The Local Action Plan for the North-East Region aimed to further develop the region's tourism strategies and improve tourism management, and an event held recently carries forward the work toward achieving these goals.
The Regional Conference “Discover North-East” took place on 31 March 2021, and was organized by the North-East Regional Development Agency, through the Regional Center for Studies, under the auspices of the regional promotion initiative, Discover North-East. The event was organized online and broadcast from the headquarters of the North-East Regional Development Agency in Piatra Neamț.
This first meeting of the Regional Working Group in 2021 brought together over 130 participants, tourism stakeholders from across the region, representatives of the public and private sector, including: public authorities (county councils and municipalities), cultural centers, academia, associations for tourism promotion and development and national centers for information and tourism promotion; representatives of the Romanian Orthodox Church; representatives of the county museum complexes; Local Action Groups; specialists, consultants, companies, tour operators, travel agencies - stakeholders, committed to expanding and permanently strengthening the regional working group in the field of tourism, in order to stimulate the strategic development of this key economic sector in this part of Romania. Among the speakers at the conference were guests from the Republic of Moldova, representatives of organizations from Germany and Italy, which gave the event an even wider reach and perspective.
An important focus of the regional conference was the development stage of an axis of regional and cross-border tourism, represented by the cultural-tourism route “Voivode Stephen the Great and Saint”, discussed in the context of the international project Be.CULTOUR, developed by NERDA, in partnership with 14 other organizations in the EU and the Republic of Moldova, funded by Horizon 2020. This project focuses on the perspective of human-centered development, improving the values of cultural and landscape heritage of European regions, beyond EU borders.
The route of the Great and Holy Voivode crosses 9 localities from the Republic of Moldova and 20 localities from Romania, as well as thirteen vineyards, thus offering tourists a history and spirituality lesson through the tourism objectives represented by the monasteries, fortified citadels, the over 500-year-old royal cellars and some important museums, preserving artifacts from the Voivode’s reign.
In its current form, the cross-border cultural-tourism route, already recognized by an agreement concluded between the Romanian Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism and the Moldovan Investment Agency, includes 29 thematic tourism attractions in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. This route capitalizes and promotes in a coordinated and coherent way the cultural heritage related to the reign of Voivode Stephen the Great and Saint, a true symbol for the North-east region, creating a harmonious link between the tourism objectives, be they citadels, monasteries or vineyards.
