EnviMin Barna: We must have special regulation for Via Transilvanica

In a few months, Romania's largest tourism promotion project, the Via Transilvanica Route, could acquire a special status, which is why consultations have begun with all local authorities in the areas through which this route passes, said the minister of Environment, Water and Forestry Barna Tanczos in a press conference held in central Targu Mures on Friday.

"The shelters on Via Transilvanica must be minimalist, they must be made of the materials that are there on the spot, they must offer Spartan comfort to the tourist who wants a shelter, to create a roof over the head. It is a long, marked route of 1,400 of kilometers, it will have to be a real help to the tourist who starts from an almost unknown point and wants to reach another unknown point. We must take him nicely through the forests and we must be very careful not to turn it into a race for marking, paving, equipping (...) because we will do more harm than help. I also want to have this special regulation for Via Transilvanica. It will only last a few months," said Minister Barna.

Minister Barna accompanies the initiators of the Via Transilvanica route, brothers Alin and Tibi Useriu, to the discussions with the local authorities.

According to the minister of Environment, the administrators of the forest fund, the foresters, the heads of forest reserves, the forestry engineers, the county directorates within Romsilva, respectively those from the private forestry reserves that manage the private forests or the reserves that are under the administration or under local public authorities are called to the county meetings.

"Certainly, Via Transilvanica has long gone beyond Romania's borders. It will probably be the most interesting product from Romania that will appear on the world tourist map. It is a product generated by the Useriu brothers, by Tasuleasa Social, by the team behind this initiatives," said the minister.

Barna said that he will go together with Alin and Tibi Useriu in this "institutional marathon", which will reach Medias, in Sibiu county, on Saturday. He believes that there must be a permanent mediation between the initiators of the project, who have limited power, and the authorities, especially since this project already has an international scope.

"This project is estimated to have a maximum of 5 years, if everything goes well, at least 100,000 people per year, from all over the world. So the cooperation of the local, national, central authorities, of several ministries that must solve some historical problems in Romania that have not been solved and in which, sometimes, we are in the Middle Ages, such as the problem of aggressive dogs," said Alin Useriu.

The initiator of Via Transilvanica also showed that, in January, Tasuleasa Social presented the Romanian tourist route in Stuttgart, at one of the largest alternative tourism fairs in the world, where the Romanian stand was intensively visited.