Sustainable tourism became an important subject since the number of tourists increased and their actions started to impact the places they visit. A large number of travellers in one place affect the lives of those living there and the whole environment. Even though tourism is an important way to raise the economy of an area, bad management can create imbalances.
So what does sustainable tourism mean?
Sustainable tourism is one that establishes a balance between the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development. It respects and supports the local communities, it takes care of the environment and nature, offering travellers an experience rather than just a visit. It is the only way to make sure that we enjoy the beautiful places in this world and also let our children enjoy them.
Sustainable tourism in Romania was not a focus until recently. Romania is a destination on the rise, so we don’t face a large number of tourists yet. But every year it becomes more known around the world and some places started to be very busy (Bran castle for example). But tourism is a great way for economic growth so we need to prepare to take advantage of it, keeping in mind the fact that it needs to be a healthy growth!
What do we do to support sustainable tourism in Romania?
Focusing on experiences
There are tours and there are experiences. We (Secret Romania) started with creating tours and then we added experiences to them. When you visit an attraction, is not only what you see. Stories about that attraction, details about people that lived there and interesting, secret facts about it make from a simple visit a true experience.
Our travellers enjoy not only the main attractions in Romania, but also they experienced local life, the traditional food, and activities that make them understand what Romania is about. A holiday with experiences is a holiday full of memories. And the first step in sustainable tourism is understanding the place you visit.
Working with local suppliers (accommodation, transport, and restaurants)
We considered the second condition of sustainable tourism the support of local suppliers. And that is the major change we did back in 2018. We started to work 80% with local suppliers. This way we could offer accommodation as an experience: a night in a castle, sleep in old villas with history, interact with locals, and stay in the countryside.
With food, we had a ton of local possibilities. So we included in our tours the known restaurants but also some food experiences: eating in the back yard of locals, tasting homemade bread, traditional dishes and delicious wines.
For car rental, we started to work with small local businesses. This way we make sure that all the segments necessary in tourism have the opportunity to grow.
Travellers safety
Experiences are fun, but only the safe ones. And the safety of our travellers is the most important thing. Fortunately, Romania is a safe country and we don’t have the threats that other countries are facing (neither the natural nor the social ones). But we still have some details to take care of. The weather is one of them. We don’t organize tours in bad weather if the roads are dangerous or the activities have some risks. We refuse requests that we think can end up bad. We choose suppliers that respect the standard qualities. We design the itineraries customized to our travellers’ needs.
Respecting the local traditions and the environment
People are more and more interested in what local, authentic means. With globalization we risk losing the authentic element, to destroy the specificity of places. That is why we try to show in our tours how local communities live without interfering in their lives, without affecting them in any way and with respect for their customs. The biggest challenge is to reconcile the travellers’ curiosity with the locals’ need for space.
People are also interested to explore the secret gems, discovering the virgin natural corners, to visit what the environment has to offer. Here we were lucky because we didn’t have to do anything: all our guests loved and respected nature.
Sustainable tourism is not a trend, a fashion. It is a way of visiting the world and leaving a healthy legacy for those coming after. We started to practice sustainable tourism in 2018 and that was just the beginning. Sustainable tourism in Romania is just beginning to be noticed. But our start in 2018 set us the path for the future and we intend to follow it.