Financiarul

Sibiu (center), former European cultural capital in 2007, is to be promoted in the period Nov. 9 – 12 this year, at the World Travel Market, an international tourism fair organized in London, Great Britain, mayor Klaus Iohannis announced in a press conference on Oct. 1.

The fair addresses exclusively to specialists in the field, being a “business to business” venue, and the team from the Tourism Promotion and Development Bureau is going to establish contacts with travel agencies at international level. London Tourism Fair celebrates in 2009 its 30th edition and it will take place at ExCel Center, a famous location which offers a generous space of more 40,000 square meters.

“Sibiu’s presence in these profile fairs is extremely important for the continuity and steady strategy of city’s promotion as a whole. Representatives of the City Hall can establish contacts with the main players in this field and also serve as intermediates between them and Sibiu tourist operators”, underlined mayor Klaus Iohannis..
Ahead of its promotion in Londa, Sibiu was visited by delegations of English journalists.

As the result of a close cooperation between the Tourism Promotion and Development Bureau of Sibiu City Hall and Romania’s Promotion Bureau in London, a team of journalists from TV Channel 4 (London) visited Sibiu over Aug. 12-16. The documentary, representing a first in a new “Above and Beyond” series, will be released on Oct. 10 on the said channel. So that young people in Great Britain, the target public for this series, will become familiar with Sibiu’s cultural offer.

Mid-September, journalist Adrian Bridge, travel reporter for Daily Telegraph newspaper, from Great Britain, was present in Sibiu to film a documentary called “Romania after 20 years since Revolution”.
The presence of the Top Gear team must be also mentioned, which filmed on Transfagarasan. The episode is to be released on Nov. 14 on BBC TV channel, the last in the current series. This show has a large audience in over 100 countries.

“These shows and articles will bring Sibiu an added visibility worldwide, maintaining our city’s presence in the attention of the public all over the world. We received visits made by journalists from some famous international mass media, which gives us joy and certainty that Sibiu enjoys a good image “, mayor Klaus Iohannis also stressed.

Sibiu has been ranked 5th in 2009 in the top of the most sought after European cultural destinations, being preceded by capitals as Rome, Athens, Paris, London, according to an ATLAS study, released on Thursday by mayor Klaus Iohannis. Sibiu Town Hall commissioned at this year- start a study on Sibiu’s profile as a tourist destination and on a series of indicators which could quantify, by approximation, this city’s results in this field.

The study was conducted by the European Association for Leisure Time and Tourism Studies ATLAS. In 2007, when it was an European cultural capital, Sibiu succeeded the performance to attract one million visitors.