Wine Tourism in Romania – unexploited opportunities

Romania's wine production is on the rise as well as the Romanians' appetite for this drink. The number of wineries and vineyards in the country increases yearly by almost 10 units, leading Romania to have more than 250 functional wineries, out of which around 150 produce bottled wine. A simple comparison shows us that there are almost 400,000 such wineries in Italy, which may explain Romania’s absence from the world’s wine map, at least in terms of prestige and related tourism.

However, there are statistics that place Romania in a rather favorable position regarding its wine-related activities. For example, Romania is the 13th wine producer in the world in terms of volume and the sixth European producer in terms of cultivated area. Moreover, not less than 60 of the approximately 150 wine cellars that produce bottled wine practice wine tourism. This includes tastings, presentations related to how the wine is obtained and produced, touristic packages in the vicinity of the winery, and so on.

Thus, a closer collaboration between these producers could lead wine tourism to another level. For example, in Timis county, there are 6 extremely interesting wineries, located at a distance of around 30 kilometers from each other, within the vicinity of the Buzias spa resort, which has become a town in the meantime, and about 30 kilometers away from one of the largest and most dynamic cities of Romania: Timişoara, the future European cultural capital in 2021.

Also, the Dealul Mare vineyard, which extends along the counties of Prahova and Buzău, comprises no less than 8 large viticulture centers, which in turn services 36 wineries, 27 in the Prahova county and 9 in the Buzău county. The creation of a tourist circuit that would bring together all these wineries, or at least some of them, would certainly be a special attraction for tourists, but also a fairly profitable business.

Sources:

https://www.businessmagazin.ro/actualitate/60-de-crame-din-romania-practica-turism-viticol-in-ce-zona-a-tarii-sunt-cele-mai-multe-crame-15549379

http://www.emigrantul.it/stiati-ca-romania-are-250-de-crame-italia-383-645-stiati-ca/

https://adevarul.ro/economie/afaceri/analizA-romania-sesitueaza-locul-13-intopul-celor-mai-mari-producatori-vin-lume-topul-jucatorilor-piata-1_5a3b9fcc5ab6550cb86f1f13/index.html

http://www.revino.ro/podgoria-dealu-mare-urlati-ceptura-mizil-tohani-pietroasele-sahateni-a362.html