American travel show slams Romania’s image

The Ministry of SMEs, Commerce, Tourism and Liberal Professions paid for the group of six American journalists from the Travel Channel to stay in Romania and organized their program. The US producers said in a statement the show had turned out this way because the Romanian authorities tried to censor them, manipulate them and present a false picture. The aim of the show was to shoot scenes in specific locations with the aim of showing Romanians’ way of life. The producers said their requests to see places where ordinary Romanians eat were discouraged, the intention being to “carefully arrange a scene” rather than show what most Romanians would recognize as reality. One of the few moments in the show when the country gets a positive review is a scene shot in front of a stand where people could eat mici (Romanian meat rolls) with mustard and beer.
In reply, the local authorities accused the American team of not sticking to the program and said the Ministry of Tourism did everything possible for things to turn out well.

Otilia Haraga