than that of 2008. Now we’re talking about 430 million USD in bilateral trade, compared to 263 million USD last year.”
However, Dan Ben Eliezer thinks the current numbers do not reflect the great potential to increase the economic relationship between the two countries. “We can complement each other because Israel is an innovative country,” he says. “We gained achievements in high tech, in agro-technology, in clean tech, homeland security and Romania needs all of this to catch up with the competition.”