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What is our perception of Romania?
A social media survey
The purpose of this study has been to quantitatively measure the brand image of Romania by means of a survey hosted in social media. This quantitative research is a good step in order to fully comprehend what people think and perceive about Romania.
Research question
The questions used to measure the brand image of Romania were formulated taking into consideration the brand messages presented by Romania’s official tourism website. Such messages are distributed along 12 major concepts such as: “natural, authentic or cultural” for instance. These concepts have been used and distributed by the tourism board along major travel channels to convey the brand image of the country.
Although the Romanians settled up a specific brand image, through this study we wanted to test what our readers actually perceive about the country. As such, the research question of this study has been the following: “To what extent the brand messages introduced and widespread by Romania’s official tourism board are perceived as being true by our readers?”
Formulating the questions for the survey
12 questions were asked to our readers via “instagram Stories”. This is a new format that allows researchers to ask questions to a specific segment of the market – composed by the most devoted users of the Instagram account. The responders are normally strongly attached to the corporate brand.
Initially, each reader had 15 seconds to answer each question. This is an ideal timing for them to provide an instinctive and spontaneous answer. Yet, they could go back to the previous question in order to read it again (if necessary) and provide a meaningful and trustworthy answer.
The first question was answered by 190 readers. However, question number twelve (the last multi choice question of this survey), was answered by 129 readers. Some of our readers did not provide an answer to all the questions, reducing the reliability of this study.
Results
The results presented along this study reflect the perceptions of our readers towards Romania’s country image. Yet, further studies need to be completed in order to understand in deep such feature.
Main highlights of Romania’s brand image
The 88% of our readers – those who participated in our latest country brand image – think that Romania is rich in history! This is the highest point of agreement reached on the survey. In addition, they strongly believe that Romania is home to many architectural treasures and unforgettable castles. After all, Romania and Transylvania have been strongly linked to Dracula’s Castle!
This was one of the major cliches used to describe the country. But apparently, Romania is moving away from such perception and other features seem to represent better its country’s image. Today, according to the 72% of our readers, “authentic, natural and cultural are the words that best capture the essence of Romania.”
The 80% of our readers are also aware of one of the main strengths of Romania as a tourist destination. Romania vies with Bulgaria as the cheapest destination in Europe. So, it is a pretty good deal for backpackers! A domestic beer in Romania, for instance, will cost you 6 lei, or 1.42 US dollars.
On the other hand, the 43% of our readers don’t think that “Romanians are among the friendliest and most hospitable people on earth.” This is not a negative perception per se. This simply indicates that for our readers there are other features that describe better Romania as a country.
Furthermore, the 41% of our readers don’t think that Romania is a safe destination. But this perception is not in line with the facts retrieved, since Romania is among the safest and peacefullest countries in the world! Vision for Humanity – a guide to global peace and development, says that Romania ranks 24th when it comes to “safety” among the 163 countries studied. In this regard, Romania performs better than countries such as Unites States, Spain, France or Italy for instance.
Brand message number 1. “Romania offers countless unique travel experiences.”
From narrow train trips in Maramures and Transylvania to picturesque home stays in Romania’s farms and villages, Romania offers a broad number of travel possibilities.
Such ideas and a larger list of activities are shown in the official website of Romania. So, this is actually one of the main brand image features that the country tries to convey through their online channels.
In order to test this feature we asked to our readers if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Romania offers countless unique travel experiences.”
For the 79% of our readers such statement is true, while the 21% disagreed. According to the results, this is an important brand feature and the official tourism board has been doing a great job promoting it as they have showcased extensively all the travel possibilities within the country on their online channels.
Brand message number 2. “Romania is an ideal country for backpackers.”
The official tourism board of Romania presents the country as a “Solo traveler” exciting choice.
This is because Romania is home to countless monuments and architectural sites, as well as a wide variety of landscapes and hiking trails. It is this combination what the official tourism board communicates through their online channels with messages such as “Romania, natural and cultural” for instance.
In order to understand what our readers think about such statement we asked them if they agreed or disagreed with the following sentence: “Romania is an ideal country for backpackers”.
The 68% of our readers agreed with such statement, while the 32% don’t think that this is the case.
Even though this is an important brand message – well perceived by the community, the tourism board of Romania could implement a different set of messages where this feature is clearly addressed with personal stories and experiences.
Brand message number 3. “Romania is home to many architectural treasures and unforgettable castles.”
This is one of the main attractions of the country according to the official tourism website of Romania. Among the 5 main sections dominating their website, “main attractions” presents some of the most relevant landmarks of the country.
It is in such section where people can discover items such as “Medieval Towns” or “Traditional Villages” and each item covers a wide range of different sites and locations.
As the website says, “Romania’s collection of castles and fortresses perhaps best illustrates the rich medieval heritage of the country”.
In order to known what our readers perceived in this regard we asked them if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Romania is home to many architectural treasures and unforgettable castles.”
The results show that the 87% of the responders actually agree with such statement. Only the 13% of them disagreed. As such, this is an important brand message, efficiently presented by the tourism board and positively received by our readers.
Brand message number 4. “Romania is home to a flourishing arts scene.”
According to the official tourism site, “Romania is a dynamic country rich in history, arts and scenic beauty”. So, the feature “arts” is presented as one of the key brand messages.
There is a section in their website dedicated specifically to this section named “Arts and Crafts of Romania” where the main highlights of the country in this regard are presented.
In order to understand what our readers perceive when it comes to such brand feature, we asked them if they agreed with disagreed with the following statement: “Romania is home to a flourishing arts scene.”
Interestingly, the 28% of the responders don’t think that this is case. On the other hand, the vast majority agreed (72%). So, Romania is perceived as an arts scene by our readers. The online channels of Romania are doing a good job informing and communicating those features to the public using specific sections and addressing each of them extensively.
Brand message number 5. “Romania is rich in history.”
The tourism board of Romania also highlights the importance of the country’s history. In one of their sections they showcase a detailed timeline with some of the most important moments of the country. Although “Romania’s history has not been as idyllically peaceful as its geography”, it has become one of the main strengths of its brand image.
In order to know the perception of our readers we asked them if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Romania is rich in history.”
For the 88% of the responders this is the case! Actually, this is the highest point of agreement reached on the survey. Overall, its history, architectural treasures and unforgettable castles seem to be the major players of its brand image.
Brand message number 6. “Romania is known for its scenic beauty. There are countless natural sites to explore.”
The responders of our fourth country brand image survey also think that “Romania is known for its scenic beauty.” The 82% of them agreed with the statement presented above and this is in line with the brand messages presented by the official tourism board.
Romania is home to an important mountain range and actually the 31% of the country is mountainous. Many insights in this regard are presented in their website, where the main regions dominating Romania’s geography are summarized.
This is the third point of agreement reached in the survey and is in line with the brand messages presented by the official tourism board.
“Romania, natural and cultural”, which is the main brand message of the website, seems to reflect really well the ideas and perceptions of our readers.
Brand message number 7. “Romanians are among the friendliest and most hospitable people on earth.”
On the other hand, the main weakness of Romania’s brand image seem to lie on the perception of its people.
When we asked to our readers if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Romanians are among the friendliest and most hospitable people on earth”, the 43% did not share such opinion.
Now, this does not necessarily mean that Romanians are perceive negatively. This result simply indicates that “friendliness” and “hospitality” are not the main features that best describe Romania as a country. So, other words such as “history” or “culture” for instance represent better Romania according to the responders of our survey.
Romania’s official tourism website did not add any brand feature about its people on their main message. So, the results are in line with the conceptualization of the marketeers.
Yet, one of the main sections of the website named “people” states the following: “Foreign visitors consider Romanians among the friendliest and most hospitable people on earth.
Romanians are by nature fun loving, warm, hospitable, playful, with an innate sense of humor.”
Brand message number 8. “Romania is a safe destination.”
According to UL Safety Index, Romania “performs average” when it come to “safety” with the score of 71 on a scale of 0-100, 100 being the best. “The score indicates that Romania has developing socioeconomic conditions and preventative safety measures.”
On the other hand, Vision for Humanity – a guide to global peace and development, indicates that Romania is among the safest and peacefullest countries in the world.
Romania ranks 24th among the 163 studied countries. In such list, for instance, United States does pretty poorly as it ranks 121st among the 163 studied countries. Romania is even safer than countries such as Spain, France or Italy according to such study.
We asked to our readers what is their perception about Romania in this regard. Surprisingly, the 41% of the responders don’t think that Romania is a safe destination.
So, this is clearly one of the main weaknesses of Romania as a tourist brand according to the results of our survey. The facts differ significantly from the results of this survey, although the 59% of our responders do think that Romania is a safe destination.
Brand message number 9. “Romania is a cheap travel destination.”
Is Romania is a cheap destination?
Absolutely! Actually, Romania is among the cheapest destinations in the world!
According to Numbeo, cost of living in Romania is 49.15% lower than in United States. A domestic beer in Romania, for instance, will cost you 6 lei, or 1.42 US dollars. Taking a look to one of the most used indicators in this regard, a McMeal at McDonals will cost 18 lei, or 4.27 US dollars.
Overall, Romania vies with Bulgaria as the cheapest destination in Europe. So, it is a pretty good deal for backpackers!
Apparently, according to the results of our social media survey, our responders are aware of this. When we asked them if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Romania is a cheap travel destination”, the 80% agreed.
As such, this is not only one of the main attractiveness of Romania from a tourist point of view. It is also one of the main strengths of its brand image!
Yet, this was the fourth highest point of agreement reached on the survey. So, there are other features of its brand that have a strongest bond to the perception of our readers.
Brand message number 10. “Visiting Romania is in my bucket list.”
For the 68% of our readers visiting Romania is their bucket list! So, overall, our readers would love to visit Romania and explore some of its picturesque regions!
Brand message number 11. “The word that best described Romania is…”
Interestingly, when we asked to our readers what is the word that best describes Romania, the only word that was mentioned more than one time was “unique”.
Brand message number 12. “Authentic, natural and cultural are the words that best capture the essence of Romania.”
Finally, we included one last quantitative question in this survey to see if the words chosen by the official tourism board of Romania are in line with the perception of our readers.
On the official website we can read the following: “Authentic, Natural and Cultural are the words that best capture the essence of Romania.”
Interestingly, the responders of our latest survey strongly agreed with such statement (72%).
