Some tourist operators in the Danube Delta say that this year the number of visitors was similar to 2019, a peak year for tourism in the area, but the lack of a long-term fiscal policy at national level destabilises them.

Despite the war in Ukraine, foreign tourists have returned this year to the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (DBRD) in large numbers, unlike Romanian visitors, and in the cold season that has started some economic agents in the Reserve are offering visitors 50 percent discount on rates.

„We had a very good year. We are basically back to 2019, which was the best year before the pandemic. We have had a return of foreign tourists for birdwatching and nature photography. Despite the war, we’ve managed to somehow restore some confidence that things are peaceful here. We have started booking for next year and we are already 70 percent booked, as we work mainly with operators from abroad,” Mihai Baciu, the owner of a travel agency, told AGERPRES.

He explained the low number of Romanian visitors to the Deltas by the fact that foreign tourists do not regularly receive headlines in the media that drones are falling in the border area.

„Tourists see that the war is not going on Romanian territory, and people come for the Delta. Bombastic headlines that do much harm to tourism do not reach the international press. Let’s say that the foreign tourist is more objectively informed than the Romanian one,” said Mihai Baciu, who is also a member of the board of the Tulcea Municipality Tourist Destination Management Organization Association

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The return of foreign tourists in RBDD is also confirmed by another operator from the Danube Delta, Iliuta Goean, who has been promoting nature-friendly tourism for many years. He added, however, that there are also many young Romanian nature lovers coming to the Delta and mentioned that the main problem at the moment for tour operators in the area is economic instability.

„For this year it was what it was, but we don’t know what to expect next year. We don’t know what new taxes there will be. We have to sell the 2025 season now, and if we find ourselves with tax increases in the winter, it destabilises us severely. We have set a 10 percent increase, but we will not be covered in case of an increase in fuel prices, taxes. We collect more than before, but the profit is much lower, because all expenses have increased. We need a coherent long-term tax policy,” Iliuta Goean mentioned.

The normative acts that change periodically also confuse the plans of economic agents. He gave as an example the regulatory act issued this year by the RBDD Administration, which allows overnight stays in the Delta, after five years of prohibition.

„Because camping or overnight stays in the Delta was banned for five years, we kept the kayaks in the bay. Then we sold them. I, as an agency, can’t take clients to the Delta and tell them to camp, and if someone comes, they’re on their own. It doesn’t work that way. It basically ruined this business that we’ve been working on for years. The Ivan Patzaichin-Mila 23 Association has been fighting for years for those trails dedicated to rowboats and for overnight sites for rowers, but the projects are not finalized. I’ve had a deal ruined by the RBDD Administration. It is beyond the means of any business to bear such expenses for such a long time,” Iliuta Goean also said.

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In spite of a capricious tourist season for the Delta, while at the beginning of the tourist season the economic agents in the area were complaining about the low number of visitors, Sulina beach was sought after by guests, said the owner of the first terrace opened on the Black Sea beach in the town of Sulina, Leon Tudorel.

„On the beach, last year’s level was maintained and it is somewhere above that of 2019. It is true that there is war in Ukraine, there were noises, but we have to stay balanced and take it as if it does not affect us directly. Sulina is visited because it’s a more bohemian, quieter town. There are people coming here who do not want to go to the Constanta coast and who find the sea beach and would never leave here,” said Leon Tudorel.

He is one of those penalised all the time at the beginning of every tourist season, given that the terrace he owns was opened in 2000, through a European project, and after Romania’s entry into the European Union, the national environmental legislation changed.

„We started from the position of being authorised. There were legislative changes that took us out of the comfort of the permit, and the subsequent regulations of the law found us there. But they [the RBDD administration, editor’s note] have not found a possibility to offer us a chance to become partners and to be reauthorised,” said Leon Tudorel.

Basically, based on the legislation in force that prohibits commercial activities on wild beaches, the RBDD Administration penalises every year the two terraces on the Black Sea beach for lack of environmental permits, the companies contest the fines, in their turn, and until it is decided who is right, the terraces remain open to the public.

„Why would tourists come to Sulina in winter? To see something other than people at the beach, to see the sea in winter, tempestuous and with waves, to see the ice on the seashore, the wildness of nature in the true sense of the word,” said Leon Tudorel.

Behind the two terraces on the shore of the Black Sea, a terrace has been in operation for several summers, offering visitors fresh fish products in summer. It is closed in winter, but fish is still the main source of livelihood for many locals.

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„I’ve been fishing since 2000 and last year was better than this. I mean, I made my quota faster. There’s still fish in the delta but the main problem is colmation. The entire Delta should be unclogged, Rosu, Lumina, Vatafu, Puiu are some of the areas where the authorities should intervene urgently,” says fisherman Reva Jean.

He in front of one of the two fisheries in the Prospect area of Sulina. He cleans a fish, feeds it to a cat, goes with the cleaned fish in the fishery, then empties his boat of water and leaves. A few meters away, on the same bank of the canal, two other fishermen in a boat complain about the price they get for their catches.

„The price of crucian carp is 4 RON per kilogram. The same for 20 years. In the country, the price is much higher than what we get and it goes up from year to year, and it has stayed the same for us fishermen. The owners of the fisheries tell us that it’s not working, that the market is full, that a lot of fish comes from outside. That’s farmed fish, and this is wild fish. It should be more expensive because it’s better. Probably also because of poverty, people go for a cheaper product, even if it’s of poor quality,” says the fisherman as he untangles his nets.

He reminds that fishermen do not receive subsidies when they cannot carry out their activity, although in agriculture subsidies are granted. He is also unhappy with the way the Fish Exchange project, inaugurated in Tulcea several years ago with European funds, has been carried out, but it is not working.

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The EU’s easternmost city is alive and kicking in the cold season. The old lighthouse of the European Commission of the Danube, the grandmother of the current European Union, reopened in July this year and is sought after by visitors.

„I am from Turnu Magurele. I came to the Delta for fishing, and one day was dedicated to Sulina. The lighthouse is an interesting monument, especially since it passed from Russian to Turkish and then European rule. It’s a well preserved monument, and from the lighthouse you have a beautiful view. The ticket price is low and it was well worth the 10 RON,” said Marin Socolea, at the end of the visit.

The representative of Gavrila Simion Eco-Museum Research Institute Tulcea (ICEM), Maria Sinescu, says that the lighthouse offers tourists new facilities, after it was rehabilitated in recent years through a project of the County Council.

„It was a beginning with many hopes and a beautiful season. We had approximately 5,700 visitors in about two months. We have new exhibition spaces, a room dedicated to George Georgescu, one dedicated to the beauties of Dobrogea, Jean Bart’s room, but also one that presents Sulina from another time,” said Maria Sinescu.

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Tourists are reluctant to speak ill of Sulina town, even if the heritage buildings are in ruins, and the main areas of attraction are signaled right in front of some buildings with broken windows.

„We are from France and we came for two nights for nature. We chose Sulina because we knew that access was only by water. We went and saw the Red Lake. Maybe there should be more shops open, but it’s understandable why that doesn’t happen. Summer is over,” say Benjamin and Janine, two French tourists hurrying to catch a fast boat to Tulcea.

On the streets behind the promenade, fiberglass boats rest among the blocks of flats, and some cars are parked in front of unused historic buildings. Only a few heritage buildings are being rehabilitated, and among them is the headquarters of the Romanian Academy’s Institute of Biology Bucharest. Next to the restored building, another is about to fall down.

At the private exhibition „Old Sulina”, Gheorghe Comarzan is still waiting for guests.

„We close when there are no more tourists. I am not in competition with the old lighthouse. Part of my collection, 80 objects, will be exhibited there. This year, as a novelty, I have a 50-square-meter fisherman’s canoe on display. It’s the last one in Sulina. I also have a pirate costume,” says Gheorghe Comarzan.

Now, he is working on a new edition of the book Sulina’s Stories, which he co-authored with Nicolae Iacob, and he appreciates the investment made by the Free Zone Administration in the port basins near the Danube.

„It is the most serious project carried out after the Revolution. Time will decide how it will contribute to the development of the local economy, but since the beginning of the works, the facade of the promenade has changed, the buildings of the European Commission of the Danube have been brought to light and you look at the Danube area differently,” Gheorghe Comarzan said.

During a trip to the mouth of the Danube into the Black Sea, the guide shows visitors dilapidated buildings that were once icehouses and fishermen’s huts used by fishermen during the communist regime, solar-powered signaling systems for the Sulina maritime canal, in the Black Sea, the entrance to the navigable channel signaled by floating buoys, and in the Musura Bay, the birds that will spend winter in the Delta. Off the Black Sea, ships can be seen waiting for the signal from the Romanian authorities to enter the first maritime canal built on Romania’s current territory by the engineer Charles Hartley, known as the „father of the Danube”.

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The cold season comes in the Danube Delta with important offers. Some accommodation units offer their guests prices reduced by half between November and March and access to all the facilities they have, indoor swimming pool, gym, conference rooms, and the packages proposed for the winter holidays that are marked in the area twice, both new and old style, have a great appeal. In the Delta, however, there is only one establishment that has these facilities, so it is normal that the demand is high.

Fishing in the natural environment, local gastronomy and nature tours remain the main attraction of the Delta. The history and local traditions of the area remain in the background, although the Delta still has people who can tell them, even in winter, on a lijanca, a traditional stove specific to the Delta.

„What do I want Sulina to look like in 20 years? It’s too much. It should have looked like this 20 years ago, otherwise it’s clear that the authorities are not doing their job. Sulina is the grandmother of the European Union. It’s the first form of the European community. And what would the grandmother of the EU look like… It should be a lady, a little Monte Carlo, a bit of Venice. It used to be Monte Carlo, because there was a casino on the beach by the sea. Why not go back to what it was?,” Dragos Nastase, the owner of a guesthouse asks rhetorically.

AGERPRES