Food like mother’s, rooms decorated with national carpets and other traditional elements, pottery, trips to Orheiul Vechi, soft drinks with mint and free access to the garden are some of the method by which the agri-pensions attract clients this summer.
Prices vary from one pension to another, starting with 200-300 lei per person for an evening with breakfast included, or 600-700 lei per two persons with two meals included. The owners complain yet that owing to the situation in the neighboring Ukraine, the number of visitors, especially foreign ones, decreased.
Contacted by IPN, director of the National Tourism Agency Nicolae Platon said the institution is carrying out a broad information campaign to promote the agricultural pensions that are mainly unclassified. Only 19 such pensions are classified and transmit information about the use of their accommodation facilities to the National Bureau of Statistics. Many pensions have websites by which they make their offers public and by which they can be contacted directly for reservations.
“The tourists choose to go to the countryside because they want to evade the crowdedness and noise of towns and find refuge in the middle of nature. They also want to breathe fresh air and to eat food made from home products only,” said Ala Benzing, director general of the pension “Casa din Lunca” of Trebujeni, Orhei. The pension serves its visitors with fruit and wine and organizes trips by cart and bicycle and to Orheiul Vechi or the Branesti Cellar for them. The visitors can also go fishing.
Those who choose the pension “Hanul lui Hanganu” of Lalova, Rezina, are lured by its traditional Moldovan style. The inn has 20 rooms, but even 60 persons can be accommodated there during a feast, said owner Sergiu Toader Hanganu. All the rooms have sanitary facilities and hot water. There are also terraces where the guests can have meals and admire the countryside.
The pension “Casa Verde” in Trebujeni, Orhei this year was visited by about 600 persons, said administrator Ludmila Buzila. According to her, the number of tourists would have been higher if the situation in the neighboring country hadn’t been so difficult.
Liliana Buzila, who manages “Casa de sub Stanca”, said the number of people willing to stop at agri-pensions has increased. “But the pensions must not be concentrated in one place or region. At first, we were visited mainly by foreigners. Now our visitors include also townspeople from our country, including Transnistria,” she stated.
The owners of agri-pensions consider the poor infrastructure is an obstacle that prevents them from developing and attracting more guests.
