Romania's country brand slogan is difficult to decode and can generate confusion
The Romanian tourist brand, which will be launched today in
Shanghai, will promote Romania through the slogan "explore the
Carpathian garden," according to a market source quoted by
Mediafax. Officials of the Tourism and Regional Development
Ministry did not wish to offer information on the name of the
tourism slogan, but representatives of travel agencies and of
hotels on the market confirmed that "explore the Carpathian garden"
was one of the final variants of the slogan.
Businesspeople in the travel sector and branding consultants say
the slogan's message is hard to decode by foreign tourists and can
generate confusion considering that the Carpathian mountain range
crosses several countries.
The creation and promotion of the tourist brand, financed with EU
money, are part of a project to promote Romania's tourist
potential, for which 75 million euros have been allocated until
2013. 900,000 euros have been spent so far on creating the brand.
Beatrice Danis, managing partner of branding consultancy
BrandTailors, believes the slogan is too difficult to remember.
"Moreover, I doubt whether it's the right choice to include the
name of the Carpathians in the slogan because I am not sure how
well-known they are internationally. This is not the Alps we are
talking about," she added. THR and Taylor Nelson together won the
auction to create the tourism brand after submitting the lowest
offer, of 900,000 euros.
Businesspeople say they would have expected explanations as to what
it means and how a tourism brand can be used in order to attract
tourists.