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." writen by Mirabela Tiron & Adriana Rosoga