New website & travel guide to support responsible tourism in Romania

Romanian Friend, a travel website that promotes handpicked, uncommon tours and trips in Romania, has launched and is ready to reach independent trip-planning world travellers looking to discover authentic Romanian culture and local life or looking for special-interest trips.

Romanian Friend offers friendly advice and instant support to travellers looking to explore the country, and connects visitors with selected local partners and guides through its booking system for tours and trips.

The team at Romanian Friend use their local knowledge and connections to identify, research and select local guides and small business owners before becoming partners. The selection process focuses on two criteria: first, quality tourism services so that Romanian Friend clients get the best value for money and second, to see whether similar views are shared about Romanian cultural heritage, how and what should be visited and promoted.

Founded in January 2017 by a team of young locals passionate about their home country and modern travelling, Romanian Friend provides local knowledge and true insights about Romanian local life and culture.

“We work with our local partners to create and promote immersive trips and unique Romanian travel experiences that will benefit both travellers and local destinations in our country. Both need a Romanian Friend to help and we consider ourselves a vertical social enterprise with a trickle-down effect through our activity,” says founder Marius Iliescu.

“Right now, we are working with 25 partners to promote around 60-70 tours and trips in various parts of the country. We have plans to grow our network of partners, but only if our criteria for quality and responsible tourism are met, ” adds Iliescu.

Responsible tourism is a form of tourism that minimizes environmental impact while enhancing the travel experience of both tourists and local communities through a deeper socio-cultural connection and understanding based on mutual respect for diversity. Responsible tourism also creates positive economic benefits by using the services of local businesses: traditional guesthouses, meals with locally sourced products, visits to local workshops or sights, etc. as opposed to mainstream tourism practices involving hotels, restaurants, resorts and SPAs.