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Bicaz Canyon

Romania is a diverse country, full of medieval structures and architecture, while also having beautiful natural surroundings. Almost half of the country is covered in natural and semi natural ecosystems.

This South-Eastern European country is becoming increasingly popular with tourists, for its seaside resorts and rich history. The city center of Brasov holds many stunning buildings, such as the Council Square or the Black Church, as well as the many ancient medieval castles in Transylvania. For those who want to visit these historical sites, it is worth staying in accommodation close to the city. Nearby hotels will provide a quick commute to and from the town centre. Internet facilities are well developed and readily available so you can play Party poker or book a tour for one of the famous sites. It is becoming a fast growing country in terms of tourism and travel. Visitors are always intrigued to visit the Transylvanian cities, such as Sibiu and Targu Mures, and explore the ancient towns which hold much more than just legends of vampires, which actually don’t quite play a role in Romania.

Alternatively, tourists can explore the forests and natural landscapes of Romania. The country has one of the largest areas of undisturbed forest in the whole of Europe. Almost half of Europe’s brown bears and wolves inhabit the Romanian forests, amongst 400 other species of mammals. The animals live amongst 4000 plant species, 23 of which are considered natural monuments and more than 1000 are rare.

Tourists can visit one of the 13 national parks or the biosphere reserves, which together span 10000 km2. The Danube Delta reserve Biosphere, is a huge wetland complex, which has been recognized as Europe’s largest and least damaged wetland. It is an excellent opportunity for tourists to see endangered and rare species of native plants and insects.

Half of this beautiful and protected land has been added to the World Heritage List. Visitors can discover the Bicaz canyon, look out onto the Piatra Craiului Mountains or admire the Red Lake in Harghita.

The Red Lake in Harghita County

Medical tourism is a phenomenon. There has been a noticeable influx of patients into low-economy countries to have a medical procedure done. The reason people do this is because it is much less expensive to have plastic surgery in countries with smaller economies. Many health insurance plans do not pay for plastic surgery unless it is medically necessary. Cosmetic surgery procedures like liposuction and botox injection are generally not covered by any insurance plan. That’s why a lot of countries are opting to develop tourism strategies that incorporate the growing needs of patients seeking cheaper medical service. However, Romania still does not seem to exploit the potential.

Because citizens of more affluent countries like the U.S., England, Germany and Canada who want to have cosmetic surgery cannot take advantage of their health policies, they seek financial solution elsewhere. Countries like Costa Rica and Thailand have benefitted greatly from visiting citizens of richer countries seeking a bargain.  Lipo prices for just one area, for example, would cost each person anywhere from $3,000 to $7,500. In Thailand, you can get your legs lipoed for a thousand dollars and change! Labor cost, from surgeon salaries to the nurses, is responsible for much of the discount. In the Middle East, UAE neighbor Lebanon is experiencing a boom from Emirates tourists seeking cheaper costs for a facelift, tummy tuck, breast augmentation, nose surgery, etc.

Because the U.S. is the most expensive country for some plastic surgery procedures, Americans are among the most sought-after medical tourists. In Europe, the most traveled to countries for inexpensive liposuction are Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Greece and Malta. They can also find inexpensive liposuction in the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Singapore and Thailand. In Latin America, the most popular countries are Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama; South Africa is also popular destination. Romania equals most countries in medical standards and it is ramping up its medical services. As a testament, the Romanian Association of Plastic Surgeons billed its latest yearly convention the “Present and Future in Plastic Surgery”. Still, Romania does not seem to be widely perceived as an option for medical tourism while other CEEC started to profit from the huge potential of the market.

But maybe it is also the risk factor when you are considering travel to a foreign country for plastic surgery. One risk is that you will have lowered immune system protection after surgery which commonly makes people even more vulnerable to foreign diseases. There is a delay in healing. Often, after liposuctionn surgery, a patient may develop fat clots as well as blood clots. Clinic certification is one criterion you should not skip. A hospital may be a safer choice for major procedures. As always in anything that involves a large financial and personal involvement, do your research.

Guest post written by: Hetty Proudhonne,  traveler and working for Plasticsurgeryguide.com

Agriculture in Romania is an interesting topic. Even though roughly some 30% of the Romanian labor force are working in the agricultural sector, it does not contribute to more than 8-9% of GDP (figures from 2005). That is not to say that agriculture in Romania has to be unproductive or has to face unfavorable conditions. Quite the opposite is true. Romania, has a potentially extremely competitive agricultural sector. Smart investors know this and have been building modern and successful agricultural farms in the past years. Romania-Central.com is therefore happy to announce the first Agri-Business conference ever held in Romania. Here is the text, submitted by Dana Bucur. Thank you.

Greenway Invest is pleased to present the first agri-business conference ever organized in the history of Romania focussing on the opportunities of running a successful agricultural operation in Romania.   Designed in association with Mr Alastair Dickie and Mr Doug Spinney, this event is dedicated to the international investors, farmers, suppliers of agricultural inputs, executives and consultants and all those interested to invest and work in agribusiness in Romania. Since joining the EU in 2007, Romania has accelerated its economic progress and is in a superb geographical location to link Europe to the growing markets in the Middle East and Asia, Western Europe or worldwide. With its large, rich and fertile land asset, excellent logistic links by air, land, Danube and Black Sea and a stable socio- political regime the country presents a prime opportunity for investors looking for a solid return. You can get a detailed programme here.   The conference has a host of key speakers providing a wealth of knowledge in the important areas of agribusiness. Providing potential investors with the essential information and answers they need.   The event takes place at Howard Johnson in Bucharest, Romania between June 16 to 18th 2010.

The agenda is the following:

• June 16th 2010 – a dinner (optional)
• June 17th 2010 – the conference day
• June 18th 2010 – a field trip to 2/3 farms and/or a mill near Bucharest, Romania (optional).

The topics of the conference are related to the macroeconomic aspects, legal and fiscal elements of agribusiness Romania, sources of finance and practical debates on farming, livestock, trading and logistic. All details of the agribusiness Romania conference you can find here: http://www.agrimanagement.ro/conferinta. The registration form you can find it here.
Welcome to the agribusiness universe of Romania! I hope you find this event interesting / useful in order to participate.

Maria Tanase is often hailed by Romanians as the Edith Piaf of Romania. Even today her music is still popular and often copied, though she debuted already in 1937 when she represented Romania also at the International Exhibition in Paris, France (together with Constantin Brancusi) and was first aired on radio. Besides her career as singer, Maria was also a film and theatre actress and singer at the opera. But it were her interpretations of Romanian folk songs, which made her unforgotten after her relatively early death.

This article covers two sections: the first with a biography of Maria, the second about her art and music.
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What are the prospects for the economy of Romania 2010? Is it realistic for the Romanian economy to recover in 2010? First, Romania-Central will give a short resume of the last year and then present you an economic outlook for Romania 2010. Happy new Year

Please note that updated, detailed data is linked from the resume below for 2009 or on our Economy page.
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Employment and the unemployment rate in Romania is hard to understand if not related to the general employment structure and other labor market indicators such as the occupation and activity rate or the role of (short term) migration. Even during the hard recession of the nineties and their aftermath official unemployment rates in Romania were relatively low when compared to other Eastern European countries.
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The inflation rate in Romania during the 1990ies and the first years of this decade is best to be described as a devastating hyperinflation. Inflation was mainly caused by the Romanian’s incapability to collect taxes (and, hence, financing their immense current spending with Seignorage) and a protective exchange rate regime. The still high inflation rate in the first years after 2000 in Romania was mainly a fading out. However, in recent years Romania joint the regime of inflation targeting and left the days of double-digit inflation behind.
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Average salaries in Romania belong to the lowest of Europe and even the double digit growth rates experienced during the last years of economic boom did not raise them to an European average level. And: several years of double digit would be needed to achieve a convergence with Western European average salaries. A simple example might illustrate this notion: If we take average industrial labor costs from 2002 for Germany (32 EUR) for Germany and for Romania (1.5 EUR) and make the realistic assumption that labor costs will grow each year by 3% for Germany and the unrealistic assumption that they will grow by 20% for Romania each year a catch up for Romania would have been achieved in 2022. But let’s switch to reality and have a look on real wages in Romania, the average gross salary and average income.
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The GDP of Romania (per Capita) is among the lowest of the EU, second only to Bulgaria. During the nineties Romania experienced two sharp recessions and recovered only after 2000. Since then, Romania recorded high GDP growth rates until 2008 showing the typical patterns of a catching up economy.

After being hit by the financial crisis in early 2009 (the crisis arrived with some delay in Romania, yet the harder) Romania’s GDP dropped back below the level of 2007 and there are no signs for a quick recovery. An estimate by the CNP expects the GDP of Romania to reach the former level of 2008 between 2011 and 2012, which is pretty much in line with current GDP forecasts from Eurostat.

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