Romania’s Blue Flag Beaches: Six Black Sea Beaches Awarded Blue Flag this Summer

Romania has moved a significant step forward in tourism. Precisely in Black Sea tourism, where the country has numerous beaches, but, until recent years, none had blue flag quality label. This year, as last year, six beaches received this distinction.

The six beaches receiving blue flags are the same as last year: Vega Vintage in Mamaia, Marina Regia and Phoenicia in Navodari, Citadel and Azur in Eforie, and Phoenicia Blue View in Olimp. According to the international organization that awards these coveted labels, these beaches in Romania ensure a certain level of quality for tourists.

The more blue-label beaches, the higher the quality of seaside tourism in the country. Bulgaria, for example, a country famous for its beaches, has 22 beaches welcoming tourists with the blue flag. It’s almost four times more than Romania, but there is no surprise here, as Bulgaria is renowned for the quality of its tourism.

In comparison, Greece has been awarded the blue flag for 617 beaches, a record number even for Greece.

Blue flag label means clear waters, clear shores and safety for the tourists enjoying a day by the sea shore. Sometimes, it is not the owners’ fault, but the tourists who keep coming to dirty beaches and bathing in filthy waters, as they have always been used to. The demand creates the offer, but when demand is low, and high prices are accepted, there is no motivation for the beach owners to fix anything about the conditions. This is why, in countries where expectations are high, travel operators do more to please their guests.

Blue Flag is about the care of the travel operators, hotel owners and beach owners for the tourists. In Romania, such care is lacking most of the time. No wonder why the country has done almost nothing to improve its travel offer in the last decades, but this translates into two trends – Romanians choose foreign destinations in millions. At the same time, international tourists avoid Romania and prefer visiting neighbouring countries. Hungary, a country half the size of Romania, with no seaside, has five times more international arrivals than Romania. If this doesn’t wake up the officials in the Government, what else does?