"I had to leave the country to become proud of my city and eager to present it to others"

Since 2012, Diana Slav has been presenting the beauty of the city of Constanța to Romanian and foreign tourists regardless of the season. The Romanian coastline , from north to south, transforms with the arrival of gray autumn. It's as if everything stops and no Romanian or foreign tourist wants to come for a city break at the seaside anymore.

And yet, you will meet tourists both in the old city center of Constanta, the area that connects the old walls of the Tomis fortress to the Casino area, and in the Mamaia resort . There are people who come especially during this period for the comfort and decent prices at the four and five star hotels that have invested in spa centers.

For several years, I have been following Diana Slav as she manages to promote the seaside and the city with hundreds of tourists. Since 2012, she has brought to the seaside what was happening in Prague, Rome or Berlin for a few light years: Free Tour. A free walk through the points of interest of the city, but also a healthy portion of history sprinkled with extremely interesting stories about buildings, streets, squares. Diana's tours have five stars on the Tripadvisor app, and most reviews are left by foreigners. I wanted to find out why Romanians choose to go to Athens or Istanbul for a weekend instead of coming to our spectacularly colored sea during the fall, but also how we can turn the Constanta destination into an attraction all year round.

Why did you choose to promote Constanța and what expectations did you have from tourists?

Maybe the answer will surprise you, but I had to leave the city and the country to become proud of my city and eager to present it to others. Since childhood, I have been passionate about legends and stories. And here, I kept seeing buildings that impressed me, I realized they were old buildings and I wanted to find out their stories. When I first started traveling, I learned about the concept of walking tours and tried to participate whenever I could. At some point, I also started to understand the organization of such a tour. And what it has to offer: starting point, ending point, duration, compact route. That's how I realized that we actually have even more stories than many cities I've visited, only that almost no one knows ours, and certainly no one presents them consistently and on an easily adaptable minimum or maximum scale. The concept of walking tours started as early as the 70s in Europe and was usually done by students, now reaching organizations with well-arranged schedules, teams and various themed tours. In my case, I just started! I did the tours in my free time, after a job from 09.00-17.00, the idea is now developing into themed tours and tours dedicated to locals as well.

I didn't necessarily have expectations, I just had the idea! Since no one was doing such a tour advertised online, I decided to start it myself. I didn't even know exactly how I was going to do the tour, I only had an idea of ​​the route in my head, I didn't even know who would find me in the first phase.

We launched the Facebook page in June 2013 and had our first request from three tourists from Poland, in September 2013. I will remember this first experience , because they had actually come here on the recommendation of one of them. It was just that she had come at the peak of the season and was impressed by the nightlife in Mamaia. Being past mid-September, they found out that that nightlife was no longer available and the problem was that the clubs in the city had not yet opened their doors. On top of that, the old center was in full construction, the street restoration process, and two of them were in flip-flops, a bit difficult to walk around. So we stopped halfway through the tour for a cocktail and asked them about open clubs and what open club offers they had. They recognized the name of a local artist somewhere and that was J

Why isn't Constanța a destination in the off-season as well?

Because every time the idea of ​​"come to the sea, come to the beach" is promoted. And then you automatically close some good months of the year to potential applicants. No emphasis was placed on history, no emphasis was placed on culture. Even now we are not doing well in this chapter, although potential and events exist.

What can you do in the off-season in Constanța, especially since there is a saying that says "the sea is beautiful in any season"?

Personally, I really love the sea more from October to April. I feel it's mine, it's only mine and I don't share it with anyone. And the ones I still meet on the beach during this period are lovers like me, who respect everyone's discretion, without invading their personal space. The sea has a different beauty in the beach off-season, it has other colors, other smells, it has those big, beautiful and whole shells... because they are no longer trampled by thousands of people J

I know many sea lovers in the off-season who make those short outings like one day trips just to say hello to the sea, even if for that they drive 3 hours there and 3 hours back. And who usually combine it with a fish meal by the sea.

In addition, we have also started to have new events that attract those interested in that niche. We are talking about concerts, book launches, events at museums, theaters. For example, the Oleg Danovski Theater already has a music festival with a tradition and I recommend it. We have also started to have a tradition for Tedx Constanța, which just happened and I know that it brought listeners even from Bucharest . The history and folk art museums have various events and temporary exhibitions that are very interesting for those interested. The State Theater also comes with new offers of plays, in various genres and styles of approach. And the new niche, which we will return to below, would also be the destination for extreme water sports, in winter. And I see extraordinary potential here.

Is Constanța a destination or should we include the city by the sea in the Dobrogea destination?

Definitely, yes and yes.

Yes, Constanța is a destination in its own right. And it can be offered as a one day trip destination and as a city break destination, like any other large European city.

Yes, Dobrogea is definitely an extremely interesting destination. Which can also include Constanța in a wider exploration offer. Just as Dobrogea can offer a series of diverse exploration routes that don't even pass the county seat.

Here it depends on everyone, what expectations they have, what they want to explore.

"We want to have foreign tourists as well, but we are not at all prepared to give them the information that would make them want to come to us"

How would you promote Constanța if you were the mayor of this city?

Hard question. First, I would make a delimitation. Every time, we refer to the Mayor and somehow we refer to a man, forgetting that in fact there is an institution and one man cannot do everything there. In addition to that, promotion should not and cannot be the exclusive task of the City Hall of the respective city, because many of the objectives belong to the County Council, the Ministry of Culture, etc. Here we are already running into the inertia of collaborations between institutions.

That's why many of the projects were actually private initiatives, which wanted to do something and preferred to start individually. And not only here in Constanța, there are examples everywhere.

What I want for the city, let's say in the short to medium term:

• Tourist information centers at the train station, in the historic center and in the Mamaia resort. For example, I would see an information center right in casino, being optimistic that we will have this objective functional again. And I, in my travels through Europe, have actually found such tourist information centers in places with a very high historical load.
• A site that includes information useful to a tourist and necessarily at least in English, if not in other languages ​​of international circulation. We want to have foreign tourists as well, but we are not at all ready to give them the information that will make them want to come to us. And here we are talking about the means of access (airport, train, car), the means of internal transport (taxi, public, private), recommendations for cultural and historical visits, etc., recommendations for restaurants, bars, clubs, recommendations about the monetary side, parity currencies.
• Really useful maps, not A4 leaflets folded in 3 and laconic in details. Old center map, city map, public transport map (let's just say the RATC was really moving in the right direction), route recommendations through the city or surroundings with distances and useful information.

"A tourist from Australia asked me when the war ended here, she is firmly convinced that the only explanation for the dilapidated buildings must be a recently ended war that did not allow us to rebuild the old center"

You are probably following the feedback left by foreign tourists that you introduce into the history of Constanța. What are the pluses and minuses of this tourist destination?

I'm watching closely, but I'm still trying not to become a control freak about it. But I need their reactions to know what impresses them the most and how I can dose the information and stories so that the city remains memorable.

The pluses seen by tourists are actually quite a lot:

• they have often seen it as a clean city, although it seems to us that it is not really (and it would be good if more people used the existing trash cans)
• It is also a city with an old center that offers safety to tourists. They can walk around even at night, and I can confirm that. If in 2013 - 2014, sometimes in the evening I was tense during tours, now it is no longer the case.
• Another thing that pleasantly impresses them is the history part, many not knowing that we have a history of over 2000 years. Although here comes the negative part when he asks why we let it fall, disappear and why it is not promoted internationally.
• I will put the gastronomic part back on the positives, no one has ever left unsatisfied, although the vegetarian gastronomic part is a little less developed, but there are options here too if I know where to go.

On the downside it would be like this:

• Lack of souvenir stands, very poor offer in this regard. We have a souvenir shop at the folk art museum, one at the history museum, a small souvenir shop near the old center and two galleries in the Tomis Mall area.
• The lights in the old center are very weak and here we compare with the historical markets anywhere in Europe where there is an enchantment of colors all year round, so that it makes the tourist happy to stay in the market even in the evening. Our old town square is dimly lit and not bidding from that point of view unless an event happens.
• Another difficult question is related to the advanced state of decay of the buildings. They were compared to Morocco, to Cuba, and the most "nice" one was a tourist from Australia who asked me when the war ended in our country, she was firmly convinced that the only explanation for the dilapidated buildings must be a recently ended war that did not allowed us to restore the old center.
• From time to time, but I admit that it is no longer such a problem, there is also the question "why do those ladies travel in slippers and dressing gowns, including on public transport" I refuse to integrate them into the local specifics of any kind, I am a community , I don't dispute this, but it doesn't define us, neither as Romanians, nor as Dobrogens / Constantinians.
• Another reproach is the lack of promotion at the international level, for many we are an exotic country, about which they do not know much. About Bulgaria have more information than Romania.

I admit that my information came mostly from tourists who organize their own excursions, trips, explorers who often even do circuits in the Balkans, around the Black Sea or various thematic trips. Only this year, I started working in an organized way with a travel agency and I'm really curious to learn as much as possible from here and be able to make a comparison.

Constanța and Mamaia have become destinations for extreme sports enthusiasts in recent years. They come especially for the period with strong winds in autumn and winter, but I haven't found any tourist package dedicated to them. Why have we arrived at this moment? Does anyone feel the possibility of investing in this sector?

I think I have an explanation for this situation as well. This type of extreme sport is aimed at a niche of active, young people connected to technology. There is also the option of individual accommodations, including booking, then airbnb, couchsurfing, etc.

In addition to that, these sports until now were aimed at people who already had their own equipment, it's not like skiing, you need to rent it on the spot.

But I see it as a niche with potential, I think there is already at least one kite school and one windsurfing school, and surely this side could be developed. And that would also increase the interest in these sports and why not/can there be dedicated international competitions in the future.

As already in September we have a traditional triathlon, why not a kite competition?

How do you see Constanța and Mamaia in five years?

Here I will remain slightly reserved. Because I feel that we are at a crossroads. Until recently, emphasis was placed on promoting the tourist destination strictly for the summer season and focused on nightlife. And from the real estate point of view, a much too big concrete jungle appeared, many buildings, few parking spaces, and as options for spending time rather limited and not constantly promoted in order to really reach the information to the tourist who might be interested .

There was a lack of connection between the resort with a certain type of activities and the city with its own potential and other activities. They should not exclude each other, but should be offered to the tourist as varied options, and the final decision should belong to him. But knowingly, what has not been done so far, but here things are already moving in the right direction, I say.

So maybe there will be an implosion as it happened a few years ago with the resorts in the south, Neptun-Olimp, which are now starting to grow slightly and naturally position themselves in niches of resorts dedicated to families.

Or maybe we have already reached rock bottom and are now entering the period of maturation from a tourism point of view. I'd like to think that will be the route.