The Tourism Development Association of Moldova identified a number of investment opportunities in the tourism sector in the Moldovan area of the Danube River after conducting recently a feasibility study. Among the opportunities are the improvement of transport logistics, rehabilitation or construction of accommodation units and traditional eateries, creation and promotion of tourist information centers in museums and extension of the health spa services.
In a news conference at IPN on January 15, the Association’s head Viorel Miron said Moldova’s Cahul, Cantemir and Taraclia districts and the Territorial Autonomous Unit of Gagauzia, which are situated within 100 km of the Danube, represent a contiguous area of the largest European river. The attractions of the Danube in the ten riverine countries are ranked third in the European tourist motivation after the visitation of historical towns and the Mediterranean seaside.
Viorel Miron noted that the improvement of the tourist transport logistics represents one of the investment opportunities in the Moldovan area. It was established that the area’s visitors encounter difficulties in travelling to the tourist attractions from here. To get from one place to another in another district, the tourists sometimes need to go to Chisinau first. Though there are many stops on the Cahul-Giurgiulesti road, there are no schedules and the travelers never know when and where the buses and minibuses go and where one can change. A significant investment in improving the transport mobility for locals and guests in the Danube area is crucial.
About 40% of all the accommodation capacities of the southern region are situated in the Moldovan area of the Danube. “In the southern region, there are only eight classified hotels, a pension and only two functional summer camps ,” stated Viorel Miron, adding that the investments in renovating the abandoned accommodation units (summer camps and rural hotels) or the construction of others can be a good opportunity for the tourism business near the attractions from the Danube area.
The study shows that the Danube area is a multicultural destination. That’s why the ethnographic communities, especially Gagauzia and Taraclia district, play a specific role. Paradoxically, not many of the local places serve food with local specific features. The eateries in pensions or places near tourist attractions are looked for by the visitors, especially those who travel by car or public transport or even by bicycle. Also, an investment in transforming the local museums into tourist information centers, as they do in other countries of the Danube River Basin, can improve the structure of the tourist offer. Extending the health spa services is another opportunity.
The feasibility study was made by the Tourism Development Association of Moldova and was financed within the EU’s TransDanube Project.
